The Low Caregivers Lack of Knowledge of Weight-Based Dosing and The Use of Non-Standardized Dosing

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Table of Contents

The practical area of the researchers
The main purpose of the article
The research points
Literature reviews and their relevance
Patient target
The core methods of study
The results and findings of the research
The value and practical use of the research
Reference List

The practical area of the researchers

The article under consideration is called Association of Low Caregivers Literacy With Reported Use of Nonstandardized Dosing Instruments and Lack of Knowledge of Weight-Based Dosing. The researchers that worked on this paper are specialized in the sphere of pharmacology and healthcare. Doctor of Medicine, Shonna Yin devotes her life to medical expertise as well researches the field of healthcare service. Dr. Yin obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was engaged in the Medicine and Public Research Fellowship program and after that Dr. Yin received a Masters of Science degree in Clinical Investigation (Langone Medical Center 2009). Like Dr. Yin, Bernard Dreyer earned the medical degree in NYU School of Medicine that was succeeded by the completion of Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Langone Medical Center 2009).

Together with Alan Meldensohn, the Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Dr. Dreyer was interested in such fields of study as healthcare and childcare literacy improvement. In particular, Alan Mendelsohn received his degree from SUNY Stony Brook (Langone Medical Center 2009). Linda van Schaick is involved in the study of parent literacy thus devising the Health Education and Literacy for parents. She graduated from Bank Street College of Education where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Infant Development and Parenting (Langone Medical Center 2009). Dr. Foltin is an Associate Professor that received his medical education at SUNY. His achievement and research are predominantly dedicated to Pediatrics (Langone Medical Center 2008). Therefore, the authors of the given paper have much in store to work on and contribute to the study of healthcare and parenting literacy.

The main purpose of the article

The article touches upon the questions of caregivers’ literacy that causes many problems with doses of liquid medications. As the doses are not measured in the proper way, that may lead to lethal outcomes for the patients, especially if the patients are children. The lack of knowledge contributes to the increase of dosing errors. Considering this, the article is aimed at evaluating the level of the caregivers’ literacy and analyzing the outcomes of these problems. In addition, the researchers plan to investigate the connection between medication errors and nurses’ literacy and to establish the extent of importance to provide comprehensive education for the healthcare staff.

The research points

In the article, the researchers have found out that low literacy has a negative impact on healthcare management. The caregivers with insufficient education level have considerable difficulties with medication handling that is especially crucial in dosing for infants. The researchers display the reasons for the weight-based dosing and its potential dependence on healthcare staff competence. The article also touches upon the point of the now standardized use of the dosing tools for children such as teaspoons and tablespoons so that the researchers try to define the potential negative outcome of the caregivers’ ignorance. Moreover, the professors search for some other consequences for low health literacy. In addition, the matter of parenting literacy is also crucial for the research

Literature reviews and their relevance

The paper has many references to the specialized literature that are included different aspects of the article and therefore they are rather useful for the research. The literature is applied directly for the research and for the statistics of caregivers’ errors in pediatrics. Additionally, the researchers extract numerous facts and basic information about the essence of medication dosing problems. The authors refer to the specialized medical literature in order to make accurate calculations and conclude the corresponding results.

Consequently, the sources used by the researcher directly relate and to the scope and goals of the research as they are used as guidelines for the scholars to develop their own ideas. Hence, the literature review includes the study of different problems in the field of pediatrics and what possible medication tools are used by professional caregivers. The study shows that the references are the various sources that encourage healthcare literacy in more detail.

Patient target

As it was mentioned before, target patients are the children that are treated by the caregivers who visit the patients in the early hours. The age category of children varied from 30 days up to 8 years. The number of family studies was 640. The children were of different nationalities and gender as well for the analysis to be more accurate (Yin 2007 p. 293).

The core methods of study

In their study, the authors use numerous approaches and methods. Hence, the article focuses on the study sample presented with the cross-sectional analysis of caregivers and parents in terms of pediatric service at Bellevue Hospital Center. To carry out the analysis, the authors gather information about the caregivers and the quality. Further, Dr. Yin et al (2007) define the dependent and independent variables presented with the caregiver application of the no standardized dosing tools and the health literacy.

The paper also includes the statistical analysis consisting in the evaluation of health literacy and the relevant use of the no standardized instruments in medication dosing. By means of these methods, the researchers intend to check the health literacy scores. This method also helped to clarify the sociodemographic characteristics of the healthcare staff. In that regard, the scholars presented the descriptive analysis of the data obtained in the form of the tables that enlarge on the digital information about caregiver health literacy, child characteristics, caregiver and household characteristics, and the way the child health related to the dosing experience. Another two tables provide an adjusted analysis of the descriptive data concerning the dependent and independent variables facts.

Consequently, the major methods applied in the research are descriptive analysis and sample study. In addition, the methods become rather efficient, as they are evidence-based.

The results and findings of the research

According to the methods used in the study, the researchers’ results are the following. First of all, among the families that actively participated in the research, some families identified the caregiver’s inability to communicate so that they were unable to treat the child in the proper way. In general, the statistic shows that only 292 caregivers were included in the analysis, including 258 mothers, 30 fathers, and 4 other caregivers interviewed (Yin 2007, p. 294).

According to the analysis of healthcare literacy, caregivers’ competence largely depends on the language of education. In that regard, according to the Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults, the caregivers educated and administered in Spanish have lower scores than those dispensed in English.

According to the analysis of the dependency of caregivers no standardized use of dosing tools on health literacy, most caregivers use teaspoons and teaspoons, and tablespoons as medication instruments; some caregivers are not aware of the actual importance of dose weighting.

The results also prove that caregivers with a low level of medical competence are more inclined to use the irrelevant tools in comparison with caregivers of adequate health literacy. It is logical that those who lack medical knowledge are more like to ignore weight-based dosing than those with sufficient professional level. Therefore, the connection between the health literacy caregivers’ competence and medication dosing errors is evident.

The value and practical use of the research

The research is of great practical value since it helps to define risk factors of healthcare staff literacy. The article also reveals the degree of administration errors in terms of medication dosing thus showing evident negative consequences that are worth consideration. Secondly, the authors have concluded that though the research has little importance in the logistic regression analysis, it has given rise to the problem of cultural issues in education. Thirdly, the study makes sense in identifying the connection between the appropriate medication use and education as well. It shows that there is much left for improving the healthcare service and health literacy skills. Finally, according to the results, inappropriate use of the dosing tools has a different influence according to the child’s age. In that regard, the authors consider it necessary to resort to a detailed examination of this particular problem as caregivers’ ignorance of age specifics may even lead to a lethal outcome.

The thorough evaluation of the paper brings to the conclusion that research touches upon a wide range of issues connected with child treatment and the quality of medical care. Therefore, the article significantly contributes to the development of the field of Pediatrics.

Reference List

Langone Medical Center. (2008). George L. Foltin M. D. Web.

Langone Medical Center. (2009). H. Shona Yin, M.D., M.S. Web.

Langone Medical Center. (2009). Bernard Dreyer, M. D. Web.

Langone Medical Center. (2009). Alan Mendelsohn, M.D. Web.

Langone Medical Center. (2009). Linda van Schaik, M.S. Ed. Web.

Yin, S. H., Dreyer, B. P., Foltin, G., Schaic, L., Mendelsohn, A. L. (2007). “The Low Caregiver’s Lack of Knowledge of Weight Based Dosing and The Use of Nonstandardized Dosing”. Ambulatory Pediatrics, v. 7. Pp. 292-298.

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