Why pediatric pharmacy

Self-medication programmes can work for these children and offer a great opportunity for the whole medicines concordant relationship to develop. Nevertheless, there has been little evaluation of self-medication programmes for children and models of best practice need to be developed and evaluated.

School age children may have to take medicines during the school day. This can cause problems, especially if the school does not have a robust policy on the storage, handling and administration of medicines.

Spreading best practice more widely through involvement with primary care trusts and local education authorities could have major benefits for children in these circumstances. Teachers may need support in managing medicines in schools. Pharmacists have an opportunity to be involved in the development of medicines policies in schools and to provide training for teachers to enable them to support pupils with long-term medical conditions who need to take medicines in school.

Development of pupil-focused education initiatives around health and drugs is also a possibility. On paediatric wards, at least 25 per cent of medicines prescribed are used outside their product licence. This lack of evidence in safety and efficacy raises specific issues for clinical governance and presents a particular challenge to paediatric pharmacists. Children should not be denied effective treatment simply because of the licensed nature of a drug for a particular age group.

Pharmacists are in a unique position to evaluate the evidence, risks and consequences of drug use and inform other health care professionals appropriately. Problems brought about by the lack of paediatric licensed medicines include crushing tablets to form suspensions, using vials containing times overdose amounts for neonates, suspensions containing enough alcohol to seriously harm an infant and a general lack of evidence for dosing.

Formulation and administration can directly affect treatment efficacy. Once again, pharmacists are uniquely qualified to advise and influence treatment, and risk management assessments of all new drugs, formulations and preparations should form part of this role. Risk assessment should include a review of the appropriateness of the formulation and the potential for error in normal use.

Systems to minimise the potential for error should be designed. The sometimes complex nature of medicines used in children described above can cause problems when children are discharged from hospital and can pose significant risks eg, medicines may be unlicensed and difficult to source, information regarding appropriate doses may be difficult to obtain from standard sources or special formulations may be required.

Parents often report difficulty in obtaining repeat supplies of unlicensed medicines. Many of these issues arise because of poor discharge planning and communication or lack of appropriate information. The potential role of the pharmacist in improving paediatric medicines management at the primary and secondary care interface is obvious.

Developing a local, standardised approach across all sectors of health care may be one way of addressing the issues. The National Pharmaceutical Association has recommended the introduction of a medicines management support programme, specifically designed to support families with complex medicines management needs.

Developed through joint working across primary, secondary and tertiary care, this approach could help improve patient care and minimise risks for children who need to take such medicines. There are several paediatric and neonatal formularies currently in use within the UK. In , Medicines for Children was launched. These information sources are important to paediatric pharmacists in providing informed advice for the recommendation and dispensing of medicines which are either unlicensed or being used in an off-label manner.

Produced by a team of editors and using a network of expert advisers, the BNF-C will provide a unique resource reflecting the evidence base, where available, for the current use of medicines in children.

It will be available in book format initially, with electronic versions, including a personal digital assistant version, following soon after. The BNF-C also aims to evolve and improve with the help of its users via focus groups and feedback. Membership of the NPPG has increased annually since it was formed in and the group now has members. An annual conference is held and includes guest lectures from eminent people in the field of paediatrics and neonatology, together with workshops.

High-level organization skills are a must! The most rewarding part of each work day is having the privilege to care for sick children.

As a clinical pharmacist in the pediatric intensive care unit, I take care of some of the sickest patients in our health system. The most challenging part of my career as a pediatric pharmacist and faculty member is finding ways to balance patient care activities with my other academic responsibilities.

I have a very active practice site full of very sick children. When I was growing up, members of my family had multiple health issues. As a result, I was constantly in and out of our local, independent pharmacy. Seeing a pharmacist work first hand got me excited about the field of pharmacy.

I chose to pursue pediatric pharmacy as a specialty because I witnessed my brother experience a great deal of pain after many of his surgeries as a child. As a pediatric pharmacist, I get to combine those two passions to help children today!

To pursue my current career, I completed two pediatric advanced pharmacy practice experience APPE rotations as a fourth-year student at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy.

From the newsroom. Connect with us. Tweets by UCDavisChildren. Pediatric pharmacy services. We provide a variety of services, including: Attend daily rounds as part of the pediatric patient care team Therapeutic medication monitoring for high risk medications, antibiotics, chemotherapy, drug interactions and allergies Monitoring for adverse effects from medication or other drug related problems Education about medications for pediatric patients and their families Providing drug information to physicians, nurses, and students Assisting with pain management and monitoring of side effects Cost management Medication and allergy histories.

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