Table 1. Medications administered to children in hospital by parent/carers and nurses (n=5137).
| Variable | Nurse administered | % (95% CI) | Medications administered by parent/carer | Total dose administrations | |||||
| Yes: nurse observed | % (95% CI) | Yes: left with parent not observed | % (95% CI) | Yes: nurse observed or dose left with parent | % (95% CI) | ||||
| All dose administrations | 4092 | 79.7 (78.5–80.7) | 312 | 6.1 (5.5–6.8) | 733 | 14.3 (13.3–15.3) | 1045 | 20.3 (19.3–21.5) | 5137 |
| Time of dose administration | |||||||||
| Morning (07:00–9:59) | 1335 | 77.7 (75.6–79.6) | 107 | 6.2 (5.2–7.5) | 277 | 16.1 (14.5–17.9) | 384 | 22.3 (20.4–24.4) | 1719 |
| Day (10:00–15:59) | 1257 | 87.7 (85.9–89.3) | 97 | 6.8 (5.6–8.2) | 80 | 5.6 (4.5–6.9) | 177 | 12.3 (10.7–14.1) | 1434 |
| Evening (16:00–22:00) | 1500 | 75.6 (73.7–77.4) | 108 | 5.4 (4.5–6.5) | 376 | 19.0 (17.3–20.7) | 484 | 24.4 (22.6–26.3) | 1984 |
| High risk medicine* | |||||||||
| No | 3671 | 78.6 (77.4–79.7) | 274 | 5.9 (5.2–6.6) | 726 | 15.5 (14.5–16.6) | 1000 | 21.4 (20.3–22.6) | 4671 |
| Yes | 421 | 90.3 (87.3–92.7) | 38 | 8.2 (6.0–11.0) | 7 | 1.5 (0.7–3.1) | 45 | 9.7 (7.3–12.7) | 466 |
| Route of administration | |||||||||
| Oral | 2775 | 74.8 (73.4–76.1) | 297 | 8.0 (7.2–8.9) | 639 | 17.2 (16.0–18.5) | 936 | 25.2 (23.9–26.6) | 3711 |
| Inhalation/nasal | 93 | 50.3 (43.1–57.4) | 6 | 3.2 (1.5–6.9) | 86 | 46.5 (39.4–53.7) | 92 | 49.7 (42.6–56.9) | 185 |
| Rectal | 16 | 76.2 (54.9–89.4) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0–15.5) | 5 | 23.8 (10.6–45.1) | 5 | 23.8 (10.6–45.1) | 21 |
| Topical | 49 | 94.2 (84.4–98.0) | 2 | 3.8 (1.1–13.0) | 1 | 1.9 (0.1–10.1) | 3 | 5.8 (2.0–15.6) | 52 |
| Transdermal | 3 | 75.0 (30.1–98.7) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0–49.0) | 1 | 25.0 (1.3–69.9) | 1 | 25.0 (1.3–69.9) | 4 |
| Intravenous infusion | 791 | 99.6 (98.9–99.9) | 3 | 0.4 (0.1–1.1) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0–0.5) | 3 | 0.4 (0.1–1.1) | 794 |
| Intravenous injection | 242 | 99.6 (97.7–100.0) | 1 | 0.4 (0.0–2.3) | 0 | 0.0 (0.0–1.6) | 1 | 0.4 (0.0–2.3) | 243 |
| Other | 123 | 96.9 (92.2–98.8) | 3 | 2.4 (0.8–6.7) | 1 | 0.8 (0.0–4.3) | 4 | 3.1 (1.2–7.8) | 127 |
| Child with English as a second language | |||||||||
| Missing | 454 | 78.8 (75.3–82.0) | 47 | 8.2 (6.2–10.7) | 75 | 13.0 (10.5–16.0) | 122 | 21.2 (18.0–24.7) | 576 |
| No | 3213 | 78.9 (77.6–80.1) | 234 | 5.7 (5.1–6.5) | 624 | 15.3 (14.3–16.5) | 858 | 21.1 (19.9–22.4) | 4071 |
| Yes | 425 | 86.7 (83.4–89.5) | 31 | 6.3 (4.5–8.8) | 34 | 6.9 (5.0–9.5) | 65 | 13.3 (10.5–16.6) | 490 |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child | |||||||||
| Missing | 454 | 78.8 (75.3–82.0) | 47 | 8.2 (6.2–10.7) | 75 | 13.0 (10.5–16.0) | 122 | 21.2 (18.0–24.7) | 576 |
| No | 3490 | 79.9 (78.6–81.0) | 259 | 5.9 (5.3–6.7) | 621 | 14.2 (13.2–15.3) | 880 | 20.1 (19.0–21.4) | 4370 |
| Yes | 148 | 77.5 (71.1–82.8) | 6 | 3.1 (1.4–6.7) | 37 | 19.4 (14.4–25.6) | 43 | 22.5 (17.2–28.9) | 191 |
| Patient age | |||||||||
| <1 | 668 | 80.7 (77.8–83.2) | 51 | 6.2 (4.7–8.0) | 109 | 13.2 (11.0–15.6) | 160 | 19.3 (16.8–22.2) | 828 |
| 1 to <3 | 525 | 70.1 (66.7–73.3) | 100 | 13.4 (11.1–16.0) | 124 | 16.6 (14.1–19.4) | 224 | 29.9 (26.7–33.3) | 749 |
| 3 to <6 | 462 | 75.7 (72.2–79.0) | 61 | 10.0 (7.9–12.6) | 87 | 14.3 (11.7–17.3) | 148 | 24.3 (21.0–27.8) | 610 |
| 6 to <12 | 878 | 77.3 (74.8–79.6) | 60 | 5.3 (4.1–6.7) | 198 | 17.4 (15.3–19.7) | 258 | 22.7 (20.4–25.2) | 1136 |
| 12 to <16 | 1183 | 87.6 (85.7–89.2) | 28 | 2.1 (1.4–3.0) | 140 | 10.4 (8.8–12.1) | 168 | 12.4 (10.8–14.3) | 1351 |
| ≥16 | 376 | 81.2 (77.4–84.5) | 12 | 2.6 (1.5–4.5) | 75 | 16.2 (13.1–19.8) | 87 | 18.8 (15.5–22.6) | 463 |
| Patient sex | |||||||||
| Male | 1980 | 77.8 (76.1–79.4) | 188 | 7.4 (6.4–8.5) | 377 | 14.8 (13.5–16.2) | 565 | 22.2 (20.6–23.9) | 2545 |
| Female | 2112 | 81.5 (79.9–82.9) | 124 | 4.8 (4.0–5.7) | 356 | 13.7 (12.5–15.1) | 480 | 18.5 (17.1–20.1) | 2592 |
| Medications by Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification | |||||||||
| Analgesics (N02) | 894 | 83.1 (80.7–85.2) | 123 | 11.4 (9.7–13.5) | 59 | 5.5 (4.3–7.0) | 182 | 16.9 (14.8–19.3) | 1076 |
| Anti-epileptics (N03) | 211 | 63.2 (57.9–68.2) | 20 | 6.0 (3.9–9.1) | 103 | 30.8 (26.1–36.0) | 123 | 36.8 (31.8–42.1) | 334 |
| Antibacterials for systemic use (J01) | 641 | 88.8 (86.3–90.9) | 22 | 3.0 (2.0–4.6) | 59 | 8.2 (6.4–10.4) | 81 | 11.2 (9.1–13.7) | 722 |
| Psycholeptics (N05) | 216 | 74.2 (68.9–78.9) | 20 | 6.9 (4.5–10.4) | 55 | 18.9 (14.8–23.8) | 75 | 25.8 (21.1–31.1) | 291 |
| Drugs for acid-related disorders (A02) | 171 | 71.5 (65.5–76.9) | 12 | 5.0 (2.9–8.6) | 56 | 23.4 (18.5–29.2) | 68 | 28.5 (23.1–34.5) | 239 |
| Diuretics | 118 | 67.8 (60.6–74.3) | 10 | 5.7 (3.2–10.3) | 46 | 26.4 (20.4–33.4) | 56 | 32.2 (25.7–39.4) | 174 |
| Vitamins (A11) | 232 | 81.4 (76.5–85.5) | 3 | 1.1 (0.4–3.0) | 50 | 17.5 (13.6–22.4) | 53 | 18.6 (14.5–23.5) | 285 |
| Drugs for constipation (A06) | 104 | 68.9 (61.1–75.7) | 5 | 3.3 (1.4–7.5) | 42 | 27.8 (21.3–35.4) | 47 | 31.1 (24.3–38.9) | 151 |
| Blood substitutes and perfusion solutions (B05) | 132 | 75.9 (69.0–81.6) | 1 | 0.6 (0.0–3.2) | 41 | 23.6 (17.9–30.4) | 42 | 24.1 (18.4–31.0) | 174 |
| Anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic products (M01) | 105 | 74.5 (66.7–80.9) | 17 | 12.1 (7.7–18.5) | 19 | 13.5 (8.8–20.1) | 36 | 25.5 (19.1–33.3) | 141 |
| Corticosteroids for systemic use (H02) | 159 | 84.1 (78.2–88.6) | 11 | 5.8 (3.3–10.1) | 19 | 10.1 (6.5–15.2) | 30 | 15.9 (11.4–21.8) | 189 |
| Mineral supplements (A12) | 125 | 82.8 (76.0–88.0) | 2 | 1.3 (0.4–4.7) | 24 | 15.9 (10.9–22.6) | 26 | 17.2 (12.0–24.0) | 151 |
| Other | 984 | 81.376.3–86.6) | 66 | 5.54.2–6.9) | 160 | 13.211.3–15.4) | 226 | 18.716.3–21.3) | 1210 |
*
High-risk medications were defined by the hospital as anti-infectives, potassium and other electrolytes, insulin, narcotics/opioids and sedatives, chemotherapy agents and heparin, and other anti-coagulants.