Pediatric Informatics: Computer Applications in Child Health (Health ...

Chapter 27
Dispensing: Pharmacy Information Systems
Sandra H. Mitchell, Michael A. Veltri and George R. Kim
Objectives
To provide an overview of the roles of pharmacists and pharmacy information
systems (PharmIS) in medication management and delivery
To outline the structure and functionalities of PharmIS
To distinguish the needs of pediatric medication processes
27.1 Introduction
Medication delivery and administration, especially in inpatient settings, are complex
and error prone processes. The multiple dimensions and levels of detail to which
specific drugs must be specified, the numbers of handoffs and transformations
(calculation and conversion) of patient and drug specific data that must occur, and
the manipulations (compounding, dilution, and dose preparation), make medication
delivery highly vulnerable to variation and errors of commission and omission.
In pediatrics, these complexities (and the potential for error and harm) are further
magnified by the special needs of children: universal weight-based or body
surface area-based dosing, the need for alternative drug forms and routes of administration,
differential pharmacokinetics in developing physiologic systems and the
long-term and cumulative effects of drugs. To improve pediatric medication safety,
automation, and information technology (IT) are used to standardize and streamline
the drug and associated data processes.
27.2 Roles of Pharmacists and Pharmacy Information
Systems (PharmIS)
Pharmacists and pharmacy information systems (PharmIS) are central to two
separate but intimately related medication processes: medication management and
medication delivery.
C.U. Lehmann et al. (eds.), Pediatric Informatics: Computer Applications 345
in Child Health, Health Informatics,
© Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009