Out-of-hospital medication errors among young children in the United States, 2002-2012.

Objective: To investigate out-of-hospital medication errors among young children in the United States.

Methods: Using data from the National Poison Database System, a retrospective analysis of out-of-hospital medication errors among children <6 years old from 2002 through 2012 was conducted.

Results: During 2002-2012, 696,937 children <6 years experienced out-of-hospital medication errors, averaging 63,358 episodes per year, or 1 child every 8 minutes.