Pediatric prescribing in tertiary care teaching hospital of Delhi (India): fragmenting medicines for use.

Lack of availability of age-appropriate dosage forms for children often results in use of adult dosage forms, which are administered to children after crushing or breaking. This can result in inappropriate doses being given to the children. This study was done to assess the prescribing pattern of use of medicines that had to be fragmented or crushed for use in relation to the age of the child.

Availability of Pediatric Formulations in Public Health Care System in India: A Case Study.

Objectives: To assess the availability of pediatric formulations in Essential Medicines Lists and public health care facility in India.

Methods: Availability of pediatric formulations in the public health sector was evaluated by assessing inclusion of pediatric formulations in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), Delhi Essential Medicine List (DEML), Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) Essential Medicines Lists (EML) and comparing it with the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines for children (WHO, EMLc). In addition, availability of 30 essential medicines in a public, tertiary care hospital was assessed over a period of 1 y.