KidzMed

Kidzmed helps health and care staff teach children and young people how to swallow pills. It was developed at the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle and has won several national awards for quality and innovation. The programme consists of one 15-minute eLearning session and is supported by a number of downloadable resources.

Intended audience

This session is for all health and care professionals involved in giving medicines to children and young people, including:

• Members of the wider multidisciplinary team
• Carers who support medicine-taking
• Staff in hospitals, community services and primary care

Key areas covered

The session introduces:

• Why learning to swallow pills is important
• The benefits of pills over liquid medicines
• An evidence-based six-step technique for teaching pill swallowing
• Demonstrations and practical tips to support successful learning
• Resources to help set up pill-swallowing training in local services

Learning objectives

By the end of the session, learners will be able to:

• Explain why pill swallowing is a useful life skill for children and young people
• Understand the advantages of pills for patients, carers, prescribers and pharmacists
• Teach pill swallowing using a simple, structured six-step method
• Support families and colleagues to build confidence in pill swallowing