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Medicines Information for Children
- Sharon Conroy, Stephen Tomlin (11 March 2004)
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Sharon Conroy, Lecturer in Paediatric Clinical Pharmacy (University of Nottingham) Derbyshire Children's Hospital, Derby DE22 3DT, Stephen Tomlin
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We agree with Bonati and Pandolfini that an international formulary to guide rational use of drugs in children would be of great benefit for paediatric patients across Europe (1). It is impressive that the Italian government has supported the translation of the UK national paediatric formulary Medicines for Children (2) into Italian and it’s distribution to all Italian doctors, nurses and pharmacists free of charge. We look forward to the day when new updated versions of Medicines for Children (3) are similarly distributed throughout the UK, to provide support particularly to primary care professionals working with paediatric patients many of whom today do not have access to this text which has become the mainstay of paediatric drug information in hospitals nationwide. Unlicensed and off label prescribing in general practice in the UK is known to be around 11% and standard dose reference texts such as the British National Formulary which in the main reflect licensed information are currently unhelpful in these situations (4). There is hope that better information will become available in time since the EU is proposing to introduce a system of incentives and obligations to industry to provide appropriate labelling information for medicines for children, in a similar way to, and learning lessons from, US experiences. It is also proposing to collect available pan-European data on existing uses of medicinal products. If this is done in an effective manner it could go a long way to providing information to support a European paediatric formulary of the kind Bonati refers to (1) - a challenge indeed - but one which it would be very worthwhile rising to. Joanne Shaw(5) highlights the need for better information for parents and children themselves since manufacturer’s information leaflets are either not available at all if a preparation is unlicensed, or contain inappropriate and often confusing or worrying information when a product is used in an off label manner for a child. Shaw suggests a Medicines for Children for families which would be one means of delivering this. An alternative perhaps more accessible way for most families would be a nationwide coordinated effort to prioritise and produce drug specific patient information leaflets aimed at parents and children themselves in a form that children would enjoy accessing – perhaps in cartoon format, mobile phone text information, electronic games etc? This would be another challenging task but would be worthy of a government-supported initiative to improve the safety and efficacy of medicines for children used in the home. Sharon Conroy, NPPG Chair,
Stephen Tomlin, NPPG Professional Secretary,
1 Bonati M, Pandolfini C. Children need international formulary to guarantee rational use of drugs. BMJ 2004;328:227 2 Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group. Medicines for Children. London: RCPCH Publications Limited on behalf of the RCPCH and the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group, 1999 3 Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group. Medicines for Children. London: RCPCH Publications Limited on behalf of the RCPCH and the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group, 2003 4 McIntyre J, Conroy S, Avery A et al. Unlicensed and off label prescribing of drugs in general practice. Arch Dis Child 2000;83:498-501 5 Shaw JM. Children and parents need better information on medicines. BMJ 2004;328:525 Competing interests: None declared |
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