The Newborn Services Drug Protocols

The Newborn Service Drug Manual was commenced as a combined Nursing/Medical project in 1990 by Andrew James (Paediatrician) and Dorothy Cooper (Newborn Clinical Nurse Specialist). Andrew resigned from National Women’s Hospital in 1992 and took up a position at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada, where he has maintained his interest in clinical pharmacology in the neonate. Andrew was involved in the preparation of many of the original protocols.

Dorothy Cooper took over the role of co-ordinator of the Drug Manual once Andrew departed, but relinquished this role in 1998. Many of the protocols still carry her contributions.

Brenda Hughes, Clinical Pharmacist, became involved in 1998.  Pharmacy involvement is an essential part of ensuring the accuracy and safety of this manual.  Brenda has a particular interest in compatibility information in neonatal pharmacology.

Many senior nursing staff have also contributed to the drug protocols.

In February 2001, the protocols were published in an intranet format in order to reduce the risks of staff working off outdated "hard copy" protocols.  Requests from Level 1 and 2 neonatal units that referred to National Women's Health to access the web-based protocols provided the impetus for the entire website to be published on the internet in August 2001.  There has been further development of the many facets of the site, including the development of drug calculation programmes (David Knight and Carl Kuschel).

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Thanks also to Carolynn Whiteman, Newborn Services Manager, who has allowed significant time to be spent by nursing staff in the preparation of these protocols.

Apologies to anyone who may have unwittingly been left off this list.