UMSOP Researchers Create Evidence-Based Guide to Help Kids Take Their Medicine... Without Saying ‘Ew’
Photo: Amy Kruger Howard (left) and Jill Morgan
Nearly 75 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients are bitter, and while capsules and tablets are designed to avoid taste issues, that doesn’t help infants and younger children who can’t swallow them. Often, the only option for young children is liquid medicine, but to many, these medicines can taste awful.
That’s why Jill Morgan, PharmD, BCPS, BCPPS, FNAP, professor and chair of the Department of Practice, Sciences, and Health Outcomes Research and a pediatric pharmacist at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP), and Amy Kruger Howard, PharmD ’17, MS ’21, a pediatric clinical pharmacist at UMSOP, set out to find a better way to help kids better tolerate their medication.
Together, Morgan and Howard created the Ew Meds List — a comprehensive, evidence-based guide to the worst-tasting liquid medicines, along with proven strategies to make them taste better.
Learn more about how pharmacists and providers are using the Ew Meds List to help caregivers and kids.