Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Senior Thesis

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

Primary Major

Nursing

Thesis Advisor

Luanne Linnard-Palmer, RN, MSN, EdD, CPN

Abstract

The safety of medication in pediatric settings has become an increasing concern as gummy-formulated medications have gained popularity in children’s care. Gummy-formulated medications have a close resemblance to candy, and this may mislead children to ingest additional doses or more than what was prescribed. Children also depend a lot on their caregivers for medications. Therefore, the design of packaging would be impactful in supporting medication dosing accuracy. And studies have evaluated safety features of packaging related to adherence, misuse, and unintended administration. However, limited studies have examined the influence of medication packaging on the dosing accuracy at the time of administration. This research explored the effectiveness of blister packaging in improving caregiver dosing accuracy with pediatric gummies when compared to standard bottle packaging. This study has been guided by the Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) framework and looked at the packaging as an active safety feature to reduce cognitive load and improve decision making. This study will use a quantitative, quasi-experimental design with an applied approach to study growth in adult parent participants on two separate occasions. They will enter a one-time simulated dosing task using a package that either uses a blister package or a bottle package. The accuracy of the dosing task will be measured using a standardized observational checklist. For the data analysis, descriptive measures and an independent-sample t-test will be used. We hope the results will support improvements in pediatric packaging standards and improve the education of caregivers. And we hope these products will have an impact to support safe dosing and emphasize a system-level approach to reducing medication errors in children.

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