Research shows that the potential for adverse drug events within the paediatric population (children under 14) is about three times greater than for adult patients. Children especially young, small and sick children, are less able to tolerate a medication error.
With the rapid growth of our paediatric services and paediatric presentations to the emergency departments, safe medication practice is increasingly important.
Paediatric presentations in Waitemata DHB emergency departments
What are we trying to achieve?
To develop accessible, integrated and easy to follow information that informs our clinicians, patients and their families about medication preparation and administration for children presenting at Waitemata DHB.
What did we find?
One of the challenges for clinicians is finding accessible and suitable information on drug dosage, dilution, and how it should be prepared and administered to children. Medications are formulated and packaged primarily for adults.
What have we done?
In order to develop evidence based-information for clinicians, children and their families, we developed innovative resources.
The first step was the development of the paediatric medication chart, followed by the development of multiple other resources. Some examples are:
- algorithms for Life Threatening Asthma, Seizure management & Anaphylaxis
- paediatric policies
- paediatric infusions quick reference guide
- paediatric intravenous administration guide
- paediatric dosing and administration guidelines
- pictorial Asthma Medication Plan
- patient information leaflets
Paediatric IV medication administration guide
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Paediatric dosing and administration guidelines
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Pictorial asthma medication plan
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All of these resources can be accessed by staff through our Clinical Electronic Decision Support System (CeDSS) on our staff website.
Overall winner of Oral Presentations for Waitemata Health Excellence Awards 2012
