A telephone survey to determine the experiences of children and their parents/carers, following the initiation of a new medicine

Abstract

Objective To determine what issues are experienced during the first few weeks of therapy by patients, and their parents/carers, when a child/young person has been prescribed a new medicine. Method One hundred patients aged ≤18 years of age prescribed a new medicine for ≥6 weeks were recruited from a single UK National Health Service specialist paediatric hospital outpatient pharmacy. Six weeks after the first dispensing of their new medicine the patient or their parent/carer received telephone follow-up by a researcher and verbally completed a questionnaire containing both open and closed questions. Patient or parent/carer experiences were identified and analysed using thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. Results Eighty-six participants were available for telephone follow-up. Six (7%) had not started their medicine. Paediatric patients and their parents/carers experienced a range of issues during the first few weeks after starting a new medicine. These included additional concerns/questions (24/80, 30%), administration issues (21/80, 26.3%), adverse effects (29/80, 36.3%) and obtaining repeat supplies (12/80, 15%). The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale indicated that 34/78 (43.6%) participants had a high adherence rating, 35/78 (44.9%) medium and 9/78 (11.5%) a low rating. Conclusions Paediatric patients and their parents/ carers experience a range of issues during the first few weeks after starting a new medicine. Further research is required to determine the type of interventions that may further support medicines use in this group of patients.

Community pharmacy role in children’s health in England: Experiences and opinions of parents and young people

“…Few participants visited to seek advice for a child‐related matter. Similar outcomes have been reported in previous studies (Allen et al., 2002; Aston et al., 2016). Also, only some (12.9%, 32/249) of those who came to collect or buy medicines asked for further information during their consultation with the pharmacist.…”

“…Using an assumption (Aston et al., 2016; Hasan et al., 2015) of an overestimated response distribution of 50%, a 5% margin of acceptable error and a 95% confidence interval in the true population, a total sample size of 380 participants were estimated to provide sufficient responses to make valid comparisons in the true population.…”

“…A questionnaire containing open‐ and closed‐ended questions, based on a review of the relevant literature (Aston et al., 2016; Birchley & Conroy, 2001, 2002; Braun & Clarke, 2006; Hasan et al., 2015; Mclntyre et al., 2003), was used by the researcher to conduct the interviews over a 1‐month period in each CP, at different times of the day during the pharmacy opening hours (between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.) and over the weekend to ensure a range of customers was represented. Administering the questionnaire by the researcher was chosen as an appropriate approach as opposed to self‐completed by participants to avoid the risk of an incomplete or no return questionnaire.…”