Decreasing paediatric prescribing errors in a district general hospital

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.