Routine investigations in paediatric psychopharmacology

Area of Science:

• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Medical Education
• Clinical Practice Guidelines

Background:

• Prescribing psychotropic medication in child psychiatry requires careful baseline assessment.
• Literature reviews identify essential investigations prior to initiating treatment.
• Current clinical practices may not align with established recommendations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify minimum baseline investigations recommended in child psychiatry literature.
• To assess the routine performance of these investigations by child and adolescent psychiatrists.
• To compare current practices with literature-based recommendations.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of medical literature on child and adolescent psychiatry prescribing.
• Establishment of a list of minimum recommended baseline investigations.
• Postal survey of child and adolescent psychiatrists to ascertain current clinical practices.

Main Results:

• Nine minimum baseline investigations are consistently recommended in the literature.
• Six investigations are performed by over 75% of surveyed psychiatrists.
• Only 30% of respondents consistently perform eight or more recommended investigations.

Conclusions:

• A consensus statement is needed to standardize recommended baseline investigations.
• Continuing medical education should emphasize the importance of these pre-prescribing assessments.
• Standardization of investigations can improve prescribing practices in child psychiatry.