Medicines in Schools – A Survey of Stakeholders

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Medicines in Schools – A Survey of Stakeholders

  • IRAS ID

    182394

  • Contact name

    Matthew Peak

  • Contact email

    matthew.peak@alderhey.nhs.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    Alder Hey Children's Foundation NHS Trust

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    15/NW/0597, NW-Lancaster

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 11 months, 31 days

  • Research summary

    Background: It is vital that children who need to take medicines during the school day can do so safely and effectively. Most schools have a designated member of staff responsible for the medical needs of pupils, the provision of adequate support and training for these individuals is key. To our knowledge, no-one has studied whether the use of medicines in schools is as safe and effective as possible.

    Aim: To find out, from the people involved (stakeholders), whether they think the use of medicines in schools is as safe and effective as possible.

    Method: Questionnaires about medicine use at school will be given to all relevant stakeholders in the Liverpool area. The stakeholders are: young people with long-term conditions and their families, parents of children prescribed intermittent medicines, school staff, school nurses, community paediatricians, hospital paediatricians and hospital nurse specialists and pharmacists. The questionnaires have been adapted to make them suitable for each type of stakeholder and they do not ask for any personal information. The responses will be collated and summarised by the research team so that they can report how each stakeholder group responded. Parents of children prescribed intermittent medicines will be invited to take part in a brief telephone interview.

    Outcome: If the survey study demonstrates areas of practice which would benefit from improvements, we will design a follow-on study to develop and test intervention(s) to address this need.

  • REC name

    North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    15/NW/0597

  • Date of REC Opinion

    10 Jul 2015

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion