Undertaking safe medicine administration with children: part 1.

This is the first of two articles that aim to provide children's nurses with an opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge of medicines management when caring for children and young people. This first article outlines the principles of effective medicines management including the pharmacology language required to accurately read prescriptions, the way children respond to medicines, managing risk, including the concept of human error, and working in partnership with children, young people and families. The second article, to be published in September, will focus on numeracy and calculation skills, identified as an important risk factor associated with medication errors in children.