Medication Delivery Innovator Baxa Corporation Offers Best Practices for Administering Over-the-Counter Liquid Medicine to Babies and Toddlers

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., May 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to growing concerns about how to safely administer over-the-counter (OTC) liquid medications to children and the recent FDA Guidance for Industry on OTC delivery devices, Baxa Corporation, the leading provider of oral liquid drug delivery syringes, is available to discuss the following best practices for safe liquid medication administration at home and in hospitals:

• Can the Cup – Calling upon more than 35 years of work with leading pediatric care centers around the world and data from the ISMP (Institute for Safe Medication Practices), Baxa cautions against using dosing cups to administer liquid medication to infants and children.

A February 2010 study of more than 300 parents published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine found that, when using a dosing cup with printed markings, 70% of parents made mistakes and almost all mistakes involved administering too much medicine.

• Look for OTC medications packaged with oral syringes – Many OTC medications come with cups because they are cheaper to manufacture and easier to package.  However, this lower price at the register comes at the expense of safety.  Leading hospitals in the United States use oral syringes to safely administer liquid medication to children and infants because of their accuracy in dosage and efficiency in administration.  ISMP and The Joint Commission, the accrediting body for US hospitals and healthcare providers, both support this best practice.

"When giving my children oral medication, I prefer to measure and administer the medication using a syringe rather than a cup," said Colin Sox, MD, MS, a general pediatrician in Boston.  "Oral syringes not only allow for more precise dosage, but also make administering medicine much easier, especially for young children."

• Clearly label and graduate syringes for specific oral medications – Unfortunately, not all dosage delivery devices are clearly labeled to match the exact OTC medication and dosing directions.  As a result, mismatches can occur that lead to confusion and dosing errors.  Customized liquid dosing devices, rather than generic graduated cups or syringes can dramatically impact patient safety with little incremental cost to drug manufacturers.

According to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that evaluated 200 OTC liquid drug products, of the 75% of products that came with a dosage delivery device, 98.6% had at least one mismatch between the device and the written dosing directions.

"The recent Food and Drug Administration guidance for orally ingested OTC liquid drug products is an important wake-up call to the industry and a much-needed rallying cry for parents who rely on drug manufacturers to produce medication that is safe and easy to administer," said Greg Baldwin, CEO of Baxa Corporation.  "As the inventor of the first oral syringe in 1975 and an innovator of fluid drug delivery systems, Baxa is committed to providing solutions that advance the safe delivery of all liquid medications and reduce the risk of dosing error."

For more information about Baxa and to download the recent FDA Guidance, please visit: http://www.baxa.com/oem/downloads.html

To schedule an interview with Baxa and for all media inquiries:
Perrin McCormick or Brandie Gerrish
HB
[email protected]
781-893-0053

SOURCE Baxa Corporation