Ošetřovatelské perspektivy 2020, 3(1):27-40 | DOI: 10.25142/osp.2020.004

MEDICATIONS ADMINISTRATED TO CHILDREN

Gabriela Světnická¹

¹ Ústav ošetřovatelství, Fakulta veřejných politik v Opavě, Slezská univerzita v Opavě

Background: Problems connected with children pharmacological research arise from lack of information about the safety and effectiveness of administered medications (Salas et al., 2016). Children vary from adults in physiology and pathophysiology of illnesses, which can lead to differences in the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic profile of the medication (Caldwell et al., 2004; Kearns et al., 2003). Inappropriate dosage of medications to children can cause growth problems and other health complications.

Aim: The goal of the study was to identify complications connected with administering medications to children. The study was designed as an overview study.

Methods: In the overview study, only full texts of technical articles in English were included which were published in the years 2011–2020. These texts presented results of studies related to issues connected with administering medications to children which were focused on complications, interactions, and side effects, which can affect child’s organism and damage it. The source of data was foreign technical licensed electronic databases ScienceDirect, CINAHL, PubMed, Google Scholar. From the initial 89 studies, 82 were excluded and 7 studies were used in the final survey.

Results: From the overview study results, it is evident that administering medications to children has its limitations. It is necessary to keep on mind interactions between medications and the possibility of causing damage to child’s organism. It is necessary to watch for allergic reactions to medication, and also to avoid administering certain combinations of medications due to the possibility of damaging children’s kidneys and other organs. From the survey, it is also apparent that administering medications is not only a matter of healthcare professionals but also of parents, who often give medications to their children.

Conclusion: The overview study confirms the most common complications which can occur while administering medications to children. It says what medications interactions are inappropriate for child’s organism and what allergic reactions are the most common. All these complications can lead to damaging a child patient, often irreversibly. Further research is necessary that will be focused on monitoring side effects of medications on child’s organism.

Keywords: medications, child, complication, side effects

Received: June 18, 2020; Revised: June 29, 2020; Accepted: July 14, 2020; Published: January 18, 2021  Show citation