Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan has developed a statewide initiative aimed at reducing pediatric medication errors, making it the first state to standardize drug concentration levels in compounded liquid medications.
The University of Michigan collaborated with the Michigan Pharmacists Association to release the new guidelines after a survey indicated different pharmacies compounded pediatric liquid medications with various concentrations. Some concentration levels were thirty times higher than others, according to the news release.
"One of the greatest dangers associated with this variation is that children may switch pharmacies but continue to take the same volume as always – without parents or even doctors realizing that the drug's concentration has changed and that a new dose volume should be prescribed," said James Stevenson, chief pharmacy officer of the UMHS Pharmacy Services Department and an associate dean at the U-M College of Pharmacy, in the news release.
The initiative is supported by a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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