An insight into real-world practice : what information sources inform the prescribing for children with cancer in Scotland? A focus on emesis, tumour lysis syndrome (TLS), and Pneumocystis Pneumonia (PCP) prophylaxis

Within clinical practice, information sources such as clinical guidelines ensure practitioners apply evidence-based information, supporting both effectiveness and safety of the prescribed medicines. Paediatric cancer — a leading cause of death in children — is a complex condition, thus is an area where clinical guidelines are important to give guidance on, e.g., recommended doses, drug dispensing, and toxicity monitoring measures. However, exploring clinical guidelines/information sources and their content regarding medicine-pertaining aspects is rarely done despite the fact they directly inform patient care. This comment summarises the main findings of a document analysis study aimed to describe available documents and their content for Scotland-based paediatric prescribers in oncology wards and provides insights into the documents' comprehensiveness and consistency. The analysis covered three clinical indications which are either highly prevalent or troublesome in practice: emesis, tumour lysis syndrome (TLS), and Pneumocystis Pneumonia (PCP) prophylaxis.