Making a difference in another person’s life is one of the most rewarding aspects of a healthcare career, however, getting each patient’s medication correct can sometimes be a daunting task.
With our HLTHPS007 Administer and Monitor Medications course you will gain the skills and knowledge to administer and monitor medications in your healthcare role.
This course at Adept Training is designed to teach you the skills required to administer medications to a person with stable health conditions. This may be in a range of settings under delegation from a health professional by legislation and the organisation’s medication and delegation policies and procedures.
When working in a direct care setting, administering medication is one of the most routine, daily duties that you will come across. It is quite a time-consuming task, but also one that is vitally important to get right each time
Medication Administration Record
Under the legislation, you are required to record everything on the Medication Administration Record (MAR), as well as ensure each patient receives the correct medication in the right dosage. You will need to be excellent at double-checking each task at hand to ensure that each of your patients is comfortable with you overseeing the whole medication process.
Standards
There are several standards set in place to ensure that each health professional practices safe medication administration. The standards, in this case, are called the “rights” of medication administration, and these 8 rights are as follows:
- Right Client – Medication errors often occur because one patient gets a drug intended for another. To correctly identify a patient, the person administering the medication must check the medication administration form against the client’s identification bracelet and ask the client to state his or her name to ensure the ID band is correct.
- Right Medication – This can be a complicated process but just remember that the medication should always be checked against the medication order and the medication label. You should only administer medications that you have personally prepared and verified. If an error occurs, the person who administers the medication is the one responsible for the error.
- Right Dose – When calculating medication dosages within your role, it is vital to have a colleague or a qualified RN double-check the calculated dosage. There is a unit dose system in place to prevent possible errors. You may run into difficulty if the prescriber of the medication orders an amount different from the pharmacy supplies. This is where you need to be meticulous.
- Right Time – You are required to have a strong understanding of why a medication is ordered for certain times of day and whether that time schedule can be altered. In the healthcare sector, each institution has recommended time schedules for medications ordered at frequent intervals. There will be some types of medications that must be taken at a certain time, and these must be made a priority. This is especially important when it comes to insulin or medications that are required to be taken at night-time.
- Right Route – Each medication has a prescribed route of administration. This can be done either orally, via injection, or by IV (intravenously). If a prescriber’s order does not designate a specific route of administration, you must consult the prescriber.
- Right Documentation – The documentation accompanying the medication should clearly state the patient’s name, the name of the ordered medication, the time the drug was administered, and the medication’s dosage, route, and frequency. Once you administer the medication, you are obliged to complete the MAR as per facility policy.
- Right Reason – Before you administer any medication, it is important to confirm the rationale for the ordered medication. You must be certain that you understand what a particular medication is treating.
- Right Response – When you administer any medication, it is important to make sure the drug has the desired effect. If the medication is for pain, be sure to ask your patient how much pain they are experiencing. Same as if the medication is to aid sleep, be sure to keep an eye on the patient’s quality of sleep. If the medication is not effective, then you will need to monitor this and document this.