Decreasing paediatric prescribing errors in a district general hospital
- A L Davey, Airedale General Hospital, Skipton Road, Steeton, Keighley BD20 0HT, UK; amanda.davey{at}anhst.nhs.uk
- Accepted 6 July 2007
Abstract
Background: In paediatric inpatients, medication errors occur as frequently as 1 in 4.2 drug orders, with up to 80% of these being prescribing errors.
Context: The children’s unit of a district general hospital in West Yorkshire, UK.
Key measures for improvement: Prescribing errors and preventable adverse drug events
Strategies for change: (1) The introduction of a junior doctor prescribing tutorial. (2) The introduction of a bedside prescribing guideline.
Effects of change: The introduction of the junior doctor prescribing tutorial decreased the prescribing errors by 46%. The introduction of a bedside prescribing guideline did not decrease prescribing errors but may have been helpful to those doctors unable to attend a prescribing tutorial.
Lessons learnt: By investing time and providing appropriate written resources, we have been able to reduce our paediatric prescribing errors on the children’s ward by almost half.
Footnotes
-
Funding: ALD’s research position was funded by Airedale NHS Trust, with non-funded support from the School of Pharmacy, Bradford University.
-
Competing interests: None.
-
Ethics approval: Discussion with the local ethics committee representative deemed ethics approval unnecessary.
