A Survey from a Tertiary Care Hospital in India on Pediatric Medication Re-Dosing Practices After Patient Vomiting

Abstract

OBJECTIVE The study was started in our institution to analyze the clinical problem and identify the benefits and drawbacks of current practices associated with drug re-dosing after vomitting. Opinions and perspectives from health care professionals from various pediatric hospitals were also gathered to build an effective and systematic protocol. METHODS Survey participants were recruited by using email distribution lists and forums catering to health care. Using this, 2 online surveys were carried out in the window period of 6 months. RESULTS Of the 14 responses from the study hospitals that were suitable for analysis, 64.2% reported pediatric patients that vomited after being administered oral medications: 7.1% faced this daily, 35.7% weekly, and 21.4% monthly. When respondents were asked to rate the importance of 8 factors potentially affecting the decision to re-dose, more than half indicated that the patient's vitals and condition (stable, unstable, or critical) were most important (57.4%), followed by time after ingestion (50%), familiarity with medication (42.8%), and formulation of medication (42.8%). Of 43 respondents from other institutions, only 11.9% had a functioning guideline for re-dosing in their institution. CONCLUSIONS Health care professional respondents to our surveys listed the time between ingestion and vomiting and the condition of the patient as the most important factors in their decision to re-dose the medication.