The perceived benefits of student pharmacists educating children about over-the-counter medication safety

Perspectives of pharmacy staff on provision of self-care and minor ailment education in primary schools: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Pharmacy professionals, given their health expertise, can play a role in enhancing health education within their communities and among patients. The potential of the pharmacy workforce to enhance health education among primary school children is underexplored.

AIM

This study aimed to investigate the perspectives of pharmacy staff on the provision of education regarding self-care and treatment of minor ailments to primary school-aged children and to identify roles that pharmacists could play in this regard.

METHOD

Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted online with frontline pharmacy staff in the UK who had patient facing roles with primary school-aged children and parents. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic data analysis was applied to the transcripts.

RESULTS

A total of 17 participants were recruited. Participants included 12 pharmacists, two pharmacy technicians and three pharmacy dispensers. All participants worked within community, hospital or primary care facilities. Five themes emerged from the data analysis: sources of health knowledge accessed by children and parents; a perceived lack of knowledge regarding self-care and treatments for minor ailments among children and parents; a perceived positive impact of education on self-care; barriers to health education; and the potential role of pharmacy staff in self-care education in schools.

CONCLUSION

Pharmacy staff recognise the value of integrating health education into primary school curricula. A collaborative approach with educational institutions could bridge the gap in knowledge regarding self-care and treatment of minor ailments, and could empower children and reduce unnecessary use of healthcare resources.

Adolescents' awareness about prescription opioid misuse and preferences for educational interventions

OBJECTIVES

This study explored adolescents' awareness about prescription opioid misuse, sources of medication information, and educational preferences.

DESIGN

An online survey explored adolescents' understanding and perceptions of prescription opioids and opioid misuse and safety, medication information sources, and educational preferences.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Eligible participants included students from 3 Wisconsin high schools who could speak and understand English. Participants were recruited through "backpack mail" and completed surveys online at school.

OUTCOME MEASURS

Survey responses were compared across demographic information of the study participants. Binary response items were compared across demographic strata by Fisher exact tests, and Likert responses were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis tests.

RESULTS

A total of 190 students (53% female, 53% white, 32% Hispanic) were surveyed. Most (83.5%) considered using someone else's opioid medication to be misuse, 85.2% identified using opioids at a higher dose or frequency than prescribed as misuse, and 67.6% considered using an opioid prescription after its expiration date to be misuse. Approximately 90% of students perceived that opioid misuse causes some, quite a bit, or a great deal of harm to a person's physical and mental health and school ability. Many students were able to correctly identify examples and consequences of misuse, however 24.7% believed that flushing opioids down the drain was dangerous. The most common source for finding information about opioids was Google or other search engines (67.6%), followed by talking with parents (56.7%), talking with a doctor or nurse (54.9%), and online videos (42.3%).

CONCLUSION

Adolescents have some opioid safety knowledge, but there is a clear opportunity to increase knowledge and understanding of risks. Adolescents could benefit from opioid safety education, particularly on safe storage and disposal, harms of misuse, and strategies for discouraging peer opioid misuse.

The difficulties experienced during the preparation and administration of oral drugs by parents at home: a cross-sectional study from Palestine

BACKGROUND

Failure to properly administer drugs to children at home may cause adverse events, which makes it a challenging job for parents or caregivers. The main goal of this study was to investigate the problems and difficulties that parents or caregivers faced when administering oral drugs to their children at home.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire consisting of 'yes/no' and multiple-response questions to assess parents' experiences and problems with administering medication to their children at home. Data was collected from parents who visited primary health care centres in Nablus. Descriptive analysis was conducted to describe the characteristics of the sample.

RESULTS

We interviewed 420 parents. 91.9% of the parents used drugs without prescription from a doctor, and the most commonly used non-prescription medicines were antipyretics (n=386, 100%), influenza drugs (n=142, 36.8%), cough drugs (n=109, 28.2%) and antibiotics (n= 102, 26.4%). The study showed that 21.7% of parents used teaspoon and 7.1% used tablespoon in administering liquid medications to their children. When the children refused taking liquid medications, almost two-thirds of the parents (65.7%) insisted their children take them, 21.5% mixed it with juice, 5.2% mixed it with food and 4.7% mixed it with milk. 12.4% of the parents reported that they gave drugs in doses higher than prescribed by the doctor to treat their children more quickly. Also, our study revealed that 80.5% of the parents gave medications at incorrect intervals.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has shown that there is a proportion of caregivers or parents who administer oral drugs to their children incorrectly, which may involve giving them at the wrong intervals or doses, using incorrect instruments, or mixing them with food, juice or milk. The development of educational programs that will provide parents with education about medication administration is therefore recommended.

The Effect of a Student Pharmacist Directed Health-Education Program for Elementary-School Children

Objective:

The primary objective of this study was to measure the effect of an annual student pharmacist led elementary-school health education program by assessing children’s comprehension of educational sessions. Secondary objectives were to evaluate student pharmacists’ knowledge of health-related topics and practice skills.

Methods:

Student pharmacists led interactive learning sessions for elementary school students on nutrition, physical activity, summer safety, hygiene, medication safety, and tobacco prevention. Pre- and post-intervention surveys were administered to measure change in knowledge of health promotion and healthy lifestyles. Student pharmacists also completed pre- and post-health education intervention surveys to measure change in self-perception of knowledge, confidence, and practice application of health-related topics and practice skills.

Results:

Three-hundred and four elementary school children participated in the study with significant knowledge improvements observed in medication safety and tobacco prevention. Twenty-five student pharmacists completed surveys, resulting in a collective self-improvement in each area measured.

Conclusion:

Interactive educational sessions led by student pharmacists have a positive impact on elementary school children’s knowledge. Student pharmacists also demonstrated professional growth through increased knowledge, confidence, and communication skills in interacting with pediatric populations.

Practice Implication:

A co-curricular educational activity allowed student pharmacists to promote health and wellness to elementary students, a Healthy People 2020 goal, while also providing an opportunity to develop professional skills for future practice with pediatric patients.