Nurses' knowledge and practice regarding mixing medications with food: a multicenter cross-sectional study from a developing country.

Publisher: BioMedCentral Country of Publication: Bangladesh NLM ID: 100959228 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2072-1315 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 16060997 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Health Popul Nutr Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: May 2015- : London: BioMedCentral
Original Publication: Dhaka, Bangladesh : ICDDR,B: Centre for Health and Population Research, c2000-

Clinical Competence* ; Developing Countries*; Male ; Infant, Newborn ; Humans ; Child ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Pharmaceutical Preparations ; Food ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Background: Different pharmaceutical characteristics of the dosage form (DF) have a direct effect on how easily oral solid medicine is swallowed. The practice of crushing tablets or opening the capsule occurs daily in the hospital, and most nurses are unknowledgeable regarding these issues. Coadministration of medications with food can cause changes in drug absorption and lead to an alteration in gastrointestinal motility, which can cause an unexpected effect on the dissolution and absorption of the drug. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate nurses' knowledge and practices regarding the mixing of medications with food or drink in Palestine.
Methods: From June 2019 to April 2020, a cross-sectional study was conducted, encompassing nurses working in government hospitals across various districts of Palestine. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews, using questionnaires that assessed nurses' understanding and implementation of mixing medications with food. The sampling method employed was convenience sampling. To analyze the gathered information, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21 (IBM-SPSS) was utilized.
Results: A total of 200 nurses participated in the study. The data show a significant difference between the median knowledge scores according to the department of work (p < 0.001). The highest median [interquartile] knowledge score of 15 [12-15] was found for nurses working in the neonatal intensive care unit. In addition, nurses in the pediatric ward and the men's medical ward had high scores of 13 [11.5-15] and 13 [11-14], respectively. In general, the results show that 88% of nurses modified oral DF prior to administration to patients. Regarding the type of food used, mixing medicine into juice was the most common procedure performed by nurses (approximately 84%); 35% of nurses used orange juice to mix with medicine. The most common reason for crushing was to administer medications to patients with a nasogastric tube (41.5%). In regard to medications, aspirin was the most frequently used drug that was crushed by the nurses (44%); however, 35.5% of nurses did not feel sufficiently trained to carry out this practice. Concerning the sources of information, 58% of nurses usually asked pharmacists for information about medications.
Conclusions: The results of this study show that crushing and mixing medications with food is common among nurses, and most nurses are unaware of the dangerous effect of this practice on patient health. Pharmacists, as medication experts, should participate in sharing knowledge about unnecessary crushing situations or when crushing should be avoided and try to find an alternative, when available, to aid administration.
(© 2023. The Author(s).)

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Keywords: Crushing; Food; Knowledge; Medication; Mixing; Modification; Nurses; Practices

0 (Pharmaceutical Preparations)

Date Created: 20230605 Date Completed: 20230607 Latest Revision: 20230622

20230622

PMC10243023

10.1186/s41043-023-00396-0

37277885