RESUMO
Two investigations, one carried out throughout France (PediAD) and the other exclusively in Robert Debré pediatric hospital (PediEM), focus on the difficulties encountered by nursing staff when administering drugs to children, and the risk of medication errors. Medication errors can arise from dysfunctions at all stages of the drugs circuit, and may involve doctors, pharmacists or nursing staff. In pediatric hospitals they are mainly related to the lack of commercial products specifically designed Jor children. In Robert Debré Hospital, only one-third of commercial products in stock are authorized for pediatric use with no age limit. Thus, even in a hospital where drug distribution is entirely computerized (PCS Patient Care System software), where dispensing is based on the DIP system (daily, individual, and personal) but is not con trolled, and where almost all requirements for sterile and non sterile preparations are met but where validation is only partial, the system is far from being error-free. Two major improvements are planned. First, dispensing will be automated in 2006. With the current shortage of pharmacy technicians, this will securitize drug dispensing and provide for therapeutic and economic traceability. Second, integration of a pharmacist within each medical team is being compared with validation of prescriptions by a pharmacist in the hospital pharmacy.