P39 Establishment of the swiss database for dosing medicinal products in pediatrics

Background Drug therapy in children is challenging. Due to the lack of licensed drugs for paediatric use, off-label or unlicensed prescription is frequent. To improve quality and safety of prescription of medicinal products for children in Switzerland, the requirement to create and continuously run a national database was added in the revision of the therapeutic products act (TPA Art. 67a). The task of operating the database was given to SwissPedDose, an association representing eight Swiss children’s hospitals, the Swiss Society of Paediatrics (SGP) and the Swiss Association of Public Health Administration and Hospital Pharmacists (GSASA). Methods Substances used in three therapeutic areas ‘general paediatrics’, ‘infectious diseases’ and ‘neonatology’ are selected according to their frequency of use in the eight participating hospitals. Dosage data of substance-indication pairs are requested from the hospital pharmacists. Based on these data and literature review a dosage suggestion consisting of substance, indication, route of administration, dose, daily repetitions and, if applicable, additional remarks is then elaborated by a specialised pharmacist of SwissPedDose. This suggestion is then discussed by experienced physicians delegated from the eight clinics. The elaboration, discussion and agreement on a national dosage recommendation takes place and is documented in an online platform specially programmed for this structured harmonisation process. Once an agreement has been achieved, the national dosage recommendation is sent to the eight participating clinics and published in a free accessible public database. Results As of December 31st 2018, 195 dosage recommendations for children including 87 indications and 54 substances have been harmonised and published and are available for medical professionals on https://swisspeddose.ch/database. Conclusion The goal of published recommendations for 100 substances by March 2021 is feasible to reach due to interprofessional collaboration. SwissPedDose may thus contribute to a more efficient and safe use of drugs prescribed to children in Switzerland. Disclosure(s) Source of Funding: Project funded by the Federal Office of Public Health. Conflict of interest: None, for all listed authors.