Launch Of Medical Children’s Medicine Guide
What Is The Children’s Medicine Guide?
The British National formulary (BNF) For Children has been published to help doctors decide which drugs to prescribe to children under eighteen. Until recently health care professionals had to use their judgement to decide which drugs and dosages to give to children based on adult data. It is thought that approximately forty per cent of medicines prescribed to minors have never been tested on children.
Other topics will include:-
- identifying and reporting adverse reactions to children’s medicines
- guidance on calculating paediatric doses
- in the future a chapter on prescribing medicines not currently licenses for children may be included
Who Has Written The New BNF?
Experts from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists Group, the British Medical Association and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain are responsible for compiling the new guide.
The government have contributed £1.8m towards the production of 175,000 copies of the new BNF. This will be provided free of charge for doctors and other prescribers of paediatric medicines. It will be revised continuously and a new version published annually.
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