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How do we ensure safe prescribing for children?

Academic Division of Child Health (University of Nottingham), The Medical School, Derbyshire Children’s Hospital, Uttoxeter Road, Derby DE22 3DT, UK

Correspondence to:
Sharon Conroy, Academic Division of Child Health (University of Nottingham), The Medical School, Derbyshire Children’s Hospital, Uttoxeter Road, Derby DE22 3DT, UK; sharon.conroy@nottingham.ac.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Between January 2005 and June 2006 almost 10 000 medication safety incidents related to prescribing were reported to the UK National Patient Safety Agency, and over 80% of these occurred in hospitals.¹ Children aged up to 4 years were involved in more than 10% of all incidents where age was stated, higher than the proportion of bed days they account for. This is likely to be an underestimate as it relies on a voluntary reporting scheme. However, the reluctance to report errors in the NHS is gradually changing as it is increasingly recognised that systems, not individuals, are usually to blame.

There has recently been debate in the medical press about the competency of medical professionals to prescribe. Aronson et al² highlighted the fact that medical students and junior doctors may be unprepared for prescribing drugs when they qualify. Subsequent intense discussion led to a review by the General Medical . . . [Full text of this article]

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