PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - E S Starkey AU - H M Sammons TI - Practical pharmacokinetics: what do you really need to know? AID - 10.1136/archdischild-2013-304555 DP - 2015 Feb 01 TA - Archives of disease in childhood - Education & practice edition PG - 37--43 VI - 100 IP - 1 4099 - http://ep.bmj.com/content/100/1/37.short 4100 - http://ep.bmj.com/content/100/1/37.full SO - Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed2015 Feb 01; 100 AB - Having some understanding of pharmacokinetics is important for all clinicians when prescribing medications. Key elements to effective and safe prescribing include making sure that we don't underdose a medication making it ineffective, but also do not overprescribe a treatment known to cause toxic effects. In paediatrics, there are significant physiological and developmental differences that add to the challenges of safe prescribing. This article aims to provide the clinician with some basic paediatric pharmacokinetic principles with clinical examples to aid their prescribing skills.