Med Adm

[bdbrdb]

I have a 9 year old patient who refuses to take his liquid and pill form meds. He spits them out and vomits when they are given. He'll refuse saying they make him sick. I've made his mom aware of this and she said she will notify his Dr. There are days when he takes his meds fine and then other days they make him "sick". Even with one antibiotic per order that says to crush and give PO he still says he can't take it. Apart from letting his parent know and charting when he does spit meds out or refuses I'm not sure what else I could do to help him take them more easily. I've tried apple sauce and he takes a bite but then spits it out. Does anyone have any ideas or tips for taking meds? TIA

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

Is he complaining about the taste, or is this just a power/control thing in your view?

[bdbrdb]

Is he complaining about the taste, or is this just a power/control thing in your view?

He complains about the taste. Just the thought of taking his meds makes him gag. That's why I try applesauce, yogurt, pudding. Sometimes he does fine and swallows his meds without any complaints and other days he just says he can't that they taste bad and make him sick.

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

If he's able to have ice cream (or sherbet or gelato or popsicles -- something frozen), try having him hold that in his mouth first to numb it up a bit... makes things not taste so bad. My son had to have a super-bitter antibiotic (even with pharmacist-added flavoring) for three weeks when he was a toddler, and I found that an ice cream appetizer with an ice cream chaser was the only way to make it happen.

Also, have his parents check with the pharmacist about adding flavoring if he has liquid meds -- they have really good ones now.

Is there any reason he can't just swallow his pills whole? No taste that way....