Sil Amrita, Sengupta Chaitali, Das Alak Kumar, Sil Puspita Das, Datta Supratim, Hazra Avijit
Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Postgraduate Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
Department of Zoology, Tamralipta Mahavidyalaya, Tamluk, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2017 Jul-Sep;6(3):636-642. doi: 10.4103/2249-4863.214433.
Caregivers of sick children have to be careful with medicine dosing and giving medicines to a reluctant child can be challenging.
To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of caregivers regarding pediatric medicine administration and health literacy allied to this task.
This cross-sectional study was carried out on outpatient and inpatient basis in the pediatrics department of a teaching hospital over 6 months.
Data regarding sociodemographic profile of patient and caregiver, idea regarding pediatric dosage forms, dosing of medicines, and medication errors during administration were recorded from 377 caregivers. Reconstitution of dry powder and measurement of 5 mL liquid medicine using measuring cup of the medicine phial was demonstrated by the caregivers.
Association assessed by point biserial correlation and Spearman's rank correlation.
Majority of the primary caregivers surveyed were young, educated, homemaker mothers. Liquid medicines were used maximally (88.9%). Majority (87.3%) of the caregivers used standardized dosing instruments to measure liquids and reconstitution (85.9%), and teaspoon measurement task (91%) was performed satisfactorily by most. Some potentially wrong practices (e.g., adding medicine to milk, redilution of reconstituted medicine, and storing beyond the recommended period) were recorded. Medication errors were reported by 44.5% caregivers, significantly more in the outpatient setting. Although the statistical correlation was weak, the chance of medication error was less, and the precision of measurement was better with increasing education of the caregiver.
Physicians need to be aware of the limitations of knowledge and the possibility of wrong administration practices among caregivers of children. Remedial measures in this regard can reduce the risk of medication errors.
患病儿童的照顾者必须谨慎用药剂量，而给不情愿服药的孩子喂药可能具有挑战性。
评估照顾者在儿科用药管理方面的知识、态度和做法，以及与此任务相关的健康素养。
这项横断面研究在一家教学医院的儿科门诊和住院部进行，为期6个月。
从377名照顾者那里记录了患者和照顾者的社会人口学特征数据、关于儿科剂型的认识、药物剂量以及给药过程中的用药错误。由照顾者演示干粉的复溶以及使用药瓶的量杯测量5毫升液体药物。
通过点二列相关和斯皮尔曼等级相关评估相关性。
接受调查的大多数主要照顾者是年轻、受过教育的家庭主妇母亲。液体药物使用最为广泛（88.9%）。大多数照顾者（87.3%）使用标准化给药工具来测量液体，复溶操作（85.9%）以及茶匙测量任务（91%）大多完成得令人满意。记录了一些潜在的错误做法（例如，将药物加入牛奶中、对复溶后的药物进行再次稀释以及超过推荐期限储存）。44.5%的照顾者报告了用药错误，门诊环境中的错误明显更多。尽管统计相关性较弱，但随着照顾者教育程度的提高，用药错误的几率较小，测量精度更高。
医生需要意识到照顾儿童的人员在知识方面的局限性以及错误给药做法的可能性。在这方面采取补救措施可以降低用药错误的风险。
