Medication management in primary and secondary schools: assessing the knowledge and opinions of parents.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the knowledge and opinions of parents regarding medication management in their children's schools and to evaluate roles for pharmacists in this area.

METHODS

Cross-sectional survey of individuals caring for children between 5 and 18 years of age who take prescription medications at five community pharmacies, one daycare center, and one university. Main outcome measures were the opinions and level of understanding of parents regarding the medication management-related policies of their children's schools and how pharmacists can help the medication behaviors of children before or during school hours.

RESULTS

86 surveys were collected. Of participants, 89.5% reported the name of at least one prescription or over-the-counter (OTC) medication that their child was taking. The most common medications mentioned (40.5%) were those for asthma and/or allergies. More than 45% of children were taking at least two medications. Almost 27% of the medications were taken at school. More than 60% of participants indicated that a nurse was present at their child's school every school day. Of parents, 28.2% and 38.8% did not know whether prescription and OTC products, respectively, were allowed on school premises. The most common relevant service reported to be offered at community pharmacies was an additional labeled prescription container (22.1%), which was also a service that many parents would like to have pharmacies offer (39.6%). Many parents also desired to have a second inhaler for their child at school (34.9%) and that the pharmacy place a label on the inhaler and not just its box (37.2%). These two services were less commonly reported as being offered at pharmacies (22.1% and 12.8%, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Many participants in the current study were unaware of important school policies related to medication management. Also, the parents surveyed seemed to desire and felt they would benefit from services that community pharmacists could provide in a relatively simple way.