Palatability of liquid anti-infectives: clinician and student perceptions and practice outcomes

Oral liquid medications with poor palatability may lead to non-compliance, especially among children. Often, prescribers are not aware of the palatability of the agent that they are prescribing. Eighty-six health-care professionals participated in an open-label taste test of 24 anti-infectives in stock at a pediatric teaching hospital. A sample of the product was placed on a plastic spoon and participants were asked to evaluate their overall impression based on taste, texture, smell, and aftertaste. Participants were then asked to rank the individual products on a visual analog scale. Certain anti-infective formulations were perceived as being much more palatable than others. As a follow-up study, surveys were sent out to assess the impact of the taste test. Participants were asked to evaluate their prescribing and patient counseling habits both before and after the taste test. We found that half of the volunteers had altered their prescribing and/or medication counseling habits as a result of the taste test.