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Course profile Level 2: Administering Medication

Regulation 18 (1)(c) of the Care Homes Regulations 2001 requires the registered person to ensure that staff receive training appropriate to their work task. Whilst in the ideal situation service users would be supported to manage their own medicines, in reality care workers have the responsibility for administering medicines to the majority.

“Care homes registered only for personal care have a national minimum standard covering staff training for medicine administration:

  • In residential care homes, all medicines, including controlled drugs, (except those for self administration) are administered by designated and appropriately trained staff. The administration of controlled drugs is witnessed by another designated, appropriately trained member of staff.
  • The training for care staff must be accredited and must include:
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  • basic knowledge of how medicines are used and how to recognise and deal with problems in use;
  • the principles behind all aspects of the home's policy on medicines handling and records”’-CSCI
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    The training for the administration of medication in care/support homes is pitched at three levels: The Induction level (for all staff and undertaken by a senior worker), the Basic level and the Advanced level.

    This one day course aims to provide the basic training that meets the needs of Level 2. This will provide the care worker with the knowledge and practical skills to safely select, prepare and give different types of medicines, a process that is referred to as ‘medicine administration’.

    The course supports further mentoring that the learner will receive in the workplace so as to become familiar with the requirements at local level and to be competent in this area.

    The achievement of the learning objectives on this course are certificated and contribute to the overall achievement of competency within the organisation. Documentation for this purpose is provided as well as guidelines for the learner’s workplace mentor.

    Accreditation of the course with South of England Open College Network has been applied for and is currently being processed.

    Learning objectives:

    By the end of this course learners should be able to:
  • Select the correct medicine from a labelled container including monitored dosage system and compliance aid.
  • Measure a dose of liquid medicine
  • Apply a medicated cream/ointment; inserting drops to ear, nose or eye; and administering inhaled medication.
  • Record that a resident has had the medicine or the reason for not administering it
  • Know what to do if a resident refuses medicine that the care worker offers
  • Know who to inform if a medication error occurs
  • Know who to inform if the resident becomes unwell after taking his/her medicines.
  • Understand how to prepare the correct dose of medication for ingestion or application.
  • Administer medication that is not given by invasive techniques, including tablets, capsules and liquid medicines given by mouth; ear, eye and nasal drops; inhalers; and external applications.
  • Understand the responsibility of the care worker to ensure that medicines are only administered to the person for whom they were prescribed, given in the right (prescribed) dose, at the right time by the right method/route.
  • Check that the medication ‘use by’ date has not expired.
  • Check that the resident has not already been given the medication by anyone else.
  • Recognise and report possible side effects.
  • Report refusals and medication errors.
  • Know how a care worker should administer medicines prescribed ‘as required’, for example pain killers, laxatives.
  • Understand what care workers should do when service users request non-prescribed medicines

    • Further mentoring and assessment is undertaken in the work place and include:
  • Establishing from the care home records which medicines are prescribed for a resident at a specific time in the day
  • Understanding the service provider’s policy for record keeping.
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    Training methods:

    Tutor presentations         Video Group work         Power Point Presentation
    Discussion                     Case Study                 Handouts

     

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