Prescriber’s Perception, Knowledge and Attitude towards Prescribing Error in the Pedriatric Ambulatory Care Minaa Tahir 1 ,Shumaila Nawaz 1 , Fatima Amin 1 , MariumZaka Butt 1 , Khawaja Tahir Mahmood 2 , IkramUl Haq 3 1 Department of Pharmacy, Lahore College Women University, Lahore 2 Drug Testing Laboratory, Government of Punjab, Lahore 3 Akhter Saeed College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lahore. Abstract Peads are a special population with unique therapeutic needs due to their distinct pharmacokinetic/Pharmacogenetic makeup. The aim of the present cross sectional prospective study was to analyze / evaluateprescriber’s perception, knowledge and attitude towards prescribing errors (PE) and rational prescribingwithin pediatric ambulatory care settings. 200 randomly selected general practitioners(RSGPs) at various public sector hospitals of Lahore were interviewed face to face byutilizinga semi quantitatively structured in depth data collection form.92.5% were not following any guidelines (off label use of drugs) regarding prescription writing and 70.5% believed and perceived that PE don’t occur. 54.4% were unaware about WHO concept of RUD. 64% did not consider PE as precursor of ADR whereas 82% were totally unaware about the concept of pharmacovigilance. 99% never reported ADR. Majority appreciated the role of pharmacist in drug delivery system but only 2% were positive for association of pharmacist in prescribing. Extensive in depth training of all health care providers is indispensible to improve prescriber’s perception and knowledge regarding the ongoing irrational prescribing practices. Keywords: Pediatrics,Ambulatory-care, Perception, Prescriber, Prescribing error INTRODUCTION Pediatric care refers to the attainment of the optimum physical, emotional, and social health for neonates, infants and children below the age of 18 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics was founded in 1930 with the basic concept that children are a special population with diversifiedneeds. Use of drugs among children is mainly off label. Clinical trials are not widely conducted either due to shortage of funds, ethical issues to test children or due to unique physiological/pharmacogenomic variants presented by peads. Ambulatory care, the core element of primary health care, is a specialized form of out-patient medical care delivered to the patients who do not require admission to a hospital for treatment. Ambulatory care may be provided at physician offices, hospital emergency departments, urgent care centers or non- medical institution-based settings (schools or prisons). Chronic disease statemanagement may be sought withambulatory care appointments. Ambulatory care visits can help to cut down overall hospital operating costs. X-rays, ultrasounds, biopsies or basic laboratory test may be conducted during a regular visit to the ambulatory clinic. Common symptoms of patients being provided ambulatory care include respiratory infections, fever, pain, chest pain, GI disturbances etc [1, 2, 3]. Rational prescribingis aimedat reducing inappropriate prescribing practices and improving patient care [4]. The concept of right drug, right dose, right route, right time and right patient ensure rational drug therapy[5].Physician related factors, as well as social, environmental and economic factors govern the rationality of a prescription. Errors in prescription writing can occur irrespective of the age, gender, medication, dose, route of administration, or indication [6]. Medication errors result as a consequence of irrational prescribing.Medication errors (especially prescribing errors) have an increased potential to cause harm within the pediatric population as compared to adult populations[7, 8]. Medication errors are believed to be the most prevalent type of medical error and are a significant cause of preventable adverse events [9,10,11,12]. ‘‘A clinically meaningful prescribing error occurs when, as a result of a prescribing decision or prescription writing process, there is an unintentional significant (a) reduction in the probability of treatment being timely and effective Minaa Tahir et al /J. Pharm. Sci. & Res. Vol.3(11), 2011,1585-1592 1585