Children are not mini adults. This is true of prescribing also where the physician has to prescribe a precise dose for each individual child. Moreover, it is not only pediatricians who need to be aware of this fact. Anyone who cares for children- whether he is a surgeon or dentist-needs to be well versed in pediatric prescribing. There are books available on this subject but one lacuna, which has been consistently felt by the authors as well as the users of these books, is that no information is available on the toxicity of drugs. This handbook includes a section on common adverse reactions for all the listed drugs. Drug interactions, where clinically significant, have also been included. Other information useful to the prescriber has been included in appendices. It is not meant to be a treatise on pharmacology but we do hope this handbook will aid in better drug therapy of children.

Contact: Dr Tejinder Singh, Dean and Professor of Pediatrics, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, 141008 India