Role of Clinical Pharmacists in Supporting Pediatric Nurses in Safe Medication Management
Keywords:
Clinical pharmacist; pediatric nursing; medication safety; medication errors; medication administration; pediatric patients; dose calculation; medication reconciliation; high-alert medications; patient safety; pharmacist–nurse collaboration.Abstract
Medication management in pediatric practice is inherently complex because medication doses are frequently individualized according to body weight, age, developmental status, renal and hepatic function, and clinical condition. Pediatric patients are therefore vulnerable to prescribing, transcription, dispensing, preparation, administration, and monitoring errors. Pediatric nurses are central to medication administration and are often the final healthcare professionals to verify and administer medicines at the bedside. Clinical pharmacists can complement this role by providing pharmacotherapeutic expertise, dose verification, medication reconciliation, identification of drug interactions and contraindications, formulation guidance, therapeutic monitoring, education, and real-time clinical consultation. This narrative review examines the contribution of clinical pharmacists to pediatric medication safety, with particular emphasis on pharmacist–nurse collaboration. Published evidence indicates that pharmacist interventions can reduce medication errors in hospitalized pediatric patients, while nursing-focused interventions, standardized processes, double-checking, barcode medication administration, smart infusion technology, and education provide additional safeguards. However, pharmacist involvement alone cannot prevent all administration-related errors. Safe pediatric medication management therefore requires a multilayered system in which pharmacists and nurses perform complementary functions within a multidisciplinary team. Strengthening pharmacist access, medication reconciliation, dose verification, high-alert medication safeguards, clinical decision support, caregiver education, and non-punitive incident reporting may improve the reliability of pediatric medication-use processes. Future research should focus on standardized outcome measures, cost-effectiveness, staffing models, and implementation strategies across different pediatric healthcare settings.
