APhA enacts new oral liquid medication policy

The American Pharmacists association (APhA) has announced that its House of Delegates voted to enact a new policy regarding the labeling and measurement of oral liquid medications at the recent APhA Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.

The new policy, voted on by more than 300 delegates, is in full support of doing away with dosing cups and teaspoons, which were deemed as outdated, and instead using oral syringes and cups that use the metric system (milliliter-mL). The new syringes and measuring cups will be the new standard for the prescription and measuring of oral liquid medicines.

It has been reported that there have been many instances where fatal events have occurred because of the confusion from there not being a unified standard of measuring liquid medications. A number of national organizations have voiced their willingness to adopt the metric system to avoid confusion when it comes to dosing and measurement.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has joined with the APhA to create the PROTECT initiative aimed at addressing the increasing amount of emergency room visits due to the amount of overdoses in children from over-the-counter medicines. The APhA’s new policies have underscored its position on this issue.