Cold Meds Course of Action: Pharmacist recommendations for a pediatric population

Abstract

**Background:** In January 2016, the Perrigo Company recalled two flavors of their generic cough medicine because of incorrect markings on the included dosing cups. The error had the potential to cause an overdose in children taking the medication. These medicines are marketed and sold in pharmacies for the treatment of children despite warnings against their usage in those under four years of age from the Consumer Healthcare Products Association and the US Food and Drug Administration in 2008. We attempted to determine if pharmacists in our area were still recommending these medicines to children less than four years of age. **Methods:** While posing as parents with children nine months and three years of age with an upper respiratory tract infection, we asked pharmacists in twenty-nine different pharmacies in the Huntington, West Virginia area, What medicine would you recommended for my children? **Results:** Five of twenty-nine pharmacists (17%) recommended an oral medication for the nine-month-old child, while nineteen of twenty-nine (66%) recommended one for the three-year-old child. **Conclusions:** The recommendations from these pharmacists come despite warnings against their use. Efforts to educate our local pharmacist of these recommendations may prove beneficial.