Prescribing for children
While all the general advice on avoiding medication errors applies to both children and adults, special care is needed when prescribing, preparing and administering drugs to children. Drugs that are relatively innocuous in adults may have adverse effects in children. Variations in height, weight and body mass can make them more susceptible, or they may quickly accumulate toxic levels as a result of lower metabolism and excretion. In many cases referred to MPS, errors occurred because the doctor failed to check the appropriateness of the drug and its route of administration in children or infants, or to prescribe the correct dose.