Introduction
Children with chronic illness and short-term conditions often require medication that may need to be administered during school hours. The Department for Education (DfE) provides guidance on medicine management in schools.1 The document includes statements on staff training, medicines storage, quality and safe disposal and on record keeping. Individual schools are responsible for interpreting and implementing this guidance which means that different schools opt to manage medicines in different ways. To date, we do not know whether children, their parents, school staff and healthcare professionals (HCPs) are satisfied with how medicines are managed in schools.
Previous studies in the UK have found that schools have policies in place, have a designated member of staff responsible for the medical needs of pupils, and provide staff training.2 However, there is also considerable variation in local policy and practice.3 There are problems with access to medicines, privacy, adherence and side effects.4 5 A recent study in Finland identified a lack of consistency around medicines management at school.6
Several studies in the USA have identified medication errors: missed doses, overdose, double dose, incorrect medicine, transcription errors, expired medicines and incorrect storage.7–10 One US study found that one in four school secretaries with responsibility for administering medicines had not received any training.11 Another study reported poor standards of medication management.12 A study of parents’ understanding of medication management in US schools found poor awareness.13
This study aimed (1) to describe differences between how individual schools interpret guidance on how to manage medicines (2) to determine the nature of problems perceived by children, parents, teachers and HCPs in relation to medicines management in schools (3) to highlight differences between these perceptions.