New elearning resource to teach children how to swallow pills

Health Education England elearning for healthcare has worked in partnership with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Great North Children’s Hospital to develop “Kidzmed” – an elearning programme developed for members of the multidisciplinary team to teach children and young people how to swallow pills.

It is believed that pills have numerous advantages over suspensions for children and young people, carers, prescribers and pharmacists:

• For children and young people: pills are less sickly, contain less sugar and children who swallow pills tend to have better adherence to their medication regimens
• For carers: pills have a longer shelf-life, do not require a fridge for storage, are easier to transport and more readily available in local pharmacies
• For prescribers: less prone to errors when writing prescriptions and can prescribe larger quantities
• For pharmacists: pills are more commonly stocked in local pharmacies compared to suspensions.

Due to the above benefits swallowing pills is considered an important life skill for children to learn and the elearning session has been developed to help healthcare professionals and carers teach children and young people how to swallow pills.

The Kidzmed initiative was set up at the Great North Children’s Hospital, Newcastle, and has won the NHS Sustainability Award, the HSJ Value Award for Pharmacy and Optimisation and the Bright Ideas in Health Award for Demonstrating an Impact upon Quality Improvement. The 15-minute elearning session is for all health and care professionals who want to teach children and young people how to swallow pills using an evidence-based, six-step technique.

For more information about the elearning resource, including details on how to access, visit the elfh website.