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Aim: Studies on frequencies of manipulated medicines in paediatric care are common, but there is little knowledge of experiences of pharmacists and registered nurses in this area. The aim of this study was to explore registered nurses' and pharmacists' reasoning in the manipulation of medicines to paediatric inpatients. Methods: Semistructured interviews with twelve registered nurses and seven pharmacists were performed at a Swedish paediatric university hospital. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using content analysis. Results: Four major categories emerged from the analysis of the interviews: medicines management, knowledge, consulting others and organisation. Medicines management involved the process of drug handling, which is prescribing, reconstitution or manipulation and administration. Knowledge concerned both the knowledge base and how healthcare personnel seek information. Consulting others involved colleagues, registered nurses and pharmacists, between registered nurses, pharmacists and physicians and between registered nurses, pharmacists and caregivers. Organisation covered documentation, time and working environment. Conclusion: Both pharmacists and registered nurses stated that manipulation of medicines to paediatric patients was often necessary but felt unsafe due to lack of supporting guidelines. Pharmacists were natural members of the ward team, contributing with specific knowledge about medicines and formulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long term treatment of pediatric patients with oral anticancer drugs (OADs) requires the parents/caregivers to prepare the drug at home. The handling procedures in the home setting are, however, not regulated by Swedish law and the parents are often left without guidance on how to handle OADs in a safe way. Aim: The aim of this study was to increase understanding of how OADs are handled by parents/caregivers in the home setting before and after an intervention. Methods: Parents of pediatric cancer patients were observed and videotaped during their handling of OADs in the home setting before and after the intervention. During the intervention, the parents were provided with written instructions, movie clips and practical training on handling the OADs. Four checklists were used to compare and score the four handling procedures (measuring an oral suspension, cutting tablets, dissolving tablets, and opening capsules) for each parent before and after the intervention. Results: The intervention significantly improved the OAD handling procedures among the studied parents. The median score for correct handling was 19% (IQR: 3.6 to 30%) before the intervention and 89.5% (IQR: 71.5 to 94.5%) after the intervention (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: An intervention comprising practical training and information presented in different forms improved the handling of OADs at home by parents. There is an urgent need to implement this method in all oncology centers in Sweden, educate HCPs to standardize the presentation of information. There is also a great need to provide parents with age-appropriate oral drug formulations from the local hospital pharmacies in Sweden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the experiences of parents handling oral anticancer drugs in a home setting. Methods: Parents of children with cancer were recruited from a paediatric oncology ward in Sweden to participate in an interview. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to qualitative content analysis. Results: We found the following categories and subcategories: parents' views on the provided information—lack of, too little or contradictory information, and parents' preferences for information delivery; safety over time; correct drug dose; and drug administration. As time passed, most parents adapted to their child's illness, felt safer and found it easier to take in and process any given information. Parents preferred information in different formats (written, movie clips and orally) and in their mother tongue. Many parents were aware of the importance of giving an accurate dose to their child and described the process of drug administration as overwhelming. Conclusion: Parents need to be provided with accurate, timely, nonconflicting and repeated information—in different forms and in their mother tongue—on how to handle oral anticancer drugs at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a registry-based study with the aim of describing and comparing the frequency of manipulations of solid oral and rectal medicines in 2009 and 2019 at inpatient units and an emergency department in a paediatric hospital within a Swedish university hospital. All patients aged 1 month–18 years with oral or rectal administrations were included. In total, 140,791 oral and rectal administrations were included in 2009, and 167,945 oral and rectal administrations were included in 2019. The frequency of patients receiving at least one manipulated oral medicine decreased between the study years, both in inpatient units and in the emergency department (from 19% to 17%, p = 0.0029 and from 11% to 5%, p < 0.0001, respectively). The frequency of patients receiving a manipulated rectal medicine also decreased between the study years, both in inpatient units and in the emergency department (from 22% to 10%, p < 0.0001 and from 35% to 7% 2019, p < 0.0001, respectively). The results show a decrease in the manipulation of both oral and rectal medicines to paediatric patients in 2019 compared to 2009. Even though this implies a safer practice, there is still a pronounced lack of child-friendly dosage forms and suitable strengths enabling the safe administration of medicines to sick children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Aim Method Results Conclusions The shift of treatment of paediatric cancer patients to include more care at home puts a lot of pressure on health care professionals (HCPs) to prepare and train parents on safe and correct drug handling at home. Parents must take in and understand the information presented to them while coping with their own fear related to their child's cancer diagnosis. In Sweden, parents are expected to handle and manipulate oral anticancer drugs (OADs) in the home setting. There is however a lack of a standardized method to inform and educate parents on how to handle OADs in a correct way at home.To describe parents' experiences of handling OADs at home after participating in an educational intervention.Educational intervention in the present study aimed to improve parents' knowledge in key concepts that is, handling OADs at home by using information presented in different forms. Fifteen parents to 12 children with cancer were recruited from a paediatric oncology ward in Sweden to participate in an interview. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and subjected to qualitative content analysis.Parents' experiences are presented in categories: Relieved stress, Awareness of own exposure, Facilitated my everyday life, Parents need continued support individually. The educational intervention resulted in both positive and negative feelings, increased awareness of drug exposure and correct drug handling at home. Practical training and information presented in different ways facilitated the process of drug handling. To handle the drug correctly at home parents requested to be trained and informed in the beginning of their child's oral drug treatment. In addition, parents requested to be individually approached by HCP to get answers to questions and concerns.This educational intervention study shows promising results for the method used by HCPs to inform and educate parents on complicated topics such as handling OADs at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]