{"48197":{"#nid":"48197","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Spoon Size Matters When It Comes to Safely Dosing Medicine","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA properly sized spoon helps the medicine go down without unintended side effects, finds a new study by two marketing researchers, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Prone to error, spoon dosing of medicine is one of the leading causes of pediatric poisonings,\u0022 says Georgia Tech marketing assistant professor Koert van Ittersum, who conducted the study with Brian Wansink, a marketing professor at Cornell University. \u0022While the Food and Drug Administration recommends against kitchen silverware to dose liquid medicine, a majority of people still use spoons when pouring medicine for themselves and family members.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn their study, the researchers found that people dosed 8.4 percent less than prescribed into medium-sized spoons and 11.6 percent more into larger utensils. Yet, study participants (195 university students) had above-average confidence that they\u0027d poured the correct dosage. \u0022Although they were young, educated, and had poured in a well-lit room following a practice pour, these participants were still unaware of these biases,\u0022 the researchers write. \u0022Whereas the clinical implications of an 8-12 percent dosing error in a single-teaspoon serving of medicine may be minimal, the dosing error is likely to accumulate among fatigued patients who are medicating themselves every four to eight hours for a number of days.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBased on their findings, the researchers recommend that patients or caregivers use a measuring cap, dosing spoon, measuring dropper, or dosing syringe for accuracy instead of relying on their estimating abilities.\n\nWhile one might expect more experienced pourers such as nurses and practiced patients to be more accurate in their estimations, this might not be the case, the researchers note.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWansink and van Ittersum have previously conducted related research showing veteran bartenders are inconsistent about the amount of liquor they pour, depending upon the type of glass used (over-pouring into short, wide glasses).\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"A properly sized spoon helps the medicine go down without unintended side effects"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"A properly sized spoon helps the medicine go down without unintended side effects, finds a new study by two marketing researchers, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A properly sized spoon helps the medicine go down without unintended side effects"}],"uid":"27304","created_gmt":"2010-01-05 14:07:30","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:04:04","author":"Matthew Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2009-01-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2009-01-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"48196":{"id":"48196","type":"image","title":"Koert van Ittersum","body":null,"created":"1449175379","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:42:59","changed":"1475894455","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:40:55","alt":"Koert van Ittersum","file":{"fid":"190139","name":"van-ittersumnews.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/van-ittersumnews.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/van-ittersumnews.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":62088,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/van-ittersumnews.jpg?itok=RUpLilVl"}}},"media_ids":["48196"],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"139","name":"Business"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2008","name":"College of Management"},{"id":"8180","name":"Koert van Ittersum"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBradley Dixon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECollege of Management Media Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-3943\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brad.dixon@mgt.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003Ebrad.dixon@mgt.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brad.dixon@mgt.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}