eprintid: 10116491 rev_number: 16 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/10/11/64/91 datestamp: 2020-12-07 14:59:36 lastmod: 2021-10-07 22:00:54 status_changed: 2020-12-07 14:59:36 type: article metadata_visibility: show creators_name: Grimes, TC creators_name: Garfield, S creators_name: Kelly, D creators_name: Cahill, J creators_name: Cromie, S creators_name: Wheeler, C creators_name: Franklin, BD title: Household medication safety practices during the COVID-19 pandemic: a descriptive qualitative study protocol ispublished: inpress divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C08 divisions: D10 divisions: G11 keywords: COVID-19, primary care, public health, qualitative research, therapeutics note: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. abstract: INTRODUCTION: Those who are staying at home and reducing contact with other people during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to be at greater risk of medication-related problems than the general population. This study aims to explore household medication practices by and for this population, identify practices that benefit or jeopardise medication safety and develop best practice guidance about household medication safety practices during a pandemic, grounded in individual experiences. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a descriptive qualitative study using semistructured interviews, by telephone or video call. People who have been advised to 'cocoon'/'shield' and/or are aged 70 years or over and using at least one long-term medication, or their caregivers, will be eligible for inclusion. We will recruit 100 patient/carer participants: 50 from the UK and 50 from Ireland. Recruitment will be supported by our patient and public involvement (PPI) partners, personal networks and social media. Individual participant consent will be sought, and interviews audio/video recorded and/or detailed notes made. A constructivist interpretivist approach to data analysis will involve use of the constant comparative method to organise the data, along with inductive analysis. From this, we will iteratively develop best practice guidance about household medication safety practices during a pandemic from the patient's/carer's perspective. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has Trinity College Dublin, University of Limerick and University College London ethics approvals. We plan to disseminate our findings via presentations at relevant patient/public, professional, academic and scientific meetings, and for publication in peer-reviewed journals. We will create a list of helpful strategies that participants have reported and share this with participants, PPI partners and on social media. date: 2020-11-24 date_type: published official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044441 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub pmcid: PMC7688439 language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1833639 doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044441 pii: bmjopen-2020-044441 lyricists_name: Franklin, Bryony lyricists_name: Garfield, Sara lyricists_id: BFRAN90 lyricists_id: SGARF21 actors_name: Franklin, Bryony actors_name: Harris, Jean actors_id: BFRAN90 actors_id: JAHAR68 actors_role: owner actors_role: impersonator full_text_status: public publication: BMJ Open volume: 10 number: 11 article_number: e044441 event_location: England citation: Grimes, TC; Garfield, S; Kelly, D; Cahill, J; Cromie, S; Wheeler, C; Franklin, BD; (2020) Household medication safety practices during the COVID-19 pandemic: a descriptive qualitative study protocol. BMJ Open , 10 (11) , Article e044441. 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044441 <https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044441>. (In press). Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10116491/1/e044441.full.pdf