Medication prescribing in paediatrics is complex and compounded by the need to provide age and weight related doses, and errors continue to be problematic. Electronic medication systems (EMS) can reduce errors through dosing calculators and computerised decision support. However, evidence on costs and benefits of these systems is limited, particularly in paediatric hospitals. This paper presents the development of a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) framework to assess the impact of an EMS implementation in a paediatric tertiary hospital. An innovative component of the framework is the incorporation of the impact of the effects of the EMS for both the health system as well as for patients and their wider family networks, allowing a net social benefit assessment. We describe the impact of non-clinical out-of-pocket costs of admission and use discrete choice experiments to measure both medication related harm and the importance of medication safety to families and members of the community.
Keywords: Medication errors; acute care; adverse drug events; economic evaluation; electronic medication systems; paediatrics.