As parents we hope it never happens. It could be anything from a biking accident to a natural disaster or even an out of control fever. You hope against hope that you never see your child spend a night in the hospital. A new study says you might have more to worry about than your child having to visit the hospital.
According to research led by Dr. Chris Feudtner of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who analyzed 2006 data from more than 580,000 pediatric patients from 463 hospitals across the country, kids are overmedicated. In fact, the study said that:
[Children] received as many as 13 different drugs throughout their hospital stays. After a weeklong stay, a number of children received 35 different drugs.
These days, it comes as no shock that children in hospitals are given too much medication. It shows the importance of asking a lot of questions during your child’s hospital stay (and even your own!!) to make sure that your child is only given medication that is absolutely necessary.
You can read the full story about the study on the ABC News website here: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2011/09/05/are-hospitalized-children-overmedicated/
-Andy, Eland
Right on the spot there! Doctors are quick on prescribing medication but fast less efficient on solving the actual health problems. I worked in the pharmaceutical industry during a few months…just long enough to notice that doctors lack formation after they graduate, aren’t aware of the most recent information and rely on meetings organized by pharmaceutical company to know what is now going on in the health sector. Obviously, this is biased information and the little improvised visits of pharma reps to the doctor’s door leaving tons of samples to hook their patient on doesn’t help any. Thanks for the info!