Common Medication Errors: Drug #6: Ketorolac

Article

Ketorolac is a good option for relieving pain in patients with sickle cell disease, but there can be a problem with how this agent is prescribed for children.

A 5-year-old boy (20 kg) with sickle cell disease presented with a 2-day history of increasingly severe back pain. A detailed workup showed no signs of infection. The patient’s parents did not want their son to take narcotics for the pain. Thus, the boy was given a prescription for ketorolac -- 10 mg PO every 6 hours x 5 days [0.5 mg/kg dose]).

What’s the problem here?

Please click here for the answer and discussion.
 

Recent Videos
Jenna Marcovitz, MA explains how music therapy helps in pediatric care
Peter S. Jensen, MD
Suzanne Hollander, MS, RD, LDN, Senior Clinical Nutrition Specialist, Boston Children's Hospital | Image credit: Boston Children's
Joshua Feder, MD
Zika-based therapy for metastatic neuroblastoma with Tamarah Westmoreland, MD and Joseph Mazar, PhD | Image Credit: © Nemours- © Nemours - stock.adobe.com.
Geetika Kennady, MD, FAAP
Jillian Cotter, MD
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.