As Cold and Flu Season Begins, New App OnCure Helps Parents Prevent Medication Mistakes
New app for iOS helps prevent over medication of children by coordination care across multiple caregivers, and providing dosing information based on both age and weight.
DALLAS, Nov. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- According to Henry Spiller, the Director of the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital, there is an alarming epidemic in the country of parents and caregivers of young children inappropriately administering medication to them when sick. Children are often given improper doses, medicated twice, or simply given the wrong drug. Why is that happening? Busy schedules, tired parents, more than one sick child – there are plenty of reasons causing the most loving parent to make mistakes. After experiencing this first hand Hadas Kanner-Golan, an entrepreneur and mother of two, decided to do something about it. A year later, she is releasing a new mobile app called OnCure for the iPhone that provides proper dose and timing information for over the counter fever reducers for infants and children, tracks medications between multiple caregivers, and can even be setup to provide scheduling for prescription drugs.
"I came up with the idea after my seven-year-old daughter had an extremely bad case of strep throat," says Hadas Kanner-Golan. "She was running a 103 degree fever in the middle of the night, and my husband and I had been getting up every few hours to check on her. At three o'clock in the morning though, things can get pretty fuzzy and I realized I had no idea if my husband had given our daughter any medication the last time he was up with her, or if he had given ibuprofen (such as Motrin) or acetaminophen (such as Tylenol). Having just woken up, he couldn't remember as well. A very frustrating situation. I figured there must be some sort of app to keep track, provide accurate information and have it synced between caregivers, but a quick search in the App Store made me realize there was not".
Hadas formed her company Myrtus Enterprises LLC, and teamed up with noted pediatrician Dr Justin Smith of Cook Children's hospital in Texas to create a tool that was easy for caregivers to use and provides peace of mind during the stressful time of having a sick child. The app allows parents to enter the age and weight of a child to ensure that they are being given proper doses, when the time is right, of fever and pain medications. Once a medication episode is started by the user, the app builds the appropriate schedule for the child, and will notify the caregiver when another dose is available for administration, while also providing all related dosage information. Users do not need to set any reminders, remember anything, or update other caregivers – things you don't have time for, and that can get very confusing, when your child is sick. Prescription medications can be inputted as well based on the physician prescribed dosing and scheduling recommendation.
OnCure is available now in the United States on the iTunes app store as a free download to manage a child's first illness episode. Future episodes, as well as episodes for multiple children, can be unlocked for a one-time payment of $1.99. Allowing multiple caregivers to be updated and synched (enabling seamless coordination with babysitters, day care providers, grandparents or other adults in the house) can be unlocked in the app for a one-time payment of $0.99.
SOURCE OnCure
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