‘The administration of medicines is an important aspect’ of nursing care as nurses have a responsibility to supply and dispose medication as defined in the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Standard for Medicines Management. This essay will focus on the central skill of medicine administration and its application in treating, preventing and relieving symptoms of an illness. Medicine administration will be defined and its purpose in a clinical area will be examined. The principle of medicine administration will be assessed as well as the skills that underpin it such as hand hygiene and the appropriate professional values.
The administration of medicine is the way that medicines are selected, prescribed and administrated to optimise the outcomes …show more content…
Make sure that ‘colour, clarity or consistency; and has not expired’ (Perry, Potter & Elkin) and make sure that the medication is being given at the right time. Dispense the required dose of the medication into a clean, dry, disposable container using a non-touch technique, as the non-touch technique ensures that the nurse avoids touching the preparation so this minimizes the risk of cross infection. To avoid touching medicine that are not in a blister pack, shake the tablets or capsules into the top of the container before transferring the medication into the medicine pot. This ensures that the infection is prevented and enables the control and prevention of contamination. A factor that is ‘contributing to medication incidents were interruptions by patients and relatives’ therefore it is vital that the patients and relative know that the nurse is on the drug round, this can be done by wearing the red tabards that has the message drug round in progress, do not disturb embroidered on it. Take the medication and prescription chart to the patient, check the patient’s identity with the prescription chart by asking the patient their full name and date of birth, also check the patient’s hospital number on their identification band (ID) against the prescription chart, this prevents errors and ensures that the …show more content…
The five rights of medicine administration have been used by nurses as a guideline to safely administrate all medication but the five rights should only be used as a guide and the nurses should work with ‘many interconnected players including patients’ as well as other members of the multi-disciplinary team. This will ensure that the administration of medicines is safe and that the best outcomes for the patients is obtained. To prevent mistakes in administrating medicine, the full attention of the nurses must be focused on the drug round and the nurses must be knowledgeable as they need to be ‘teaching patients about medication’ (Perry, Potter & Elkin). The medicine must disposed in a way that prevent contamination of the drug and the patient’s ID band, name and date of birth have to be checked before the patient takes the medication, this is to prevent a drug error from occurring. If the patient has a problem swallowing, then it might be best for the tablets to be changed to a liquid form as this would enable the patient to have a complete dose of the medication. This might not be achieved with the pill crushing device as some part of the tablets might be left in the device. Documentation also allows a record of the medication the patient has
The administration of medicine is the way that medicines are selected, prescribed and administrated to optimise the outcomes …show more content…
Make sure that ‘colour, clarity or consistency; and has not expired’ (Perry, Potter & Elkin) and make sure that the medication is being given at the right time. Dispense the required dose of the medication into a clean, dry, disposable container using a non-touch technique, as the non-touch technique ensures that the nurse avoids touching the preparation so this minimizes the risk of cross infection. To avoid touching medicine that are not in a blister pack, shake the tablets or capsules into the top of the container before transferring the medication into the medicine pot. This ensures that the infection is prevented and enables the control and prevention of contamination. A factor that is ‘contributing to medication incidents were interruptions by patients and relatives’ therefore it is vital that the patients and relative know that the nurse is on the drug round, this can be done by wearing the red tabards that has the message drug round in progress, do not disturb embroidered on it. Take the medication and prescription chart to the patient, check the patient’s identity with the prescription chart by asking the patient their full name and date of birth, also check the patient’s hospital number on their identification band (ID) against the prescription chart, this prevents errors and ensures that the …show more content…
The five rights of medicine administration have been used by nurses as a guideline to safely administrate all medication but the five rights should only be used as a guide and the nurses should work with ‘many interconnected players including patients’ as well as other members of the multi-disciplinary team. This will ensure that the administration of medicines is safe and that the best outcomes for the patients is obtained. To prevent mistakes in administrating medicine, the full attention of the nurses must be focused on the drug round and the nurses must be knowledgeable as they need to be ‘teaching patients about medication’ (Perry, Potter & Elkin). The medicine must disposed in a way that prevent contamination of the drug and the patient’s ID band, name and date of birth have to be checked before the patient takes the medication, this is to prevent a drug error from occurring. If the patient has a problem swallowing, then it might be best for the tablets to be changed to a liquid form as this would enable the patient to have a complete dose of the medication. This might not be achieved with the pill crushing device as some part of the tablets might be left in the device. Documentation also allows a record of the medication the patient has