On or about the first of May a warning went out to medicating parents everywhere: put down the children’s liquid medications. Cries of “but how will I get my kids to sleep tonight!” were heard across the country as viewers saw the warning on the CBS Evening News Bloomberg News and CNN, online over MedPage Today, HealthDay and WebMD and read about it in publications like the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post.
The recall of pediatric formulations of children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl was voluntary and mandated because of manufacturing deficiencies in the plant where the medicines were made. Consumers were advised “to stop using the medicine as a precaution.” Any children taking the recalled medicines and exhibiting “unexpected symptoms” were urged to contact a healthcare professional.
People in the healthcare industry love a good study, both clinical and academic. Here’s a suggestion for a study we’d like to see. In the United States, packaging for over the counter medicines is mostly printed in English. That’s fine. English is official language of the United States and most non-English speaking parents can probably go to the drug store and piece together the English they know to pick out pain relief medicine for their children.
What about this recall? Was information about the recall presented in other languages and to what degree?
How many non-English speakers are purchasers of these liquid children’s medications and what was the customer service rate of inquiry for non-English speakers for the recall? Do non-English speakers even realize there was a recall? Is the Russian mother of three who buses tables at the restaurant around the corner reading the NY Times and watching CNN? How do non-English speakers know to stop taking these medicines?
The recall of pediatric formulations of children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl was voluntary and mandated because of manufacturing deficiencies in the plant where the medicines were made. Consumers were advised “to stop using the medicine as a precaution.” Any children taking the recalled medicines and exhibiting “unexpected symptoms” were urged to contact a healthcare professional.
People in the healthcare industry love a good study, both clinical and academic. Here’s a suggestion for a study we’d like to see. In the United States, packaging for over the counter medicines is mostly printed in English. That’s fine. English is official language of the United States and most non-English speaking parents can probably go to the drug store and piece together the English they know to pick out pain relief medicine for their children.
What about this recall? Was information about the recall presented in other languages and to what degree?
How many non-English speakers are purchasers of these liquid children’s medications and what was the customer service rate of inquiry for non-English speakers for the recall? Do non-English speakers even realize there was a recall? Is the Russian mother of three who buses tables at the restaurant around the corner reading the NY Times and watching CNN? How do non-English speakers know to stop taking these medicines?
