Changes in Provider Perceptions and Practices Regarding Dosing Units for Oral Liquid Medications

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Acad Pediatr
• Personal Author:
  Lind, Jennifer N. ; Lovegrove, Maribeth C. ; Paul, Ian M. ; Yin, H. Shonna ; Budnitz, Daniel S.
• Description:
  Objective:
  
  A 2015 survey of primary care providers (PCPs) found that while many believed that milliliter (mL)-only dosing was safest for oral liquid medications, few would use mL alone in dosing instructions. Since 2015, many recommendations have promoted “mL-only” dosing. In 2019, a follow-up survey was conducted to assess if PCP perceptions and practices have changed.
  
  Methods:
  
  Pediatricians, family medicine physicians, nurse practitioners, and internists participating in the 2015 and 2019 DocStyles cross-sectional, web-based surveys were asked about their perceptions and practices regarding dosing units for oral liquid medications.
  
  Results:
  
  In 2019, among 1392 respondents, the proportion of PCPs who reported they believed using mL-only is the safest dosing instruction ranged from 55.1% of internists to 80.8% of pediatricians. While fewer PCPs believed patients/caregivers prefer dosing instructions in mL-only (23.9% of nurse practitioners to 48.4% of pediatricians), more held this belief in 2019 compared to 2015; pediatricians had the greatest absolute increase (+14.4%) and family medicine physicians had the smallest increase (+1.3%). While 61.6% of pediatricians reported they would use mL-only dosing, only 36.0% of internists, 36.6% of nurse practitioners, and 42.5% of family medicine physicians reported they would do so. After controlling for age, gender, region, and specialty, 2019 PCP survey participants were more likely to report that they would use mL-only dosing compared to 2015 participants (adjusted odds ratio 1.51, 95% confidence interval 1.29–1.77).
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Broader educational efforts may be necessary to reach non-pediatricians, to encourage prescribing and communication with patients/caregivers using mL-only dosing.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Administration, Oral Adult Attitude Of Health Personnel Cross-Sectional Studies Female Humans Internal Medicine Male Middle Aged Nurse Practitioners Pediatricians Physicians, Family Practice Patterns, Physicians' Surveys And Questionnaires

  More +
• Keywords:
  Dosing Units Milliliters Oral Liquid Medications Primary Care Providers
• Source:
  Acad Pediatr. 24(4):627-632
• Pubmed ID:
  37666391
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10919552
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  24
• Issue:
  4
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:99015646b30054db3d1b24613164dcd04c72b942c400c5b90c439d541106c153ce1fe66db4df6a530a642339ae538ff1e6d3e404cc4a939be3b82b32275b651e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/151608/cdc_151608_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 103.15 KB ]