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A Pilot Study of the Pediatric Oral Medications Screener (POMS)
Laura Jacobsen1, Amee Patel2, Meghan Fox3
1Department of Pediatrics.
Insights
The Pediatric Oral Medication Screener (POMS) effectively identifies children needing help with pill swallowing. This tool can improve patient satisfaction and discharge planning for pediatric patients.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric pharmacology
- Patient safety
- Medication adherence
Background:
- Oral medications are common in pediatrics, yet children's ability to swallow pills is rarely formally assessed.
- Difficulty swallowing pills can lead to medication non-adherence and suboptimal treatment outcomes.
- The Pediatric Oral Medication Screener (POMS) was developed to address this gap.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of the Pediatric Oral Medication Screener (POMS) in identifying children who require intervention for pill-swallowing difficulties.
- To assess the impact of a targeted pill-swallowing intervention (POMS+) on children's ability to take oral medications.
- To explore the potential of POMS to improve patient satisfaction and discharge planning.
Main Methods:
- A pilot study involving 34 children aged 3-17 admitted to a general pediatric service.
- Children attempted to swallow placebo pills of varying sizes.
- Those failing to meet age-based goals were referred for the POMS+ intervention, with follow-up parental surveys conducted.
Main Results:
- 82% of patients (28/34) passed the POMS screening and continued oral medications.
- Six patients did not pass; 3 completed the intervention, improved swallowing, and were on oral medications at discharge.
- Parental prediction of swallowing ability was inaccurate (56%); 3 families reported satisfaction with the POMS+ intervention.
Conclusions:
- The POMS is effective in identifying pediatric patients who would benefit from pill-swallowing interventions.
- The POMS has the potential to enhance patient satisfaction and streamline discharge planning.
- Targeted interventions following POMS screening can successfully improve children's ability to take oral medications.
Objective:
Oral medications are commonly used to treat acute and chronic conditions, but formal evaluation of a child's pill-swallowing ability rarely occurs. In this pilot study, the Pediatric Oral Medication Screener (POMS) was used to physically assess a child's pill swallowing ability and identify children who would benefit from a targeted intervention.
Methods:
We identified children 3 to 17 years old admitted to a general pediatric service over a 3-month period in 2014. Patients were asked to swallow several different-sized placebo formulations. If subjects did not meet age-based goals, they were referred for pill swallowing interventions (POMS+). Follow-up parental surveys were performed for patients completing the intervention.
Results:
The prospective pilot study recruited 34 patients. Twenty-eight patients (82%) passed the screening, and a majority of this group started or continued taking pill medications. Six did not pass the screen. Three of the 6 completed the intervention, improved their pill swallowing ability, and were taking oral pill medications at discharge. Parent prediction of pill swallowing was accurate only 56% of the time. Follow-up survey of the 3 families who completed POMS+ reported satisfaction with the program, and 2 of the patients had continued success with swallowing pills 5 months later.
Conclusions:
The POMS was effective at identifying children who could benefit from an intervention to improve pill-swallowing ability. Our analysis demonstrated that POMS has the potential to improve patient satisfaction and discharge planning.
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