Optimising medication administration to children in hospital

Introduction: The administration of oral medication to ill children in hospital is well recognised as a challenging process for both nurses and parents. The child is often unaware of the purpose of the medication and may be reluctant to take unpleasant-tasting tablets and syrups, compounding the problem of lack of adherence to treatment in addition to all the well-recognised challenges faced by nurses when administering medication. This puts nurses at the front-line of the medicines management chain when children are admitted to hospital. The aim of this study is to pilot a novel observational technique to identify errors and patient challenges in the administration of oral medication to paediatric patients by nurses. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study applied a novel structured observational technique in which nurses’ practices and patients’ reactions were explored. The novelty of the tool is supported by the addition of three variables and a scale of acceptability of the medication to a design previously tested in other studies. The single-centre study was conducted in wards of a children’s hospital in Brisbane, Australia. The participants were registered and enrolled nurses that administer medication to ill children in the hospital. The number of medicines administered to patients will be recorded along with the number of times that the administration process could be improved. Any deviations from recommended practice will be classified as Medication Administration Errors (MAEs) Results: The preliminary data collected about the social interaction with the patient will be analysed descriptively and will incorporate new variables to the acceptability of medication. The likely link between MAEs and acceptability of the medication will also be explored. Discussion: The findings from this study will provide an opportunity to identify acceptability variables that can impact the way that children receive medication in the clinical environment and in their own homes, and to inform the design of educational interventions customised to those practices in a paediatric care