According to reports, pediatricians have urged caregiver and medical providers to use only one method to measure medications. Earlier, a case was reported where a child was rushed to the emergency due to suspected overdose. Caregivers usually use a teaspoon or tablespoon to give medicine to a patient. As there is no definite method to give medicine to a patient, it becomes difficult to solve the problem of overdosing.

Now, according to pediatricians, parents or caregivers should use the metric system while giving medication to a patient. Earlier, a report published in the journal Pediatrics provided the rationale to use this system. The new guidelines represent a significant step to increase safety of giving medications to kids.

According to the reports, the metric system could be the most accurate way to measure doses on medicines. The system could be helpful in avoiding an unintentional overdose. While a lot of caregivers and parents think that they can accurately measure out medications by using half or quarter teaspoons. But, in actual, that is not the accurate method to measure medication, as there is variability each time dosing occurs. The result of using teaspoons could lead to progressive overdosing of medications that may have dangerous side effects.

For example, a medication, Acetaminophen (Tylenol), could result into liver failure if a caregiver gives excessive dose to children. In addition, there are several other drugs that could pose dangerous side effects in the case of overdosing. So it becomes very essential to accurately measure the dose in a consistent manner.

Some parents or caregivers could unintentionally use a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon to measure medications, which could place a child at high risk for unintentional overdoses. The overdose could potentially lead to three times the dose of a particular medication being given to a kid, placing the child at high risk for adverse outcomes.