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Background. Paediatric patients are particularly prone to medication errors as they are classified as the most fragile population in a hospital setting. Paediatric medication errors in the South African healthcare setting are comparatively understudied. Objectives. To determine the incidence of medication errors in neonatal and paediatric inpatients, investigate the origin of medication errors that occurred and describe and categorise the types of medication errors made in both the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and paediatric wards. Methods. The study followed a prospective, quantitative design with a descriptive approach. A prospective record review of inpatients' medication charts was undertaken to determine what was prescribed by the physician, dispensed by the pharmacy and administered by the nurses. The researcher also directly observed the preparation and administration techniques as performed by the nurses. A medication error checklist was used to collect the data. Results. A total of 663 medication errors were detected in 227 patients over the study period of 16 weeks, of which 177 (78%) patients had one or more error(s). There were 338 (51%) administration errors and 309 (47%) prescribing errors. Incorrect dosing was the most frequent type of error (34%), followed by omission of medication (18.5%) and medication given at the incorrect time (12%). The causes of these medication errors were mostly due to miscalculation (26%), failure to monitor (15%) and procedures not followed (15%). Anti-infectives (43%) and analgesics (25%) had the most errors. In 118 (67%) patients the errors resulted in no harm to the patient, whereas in 59 (33%) patients the medication error resulted in some level of harm. Conclusion. The incidence of medication errors in the NICU and paediatric wards at the teaching hospital was higher than values reported elsewhere globally. Most errors occur during prescribing and administration of medication. Dosing errors are a common problem in paediatrics. Therefore, a formalised system to record these errors should be introduced alongside regular discussions on preventive measures among the multidisciplinary team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's health sector is faced with a shortage of skilled personnel in key areas, such as pharmacy. Due to these staff shortages it is difficult to allocate pharmacists to work full time in clinical units. Schellack and Gous (2010) designed a Pharmaceutical Care Risk Assessment Sheet (PCRAS) to prioritize patients in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for the clinical pharmacist practicing pharmaceutical care. An operational prospective study with a cross sectional design was followed. During the three month study period, 61 patients were enrolled. The total time spent in the NICU was 161 hours in 43 days, i.e. an average of 3.57 hours per day. The pharmacist spent the majority of the time (71 %) with patient care related interventions. Using the PCRAS scores the patients were prioritised into three categories e.g. low, moderate or high. All the patients were seen by the pharmacist for a total of 375 occasions, with an average of 6.15 consultations per patient. Over the study period the researcher made 153 interventions with a mean average of 2.46 interventions per patient. The mean medicines prescribed per patient were 7.97. The pharmaceutical risk assessment sheets allows for risk stratification in prioritizing patient care for the clinical pharmacist. This might save the pharmacist time and enable them to assist with other functions e.g. dosage preparations and stock control in the pharmacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a rapid approval of new antiretroviral treatment (ART) drugs and continuous change in ARV regimens. In South Africa, the National Department of Health (NDoH) has formulated the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. (HIV) Treatment Guidelines that governs the public and private health sector on HIV management. The aim of the study was to assess the level of knowledge of pharmacists working for a specific retail pharmacy group on adult HIV treatment as prescribed by the NDoH in 2010. The study used a quantitative cross-sectional study design. During the study period, a total of 51 pharmacists were employed by the specific retail group in South Africa, and of these 27 pharmacists responded with a response rate of 52.9%. Female respondents formed the majority of the respondents (56.0%) with an average age of between 23 - 65 years. Gauteng Province had the highest response rate of 48.2%. The majority of the respondents (74%) have been with retail pharmacies for less than five years. The pharmacists' knowledge on ARV drugs and regimens were between 49.7 - 50%. They had a higher level of knowledge on ARV drugs (74%). Respondents were not able to pass (46.3%) sections pertaining to side effects, drug interactions and contra-indications. Overall achievement on this assessment for the respondents was 48.1%, which indicate that pharmacists working for this specific private retail pharmacies lack sufficient current knowledge on HIV and its management. Therefore it would be recommended that they attend a targeted training course on HIV and its management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]