Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37277885›Full record

ArticleJournal of health, population, and nutrition2023

Nurses' knowledge and practice regarding mixing medications with food: a multicenter cross-sectional study from a developing country.

Marah A Daibes, Rawan I Qedan, Samah W Al-Jabi, Amer A Koni, Sa'ed H Zyoud

Open access · goldAbstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of health, population, and nutrition, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
2.9field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Marah A DaibesDepartment of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839, Palestine.
Rawan I QedanDepartment of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839, Palestine.
Samah W Al-JabiDepartment of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839, Palestine. samahjabi@yahoo.com.
Amer A KoniDepartment of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839, Palestine.
Sa'ed H ZyoudDepartment of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839, Palestine. saedzyoud@yahoo.com.
An-Najah National University · PSNational University Hospital · SG

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDifferent pharmaceutical characteristics of the dosage form (DF) have a direct effect on how easily oral solid medicine is swallowed. The practice of crushing tablets or opening the capsule occurs daily in the hospital, and most nurses are unknowledgeable regarding these issues. Coadministration of medications with food can cause changes in drug absorption and lead to an alteration in gastrointestinal motility, which can cause an unexpected effect on the dissolution and absorption of the drug. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate nurses' knowledge and practices regarding the mixing of medications with food or drink in Palestine.

methodsFrom June 2019 to April 2020, a cross-sectional study was conducted, encompassing nurses working in government hospitals across various districts of Palestine. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews, using questionnaires that assessed nurses' understanding and implementation of mixing medications with food. The sampling method employed was convenience sampling. To analyze the gathered information, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21 (IBM-SPSS) was utilized.

resultsA total of 200 nurses participated in the study. The data show a significant difference between the median knowledge scores according to the department of work (p < 0.001). The highest median [interquartile] knowledge score of 15 [12-15] was found for nurses working in the neonatal intensive care unit. In addition, nurses in the pediatric ward and the men's medical ward had high scores of 13 [11.5-15] and 13 [11-14], respectively. In general, the results show that 88% of nurses modified oral DF prior to administration to patients. Regarding the type of food used, mixing medicine into juice was the most common procedure performed by nurses (approximately 84%); 35% of nurses used orange juice to mix with medicine. The most common reason for crushing was to administer medications to patients with a nasogastric tube (41.5%). In regard to medications, aspirin was the most frequently used drug that was crushed by the nurses (44%); however, 35.5% of nurses did not feel sufficiently trained to carry out this practice. Concerning the sources of information, 58% of nurses usually asked pharmacists for information about medications.

conclusionsThe results of this study show that crushing and mixing medications with food is common among nurses, and most nurses are unaware of the dangerous effect of this practice on patient health. Pharmacists, as medication experts, should participate in sharing knowledge about unnecessary crushing situations or when crushing should be avoided and try to find an alternative, when available, to aid administration.

Indexed as

Clinical CompetenceDeveloping CountriesChildCross-Sectional StudiesFoodHumansInfant, NewbornMalePharmaceutical PreparationsSurveys and QuestionnairesPharmaceutical PreparationsCrushingFoodKnowledgeMedicationMixingModificationNursesPractices

Identifiers

PMID37277885
PMCPMC10243023
OpenAlexW4379467513

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.