BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Medication errors cause appreciable morbidity and mortality in children. The objective was to determine the effectiveness of interventions to reduce pediatric medication errors, identify gaps in the literature, and perform meta-analyses on comparable studies. METHODS:Relevant studies were identified from searches of PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and the Cumulative Index to Nursing Allied Health Literature and previous systematic reviews. Inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed original data in any language testing an intervention to reduce medication errors in children. Abstract and full-text article review were conducted by 2 independent authors with sequential data extraction.RESULTS: A total of 274 full-text articles were reviewed and 63 were included. Only 1% of studies were conducted at community hospitals, 11% were conducted in ambulatory populations, 10% reported preventable adverse drug events, 10% examined administering errors, 3% examined dispensing errors, and none reported cost-effectiveness data, suggesting persistent research gaps. Variation existed in the methods, definitions, outcomes, and rate denominators for all studies; and many showed an appreciable risk of bias. Although 26 studies (41%) involved computerized provider order entry, a meta-analysis was not performed because of methodologic heterogeneity. Studies of computerized provider order entry with clinical decision support compared with studies without clinical decision support reported a 36% to 87% reduction in prescribing errors; studies of preprinted order sheets revealed a 27% to 82% reduction in prescribing errors.CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric medication errors can be reduced, although our understanding of optimal interventions remains hampered. Research should focus on understudied areas, use standardized definitions and outcomes, and evaluate cost-effectiveness. Pediatrics

BACKGROUND Few studies of trauma care access and quality account for prehospital injury mortality. Little is known about geographic variation in prehospital mortality or the impact of prehospital care on injury disparities. METHODS Using the Centers for Disease Control Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research database, we queried county-level incidence of prehospital injury mortality from 1999 to 2016. We linked mortality incidence with county-level urban-rural classifications from the National Center for Health Statistics and population data from the US Census Bureau. We used negative binomial regression to estimate the relationship between rurality and prehospital injury mortality, adjusting for county-level distribution of race, sex, age, income, and insurance coverage. Models were then stratified by injury mechanism (motor vehicle traffic [MVT] vs. penetrating) to determine if prehospital mortality rates varied by type of injury. RESULTS Prehospital injury mortality rates were elevated for all urban-rural county classes, relative to large central metro counties, with incidence rate ratios (IRR) ranging from 1.25 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16–1.35) for fringe metro counties to 1.69 (95% CI, 1.58–1.82) for noncore counties. For MVT injury, IRRs for urban-rural classes compared with large central metro counties ranged from 2.02 (95% CI, 1.85–2.21) for fringe metro counties to 3.02 (95% CI, 2.76–3.30) to noncore counties. Incidence of prehospital mortality from penetrating injury was 14% higher for noncore counties compared to large central metro counties (IRR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.05–1.23). CONCLUSION There is substantial geographic variation in prehospital injury mortality in the United States, with risk of prehospital death increasing with rurality. Patterns of prehospital death associated with penetrating and MVT injuries suggest that improvements to both trauma center access, prehospital care, and primary injury prevention are essential to reduce preventable injury deaths. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Retrospective ecological analysis, level III.