STUDY OF PRESCRIBED DOSE CALCULATION IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS

Background: Pediatrics pose a unique set of risks of medication errors, predominantly because of the need to make dosage calculations, which are individually based on the patient’s weight, age or body surface area (BSA), and their condition. This increases the likelihood of errors, particularly dosing errors. In particular; preventing dosing errors is an important part of ensuring safe and quality patient care in the pediatric population. To evaluate appropriateness and accuracy of the prescribed drug dose using BSA as a parameter in pediatric patients. Methods: The present study was cross sectional, observational, and prospective one, conducted on an outpatient basis in pediatric patients. A total of 500 prescriptions were randomly collected and used to analyze prescribed dose. Calculation of standard dose according to BSA of individual of each drug was done by using formula: Individual dose = BSA (m²)/1.7 × average adult dose and compared with the prescribed dose of that particular drug. The BSA of an individual can be calculated from Dubois Raymond’s formula. Results: The 500 prescriptions included in the study were for a total of 1216 drugs; out of which 362 (29.76%) drugs were in under dose, 245 (20.15%) drugs were in appropriate dose and 609 (50.08%) drugs were in overdose compared to their standard doses according to BSA. Conclusion: In this study, around 80% of prescribed drugs were either under dose or overdose which highlights the continuing crisis of dose calculation error among prescriptions of pediatric patients.