Barriers to administering non-oral formulations in a paediatric population: A semi-structured interview study

Venables

Abstract

There is a paucity of research exploring barriers to non-oral medicines administration in paediatric patients; however, these undoubtedly influence medicines adherence. Studies conducted with healthcare professionals have identified various issues with the administration and acceptance of non-oral medicines and devices (Venables et al., 2012, Walsh et al., 2015). EMA (2014) guidelines specify that formulation teams should demonstrate ‘acceptability’ of paediatric formulations when developing pharmaceutical formulations.

Semi-structured interviews exploring barriers to administering non-oral medicines were conducted with young persons and the parents/legal guardians of children (0–17 years) with chronic conditions at the University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire, UK.

90 children prescribed a total of 148 non-oral medicines were recruited to the study; 88 barriers to administering non-oral medicines were reported. The most commonly reported barriers were: poor acceptance of face mask/difficulties with spacer for inhaled formulations (38% of reports); disliking parenteral/preferring alternative formulations (38% of reports); greasy texture of topical preparations; difficulty with administering an ocular ointment and the large dose volume of a nasal preparation.

Formulation teams should consider the use of child-friendly, age-appropriate designs to improve usability and acceptance, thus medicines adherence. These findings should be used to inform future development of non-oral formulations and devices, suitable in terms of safety, efficacy and acceptability to paediatric patients.

Citation

Venables. (2015). Barriers to administering non-oral formulations in a paediatric population: A semi-structured interview study. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 12 - 17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2015.11.010

• Acceptance Date: Nov 4, 2015
• Publication Date: Nov 28, 2015
• Journal: International Journal of Pharmaceutics
• Print ISSN: 0378-5173
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Pages: 12 - 17
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2015.11.010
• Keywords: Pediatric, Medicine, Formulation, Acceptability, Barriers to administration, Device, Usability
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2015.11.010