Using a milliliter-only unit of measurement can help to reduce confusion and medication errors when measuring doses for children, a new study suggests. The study, published in the August 2014 Pediatrics, “Unit of Measurement Used and Parent Medication Dosing Errors,” notes that medication errors are common.

The study results indicate that parents who are busy and who multitask are at an increased risk of forgetting to give their child the prescribed dose or measuring the dose incorrectly.

According to the study, 39.4 percent of parents measured the intended dose incorrectly, while 41.1 percent erroneously measured out doses that their physician had prescribed.

Some parents might measure incorrectly due to using various units of measurement interchangeably, such as milliliters, teaspoons, and tablespoons. After noting these concerns, organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control, and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices have recommended using the milliliter as the sole standard unit of measurement for pediatric medications.

During the study, parents using teaspoon or tablespoon units, as opposed to ones who only used milliliter units when describing their child’s medication dose were twice as likely to make mistakes when measuring the intended dose of liquid medication.

According to the Mayo Clinic, medication errors harm more than one million individuals throughout the U.S. annually.