Paediatric prescribing and the advent of the British National Formulary for Children (BNFc).

摘要

The BNFc has just been published in the UK at the end of September 2005. It is an important milestone in the administration of medication to children. Until now prescribing for children has been confusing, based on little evidence and has the potential to harm children. There is considerable evidence that drug prescribing inaccuracies have lead to adverse events and even fatalities in children. Medication errors in children have 3 times the potential to cause harm compared with adults. The risk of error in children is compounded by the need for additional calculations to determine the dose, particularly the misplacement of decimal points. A study of admissions to neonatal and paediatric intensive care units found a miscalculation rate of 1 per 6.8 admissions. In ideal circumstances children should have access to licensed medicines which have been properly evaluated in children. The bodies of young children respond to drugs differently than those of adults.