Prescribing in a pediatric hospital setting - Lost in translation?

To determine parental understanding of directions on common pediatric prescription pharmacy labels and to identify enablers and barriers that affect interpretation of these labels.

Prospective qualitative descriptive study (July to August 2020) of 20 parents in post-surgical wards at a single Australian tertiary pediatric center.

Four key themes emerged through inductive analysis of the interview transcripts: 1) the addition of specific directions, such as administration with/without food and treatment course duration were perceived to be beneficial; 2) explicit phrasing of dosing intervals and times were more easily interpreted; 3) the use of simpler and common terminology enhanced understanding of the directions; and 4) presentation of multiple-step directions (e.g. tapering regimens) in a simplified and more organized manner was identified as an enabler and was thought to reduce confusion.

Differences in wording and presentation of pediatric prescription medication label directions led to variable interpretation by parents.

Therefore, there is a need for guidelines to standardize the wording of prescription medication advice labels. Findings from this study can be used to achieve this goal.