Working in a care home, or indeed in any domiciliary care role will require you to understand the principles of medication management. While the focus of any care role is on the patient, you are also responsible for the care of others in their locale. The onus ultimately is on you and mistakes with medicine can be fatal. This articles looks at medication management and explains how the management of any prescribed or over the counter medicine is an important aspect of the job.
Patients are in care because they require a level of support. This support may be in the form of physical support, such as moving a patient or it may be emotional support. In health and social care, it is important to remember at all times that no two patients are the same – some may have mobility issues, some chronic illness and others may need help with simple tasks that others take for granted.
The same applies to the management of medicines. Every patient has a different requirement. Whether that means giving the patient medication occasionally to treat a minor illness or multiple pills every day to treat a chronic medical condition, it is important to handle those prescriptions the right way.
Medication prescribed by a doctor, to aid the patients health can be dangerous or even deadly in the wrong hands. Safe dispensing, the correct dosage and the secure storage are all important aspects of medication management when dealing with patient care. The wrong dose can be harmful, missed doses can cause side effects or stop the medicine working, and the administration of incorrect drugs can be fatal. As a carer, it is your duty to ensure you understand the patients needs and administer the correct drug and the correct dose at the correct time.
Medication management is broken down into four main areas;
- Storage
- Dispensing
- Administration of medication
- Documentation, confidentiality and record keeping
Storage of medicine
As a care worker, it is your responsibility to store patients medicines safely, where children, pets and curious teenagers cannot get at them. In a care home this isn’t a major problem as there will be designated areas for medication storage but in the case of domicillary work, where you visit the patients home it is something you must take into account. You may also need to consider the patient if they have a mental illness or suffer from any kind of dementia. Patients with dementia often get confused easily and may try to take medication at incorrect times.
It is as essential to dispose of your unneeded medications correctly when you are done using them. Drugs are different, and they require special disposal to keep you and the community, safe.
You cannot just throw away old prescription medications or flush them down the toilet. Tossing your old prescription bottles in the trash could mean they end up in the wrong hands, harming people instead of helping htem. Flushing those old pills down the toilet could contaminate the water supply, not only for your family but the surrounding area as well.
Proper disposal of patient prescription medicines
It is important to handle your prescription medications responsibly and dispose of them properly, but what does that mean? How can you make sure the medicines you get rid of do not end up on the street or in the wrong hands? Howe can you protect yourself, your loved ones and the community from the dangers of old and expired medications?
Proper disposal starts with careful tracking of medications you take. If you take daily drugs to control a chronic medical condition, it is important to store these medications properly, where no one but you can access them.
Whether you keep your medications in a lockade cabinet or a secret drawer, controlling access is critical. You never know when a curious visitor, bored teenager of small child will find those pills and misues them. By keeping careful track of your medications, you can help to preven this unauthorised, and potentially dangerous, use.
Watch the exipiration dates
If you take medications for chronic conditions, you will probably not need to worry too much about expiration dates.
If, on the other hand you need medication for a short term problem like an infection, it is easy to lose track of those old meds and forget about the expirationd date. Many people keep a suply of old medication around to guard against a recurrence of the original condition. What you should do, however, is keep track of those expiration dates and dispose of expired prescriptions the right way.
