Adjusting the dose in paediatric care: dispersing four different aspirin tablets and taking a proportion.

Journal: European journal of hospital pharmacy : science and practice
PMID:

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: When caring for children in a hospital setting, tablets are often manipulated at the ward to obtain the right dose. One example is manipulation of tablets containing the slightly water-soluble substance aspirin, used in paediatric care as an antiplatelet agent. The evidence base, however, for choosing certain tablet formulations and manipulation methods over others for extraction of proportions is lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of tablet formulation and manipulation technique on the dose accuracy and precision attained when dispersing different commercially available aspirin tablets and extracting a small proportion suitable for children.

Authors

  • Jørgen Brustugun
    Oslo Hospital Pharmacy, Hospital Pharmacies Enterprise, South Eastern Norway, Oslo, Norway jorgen.brustugun@sykehusapotekene.no.
  • Nikolai Notaker
    Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
  • Lasse Holtan Paetz
    Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
  • Ingunn Tho
    School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
  • Kathrin Bjerknes
    Hospital Pharmacy Enterprises Norway, Lørenskog, Norway.