Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Paediatric prescribing errors
  1. Tessa Davis
  1. Correspondence to Tessa Davis, Medical Leadership Trainee and Paediatric Registrar, North Western Deanery, Three Piccadilly Place, Manchester M1 3BN, UK; tessawoolfson{at}doctors.org.uk

Abstract

Prescribing errors are particularly important in paediatrics where dose calculations are complicated and small errors can cause significant harm. Unfortunately, there is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes an error, so studies often use differing criteria. In addition to this, obtaining statistics on rates of error is problematic as staff may be reluctant to report errors or may not include errors that were corrected before any harm occurred. Prescribing errors can be reduced by improving training, using computerised systems and involving pharmacists in checking drug charts.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests None.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.