European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

KNOWLEDGE OF MOTHERS REGARDING ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICATION IN CHILDREN AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED DURING MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION TO CHILDREN

Ragima P. V., Rosmy Cyriac, Sandra Joy, Sayana Joshy, Shahina S., Shamla T. and Renita Priya Dsouza*

ABSTRACT

Background: Administering medications to the children is a great challenge for the parents, caregivers as well as to the health professionals. Children are different from adults in many aspects related to medication administration such as taste preference, medicine related toxicity etc. Assessing the knowledge of parents regarding the administration of medications to their children as well as to know what are the difficulties faced by them while administering medications to the children may help in planning appropriate interventions. Objective: To assess the knowledge regarding administration of medication in children and difficulties experienced during medication administration to children among mothers. Methods: A quantitative approach with descriptive survey design was adopted. The study was conducted in selected paediatric OPD at a medical college hospital in Mangaluru. The study subjects were100 mothers who are having children between the age of 0 to 12 years. A structured knowledge Questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Result: The study result showed that maximum percentage of (35%) study sample were between the age of 25-35 years, 39% were Muslims and 30% had primary education, 63% belonged to nuclear family and 50% of subject had 2 children. The study revealed that 60% mothers had good knowledge, 39% had average knowledge and only 1% had poor knowledge regarding medication administration in children. The study reveals that, 60% mothers felt more difficulty to administer the medication is for children below 5 years, 70% mothers said that oral route is more difficult for administration of medication, 40% mothers said they find difficulty in administering correct dose to the child as physician prescribed, 50% of mother replied that the main problem facing while administering medicine to the children is that they vomit immediately after medicine administration. Approximately 30% of mothers expressed difficulty to store the medications out of the reach of children and 90% of mothers said that tablet form of medication is more difficult to give to children. The study found there is significant association between knowledge scores and age of the mother, Educational qualification and number of children where as no association was found between knowledge with religion and type of family. Conclusion: The study findings reveal that majority of mothers had good knowledge about medicine administration but they face few difficulties while administering medicines to their children. So the study suggests that child health nurses should take initiative to educate the mothers regarding medication administration to their children. Nurses should clearly explain parents about prescription and clarify all doubts of mothers regarding medication administration.

Keywords: Knowledge, Medication administration, Mothers, Difficulties.