Survey on Visiting Nurses' Awareness of the Roles of Pharmacists in Pediatric in-Home Care

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an urgent need to build a pediatric in-home care system with multiple occupations. This study aims to clarify the role of pharmacists in this system by investigating what visiting nurses' expectation from them. A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted, targeting nurses enrolled in 10 home-visit nursing facilities. Responses were received from 51 nurses at six facilities, and the questionnaire collection rate was 42.5%. The primary role of the pharmacists that nurses regarded was the management of prescribed oral medications such as "mixing powders, single-dose packages at each time" and "sorting and summarizing each time medicine packages are taken." Other roles included providing information based on the drug's physicochemical properties such as "the tube gets clogged easily when the medicine is administered" and "do not crush the medicine when administering it." The findings of this study are novel because they revealed that pharmacists need to perform pharmaceutical assessments on the influences of changes in children's physical condition and the presence or absence of effects of drugs, and share information in real time. They also need to participate in a conference at discharge. For the first time, this study revealed the roles of pharmacists expected by nurses in pediatric in-home care. However, further knowledge or training are required, especially in terms of the relationship between the symptoms in children and the medicine administered, for pharmacists to effectively practice their roles.