title: A systematic evaluation of paediatric medicines information content in clinical decision support tools on smartphones and mobile devices.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medication information is often poorly delineated for paediatric patients, resulting in high off-label and non-licensed use of drugs in this population. Access to accurate medicines information in this population becomes a necessity in order to avoid medication errors.  Clinical decision support tools (CDSTs), which are increasingly available on mobile devices (e.g. smartphones), can provide healthcare providers with convenient access to paediatric medicines information at point of care. However, to date no systematic evaluation of the content in these CDSTs  has been conducted.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate paediatric medicines information in CDSTs for smartphones and other mobile devices.
  
  
  METHODS
  Evaluation of CDSTs according to scope and completeness was accomplished via weighted categories of 108 questions distributed evenly  across three age groups: infants, children and adolescents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three paediatric-specific databases and six general databases were evaluated. The best performer provided 75.9% of the answers for scope and scored 69.7% for completeness. Databases generally performed less effectively  in providing answers sourced from clinical guidelines compared with more conservative sources such as package inserts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, general medicines information CDSTs performed better than paediatric-specific CDSTs in both scope and completeness. Results from this study  may help guide CDST selection on mobile devices by healthcare professionals whose patient populations include paediatrics.
authors: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Nova Southeastern University College of Pharmacy, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA. sbenavid@nova.edu
authors: Sandra
authors: S
authors: Benavides
authors: Hyla H
authors: HH
authors: Polen
authors: Chilla E
authors: CE
authors: Goncz
authors: Kevin A
authors: KA
authors: Clauson
mesh_terms: D040421:Cell Phone; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004346:Drug Information Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D010372:Pediatrics; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic