Aston Pharmacy School, Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Academic Practice Unit, Birmingham Children's Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2018 Feb 28;13(2):e0193292. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193292. eCollection 2018.
The appropriate prescribing of paediatric dosage forms is paramount in providing the desired therapeutic effect alongside successful medication adherence with the paediatric population. Often it is the opinion of the healthcare practitioner that dictates which type of dosage form would be most appropriate for the paediatric patient, with liquids being both the most commonly available and most commonly used. Orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) are an emerging dosage form which provide many benefits over traditional dosage forms for paediatric patients, such as rapid disintegration within the oral cavity, and the reduction in the risk of choking. However the opinion and professional use of healthcare practitioners regarding ODT's is not known. This study was designed to assess the opinions of several types of healthcare professionals (n = 41) regarding ODTs, using a survey across two hospital sites. Results reaffirmed the popularity of liquids for prescribing in paediatrics, with 58.0% of participants preferring this dosage form. ODTs emerged as the second most popular dosage form (30.0%), with healthcare practitioners indicating an increasing popularity amongst patients in the hospital setting, belief with 63.0% of practitioners agreeing that many liquid formulations could be substituted with a suitable ODT. The desired properties of an ideal ODT were also identified by healthcare practitioners preferring a small, fast disintegrating tablet (90.2% and 95.1% respectively), with the taste, disintegration time and flavour being the three most important attributes identified (29.5%, 28.7% and 21.7% respectively). This study provided a pragmatic approach in assessing healthcare professional's opinions on ODTs, highlighting the ideas and thoughts of practitioners who are on the frontline of paediatric prescribing and treatment and gave an indication to their preference for ODT properties.
儿科剂型的适当处方对于提供所需的治疗效果以及提高儿科人群的药物依从性至关重要。通常，医疗保健从业者的意见决定哪种剂型最适合儿科患者，而液体剂型是最常用和最常用的剂型。口崩片（ODT）是一种新兴的剂型，为儿科患者提供了许多优于传统剂型的优势，例如在口腔内迅速崩解，以及降低窒息的风险。然而，医疗保健从业者对口崩片的意见和专业使用情况尚不清楚。这项研究旨在通过在两个医院地点进行调查，评估几种类型的医疗保健专业人员（n=41）对口崩片的意见。结果再次证实了液体在儿科处方中的流行，有 58.0%的参与者更喜欢这种剂型。口崩片成为第二受欢迎的剂型（30.0%），医疗保健从业者表示，在医院环境中，患者对口崩片的使用越来越受欢迎，有 63.0%的从业者认为许多液体制剂可以用合适的口崩片替代。对口崩片理想特性的期望也得到了偏好口崩片的医疗保健从业者的认可，他们希望口崩片是一种小而快速崩解的片剂（分别为 90.2%和 95.1%），味道、崩解时间和口感是最重要的三个属性（分别为 29.5%、28.7%和 21.7%）。这项研究采用实用方法评估医疗保健专业人员对口崩片的意见，突出了处于儿科处方和治疗第一线的从业者的想法和思路，并表明了他们对口崩片特性的偏好。
