BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Health Serv.
Sec. Patient Safety
Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frhs.2025.1569531
This article is part of the Research TopicPatient Safety in Low Resource SettingsView all 4 articles
Pediatric Medication Management Barriers Faced by Providers Serving Underserved Populations and Proposed Solutions
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, United States
- 2Rady Children's Hospital, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, California, United States
- 3Children's Hospital of Orange County, Orange, California, United States
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While families with limited English proficiency and/or low health literacy face increased risks of medication errors, poor medication management, and non-adherence, little is known about the barriers pediatric medical providers experience when educating families on medication use and compliance. This study explores provider-reported barriers and proposed solutions to improving medication management.Focus group discussions were selected to obtain data as they can provide rich insight into participants' perspectives. From December 2019 to September 2020, focus group discussions were conducted with pediatric providers from four clinics located in Medically Underserved Areas/Medically Underserved Populations/or Health Professional Shortage Areas, which are geographic areas/populations with limited primary care access. Initially held in person, focus groups shifted to virtual formats during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two investigators independently coded each focus group in an iterative process and worked with a third investigator to discuss and refine emergent themes via inductive thematic analysis.Sixteen providers participated across four focus groups. Four major themes were reported as barriers: 1) Time constraints, 2) Provider's lack of medication and logistical knowledge, 3) Incomplete or absent patient medication information, and 4) Complexity/inefficiency of the electronic health records system (EHR). Providers identified three possible solutions to such barriers: 1) EHR optimization or technology tools, 2) Dedicated medication educators, and 3) Video/graphic tools.Pediatric providers face barriers in supporting families with medication management including lack of time, knowledge, information, effective EHR. Proposed solutions such as improved technology, dedicated educators, and visual aids may help address these issues while potentially decreasing medication errors.
Keywords: medication, Health Literacy, Medically Underserved Areas Provider's Barriers Affecting Pediatric Medication Management, Medically Underserved Area (MUA), Health professional shortage areas (HpSA)
Received: 01 Feb 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Rungvivatjarus, Huang, Winckler, Fisher and Rhee. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tiranun Rungvivatjarus, School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, United States
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