Shocking. And sad. That's the only way to describe the results of a new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Led by the director of the center, Dr. Marlene Miller, the Hopkins team examined national databases to compile medication error records between 1999 and 2004. More than 300 errors involved chemotherapy given to children. Dr. Miller told Reuters Health that children suffer medication errors at much higher rates than adults. A large part of the problem lies in extrapolating adult doses for use in children. Frequency of doses is also an issue. But health workers currently have no universal dosing standards to follow for children. Dr. Miller added, "There is not one solution that will fix all of this but it does have to be looked at." Looked at? Chemo didn't show up on the scene two or three years ago - it's been in use for decades. So why didn't someone "look at" this problem and pursue reliable guidelines in 1977, or 1987, or even 1997? How did we arrive at 2007 with unclear chemo dosage guidelines for kids?
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