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Protect your patients. Use ml when recommending or prescribing medications.

Protect Your Patients: Use Milliliter (mL) Dosing You can help keep your patients safe by using only milliliters (mL) when prescribing and giving liquid medicines.


Protect your patients. Use ml when recommending or prescribing medications.

Protect Your Patients: Use Milliliter (mL) Dosing You can help keep your patients safe by using only milliliters (mL) when prescribing and giving liquid medicines.

The average tablespoon holds three times as much medicine as a teaspoon. Don’t use household spoons to give liquid medicines. Instead, use the dosing device that comes with your child’s medicine (oral syringe or dosing cup) to make sure that he or she gets the right amount. Ask your pharmacist if you don’t have one.

Spoons are for Soup / Milliliters (mL) are for Medicine The average tablespoon holds three times as much medicine as a teaspoon. Don’t use household spoons to give liquid medicines. Instead, use the dosing device that comes with your child’s medicine (oral syringe or dosing cup) to make sure that he or she gets the right amount. Ask your pharmacist if you don’t have one.

Videos

Emergency Visits for Adverse Drug Events (2:21)

The CDC’s Medication Safety Program wants you to know more about the leading causes of emergency department visits due to adverse drug events.

Coffee with America: Protect Kids from the Dangers in our Medicine Cabinets (5:05)

This video interview educates parents about the “Up and Away” campaign’s efforts to protect kids from medication overdoses. (Coffee with America, 2016)

Andrew Geller, MD

CDC Expert Commentary: Hypoglycemia in Insulin-Treated Patients (3:26)

This video commentary discusses low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and medication errors among patients with diabetes who are treated with insulin. (CDC Expert Commentary, Medscape, 2014)

Commentary: Antivirals, Not Antibiotics

CDC Medscape Commentary: Antivirals, Not Antibiotics, for Influenza (5:16)

This video commentary highlights the importance of appropriate prescribing of antibiotics—and explains why antivirals should be used instead of antibiotics for treating the flu. (CDC Expert Commentary, Medscape, 2014)

Flow restrictors on child medication bottles

Flow Restrictors May Help Prevent Medication Poisonings in Young Children (2:23)

This video commentary describes the results of a CDC and Georgia Poison Center study that evaluated how effective flow restrictors can be for preventing young children from getting into liquid medicines when adults are not looking. (CDC, 2013)

MP4 [2:14 – 74 MB]
WMV [2:14 – 28 MB]
Caption File (xml)

expert Cheryl Broussard, PhD

CDC Expert Commentary: Medication Use in Pregnancy (4:50)

This video commentary is focused on medication use during pregnancy. (CDC Expert Commentary, Medscape, 2011)

Daniel Budnitz, MD, MPH

CDC Expert Commentary: What to Tell Your Patients About Medication Safety (5:03)

This video commentary provides tips for healthcare providers to share with parents about using medicines safely. (CDC Expert Commentary, Medscape, 2010)

How to Store Medicines Safely Up and Away

How to Store Medicines Safely Up and Away (0:30)

This video from the “Up and Away and Out of Sight” campaign provides simple tips to protect kids from medication overdoses by storing and using medicines safely. (Know Your OTCs, 2016)

Podcasts

Vital-signs logo

Vital Signs-Preventing Prescription Drug Overdose (1:15)

This podcast is based on the July 2014 CDC Vital Signs report. Every day, 46 people in the U.S. die from an overdose of prescription opioid painkillers. Learn what can be done to make prescribing safer and help prevent overdoses. (Podcasts at CDC, 2014)

Vital-signs logo

Signos Vitales de los CDC Prevención de las sobredosis de medicamentos recetados (1:37)

Este podcast se basa en la edición de julio del informe Signos Vitales de los CDC. Todos los días, 46 personas mueren en los EE. UU. de una sobredosis de analgésicos opioides recetados. Infórmese sobre lo que se puede hacer para que la prescripción de analgésicos sea segura y para ayudar a prevenir las sobredosis.

MMWR podcast logo

Keep A Lid On It (4:40)

This podcast discusses the dangers of drug poisonings, one of the leading reasons for emergency department visits for injuries to children under five years of age. (Podcasts at CDC, 2012)

Keep A Lid On It: A Minute of Health with CDC (0:59)

MMWR podcast logo

Good Medicine Can Be Bad for Baby (5:21)

In this podcast Dr. Cheryl Broussard discusses the potential link between birth defects and women taking medications during pregnancy. (Podcasts at CDC, 2011)

father putting up medicines up high to keep child from reaching them

Protect the Ones You Love from Poisoning (2:34)

This podcast, developed as part of the Protect the Ones You Love initiative, discusses steps parents can take to help protect their children from poisoning, one of the leading causes of child injury.

Publications

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Adverse Drug Events

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