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Don’t Measure Medicine in Kitchen Spoon

Administering liquid medicine is trickier than it looks, especially when the recipient is a squirming toddler. Many parents reach for a kitchen spoon when giving drugs like liquid antibiotics or pain medicine. That could be a serious mistake. The kitchen spoon is not an accurate measuring device.
Researchers at Cornell University recruited almost 200 college students to measure 5 ml of liquid cold medicine in different sized spoons. They also asked how confident they were in their measuring ability. The students poured too little medicine into a medium sized tablespoon by over 8 percent. They poured too much into a larger spoon by nearly 12 percent. Despite this, they were quite confident that they had poured the correct amount of medicine.
An older sicker person or a parent trying to administer medicine to an uncooperative child could easily make a much larger error that might accumulate over time. Important liquid medications such as antibiotics, epilepsy drugs and heart medicine should always be given using an accurate oral syringe or dosing spoon, available in most pharmacies.
[Annals of Internal Medicine, Jan. 5, 2010 ]

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About the Author
Terry Graedon, PhD, is a medical anthropologist and co-host of The People’s Pharmacy radio show, co-author of The People’s Pharmacy syndicated newspaper columns and numerous books, and co-founder of The People’s Pharmacy website. Terry taught in the Duke University School of Nursing and was an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology. She is a Fellow of the Society of Applied Anthropology. Terry is one of the country's leading authorities on the science behind folk remedies..
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