Overcoming Pill Swallowing Difficulties in Adults With Pill Aversion

The work included in this dataset builds on that of the KidzMed team at Great North Children’s Hospital Newcastle-upon-Tyne who have developed a programme to teach children how to swallow solid oral dosage forms (pills) . This includes an e-learning for healthcare professionals, podcasts from those involved in the process, a parents/carers leaflet, and a support leaflet produced in several languages. The materials have proven effective at training paediatrics to swallow pills in several clinical settings in the United Kingdom.

The research team published a review paper exploring pill swallowing difficulties in healthy adults (those without any underlying psychological difficulties affecting swallowing). This work highlighted that a proportion (10-40%) of seemingly healthy adults may have difficulties taking their pills resulting in potential modification of dosage forms, skipping doses, and subsequent poor therapeutic outcomes. To date only one other study in the UK has explored pill swallowing difficulties in adults, and this was conducted by Liu et al in 2016 in adults aged over 65 years.
This work builds upon the existing evidence and KidzMed work focusing on exploring and addressing pill aversion in adults. An adult version of the KidzMed leaflet was prepared by the team and piloted in community pharmacies in the Liverpool region. The screening questionnaires drew on those previously published by other research groups and were deemed fit for purpose as they identified those warranting intervention. This was achieved through inclusion of PILL-5 a validated tool developed by Nativ-Zeltzer et al. Identified individuals were provided with the adult leaflet and the steps involved discussed with a member of the research team. Follow-up phone calls two weeks later confirmed that the leaflet was effective and had helped patients overcome their pill swallowing difficulties, with many having shared this learning with others.