In your role as a support worker in the field of aged care, you are entrusted with the well-being and comfort of elderly clients, and one critical aspect of this responsibility involves medication management.
As a support worker, you will be responsible for assisting individuals with various daily living activities, including medication management. Your role is to administer only the medications you're trained to give.
Safe practice includes:
- Following organisation policy
- Accurate documentation
- Correct checking procedures
- Accurate calculation, if required
- Resident education and consent
- Cultural competency, including working with interpreters
Registered nurses and nurse practitioners can:
- Check and administer all prescribed medicines
- Assess and monitor for effect or reaction.
Enrolled nurses can:
- Check and administer oral, topic and rectal medicines as well as injections under the direction of a registered nurse.
Healthcare assistants can:
- Check and administer oral, topic and rectal medicines as well as injections under the direction of a registered nurse.
Activity - True or False
According to the Medicines Care Guides for Residential Aged Care a health care assistant/ support worker:
Activity - Medication policies and procedures
What are the policies and procedures controlling the management and dispensary of medications in your workplace?
Read
To further enhance your understanding of the importance of medication training and competency checks in support work, we encourage you to read this relevant article. The article discusses a situation where a support worker was assigned to provide assistance to a woman due to the regular support worker's absence. Note that this replacement support worker lacked medication training and competency checks, particularly for clients taking warfarin, as specified in the agency's warfarin policy. A few days later, the woman was admitted to the hospital with an ischaemic left leg and required surgical intervention.
After reading the article, take a moment to reflect on the implications of this situation. Consider the potential risks to the client's health, the employers' responsibilities, and the importance of adhering to agency policies and procedures.
In aged care, it's essential to grasp the concept of controlled medications. These are powerful medicines that require strict legal controls due to their potential for misuse or abuse. Controlled medicines encompass substances such as potent painkillers like morphine, tranquillisers, and stimulants.
Administration and Management in a Rest Home
Controlled drugs in a rest home come with specific procedures to ensure their safe and responsible handling:
Prescription Requirement: Controlled drugs can only be provided with an individual-named prescription. Additionally, they must be securely stored in a controlled drug cabinet or a locked cupboard to prevent unauthorised access.
Two-Staff Verification: It is highly recommended that, during the administration of controlled drugs, two staff members participate in the process. One of these staff members should have demonstrated competence in medicine management. Both individuals are responsible for checking and signing for the controlled drugs.
Controlled Drugs Register: The controlled drugs register is a crucial document used to keep track of these medications. Some important points about this register include:
- Each controlled medicine and its specific strength should have a separate page in the register.
- Two staff members, both with demonstrated competence in medicines management, are required to check and sign the register. This includes at least one registered nurse.
- The register must maintain a running balance of the stock, ensuring that it reflects the current inventory accurately.
The information recorded in the controlled drugs register typically includes:
- The resident's name
- The quantity and dose of the medicine
- Time and date of administration
- Name of the prescriber.
Understanding and following these protocols is vital for the safe and responsible management of controlled medications in an aged care setting. It ensures that residents receive the necessary care while maintaining the highest standards of safety and regulatory compliance.
(Medicines Care Guides for Residential Aged Care, 2011)
The 8 Rights of medication administration are a set of principles that help ensure safe and accurate medication administration. Remember always to follow your organisation's policies and procedures about the administration of medicine. If you are unsure about anything, discuss it with your supervisor. Here is an example process for medication administration:
Person-centred care promotes independence, choices, and control, especially when it comes to medication management. To align with these principles, individuals using medications are classified into three distinct medication support categories following a thorough assessment:
- Independent: Clients who can self-manage their medication.
- Prompting/Supervision: Clients who require assistance or reminders.
- Administration: Clients who need direct administration of their medication.
When creating support plans, it's essential to note the specific category for each client. It's important to recognise that clients' needs may evolve, and they may move between these categories over time as their circumstances change.
As a support worker, you must receive training to accurately and professionally administer medication according to the required prescription.
“The Medicines Act 1981 Section 19 states that a prescription medicine may only be administered to a person in accordance with the directions of the authorised prescriber or delegated prescriber of the medicine. Any person whose medication support category is Administration or Prompting/supervision requires a signed medication order.” health. govt.nz
Medication administration record
A Medication Administration Record (MAR) is a record used to show when someone has received their prescribed medication. To complete the MAR, you need to note:
- The date and time the medication was given.
- The amount (only for medications, not pre-packaged).
- The signature, initials, name, and title of the staff member who gave the medication.
Activity
Using a pen and paper, note down the process of how the administration of medication to a person in your workplace is done. Refer to the example process above.
Include how you record the medicine administrated. Keep this to refer to later. This will come in handy for your assessment.
Incident reporting in medication administration is a critical aspect of a support worker's role in aged care. It involves promptly documenting and reporting any unexpected events or errors related to medication administration to ensure the safety and well-being of elderly clients. You must record all medicine errors on an incident form. Notify the senior RN or your supervisor immediately and monitor the resident as advised.
As support workers, your role in medication management is to assist and ensure the safe and effective administration of medications, contributing to the well-being and quality of life of your elderly clients. Read the information from Alice's personal plan below, and then answer the following questions.
Name: Alice Mitchell
Date of Birth: 12/05/1944
- Resident Profile: Alice is in her 70s and has been living in the residential home for two years. She has no family members living nearby and has faced the challenges of aging alone. Alice's main health concern is diabetes, which she was diagnosed with in her late 60s. She struggles with controlling her blood sugar levels and often experiences severe fluctuations. Her mobility is limited due to diabetic neuropathy, making her reliant on a wheelchair for movement.
- Health: Alice's diabetes affects her daily life significantly. She experiences frequent mood swings, from irritability to sadness, as her blood sugar levels fluctuate. In addition to mobility issues, she's at risk of pressure ulcers, which require vigilant care.
- Wellbeing: To manage her diabetes, Alice is on multiple medications and insulin injections. She faces challenges related to managing her diet, which sometimes leads to low or high blood sugar episodes. Alice has expressed her frustration with the physical and emotional toll diabetes takes on her.
- Communication: Despite her health challenges, Alice maintains a positive outlook and has a strong will to improve her overall well-being. She's quite expressive and open about her feelings and experiences, which is a valuable aspect of her personality.
- Long-Term Goals: Alice's primary goal is to gain better control over her diabetes and reduce her reliance on insulin. She aspires to regain her mobility and avoid further complications, such as pressure ulcers. She seeks support in managing her medication regimen effectively to achieve these goals.
Answer the following questions about Alice:
