At Homecare Pharmacy, we are dedicated to helping care homes improve their medication management, and a large part of that is supporting managers and their teams through effective training. Here are 5 things your medication management training should include.

Control and administration of medication

Never assume that new staff will have received thorough training in their previous roles. Ensure that you cover all the basics in your compulsory training. This should include:

• Common medications
• Medication classifications and types
• Medication administration techniques
• Routes into body
• Safe storage of medication
• Receiving medication
• Administration preparation and accuracy
• Safe medicine handling procedures
• Self-administration and supporting independence
• Contraindications, allergies and overdoses
• Monitoring dosage systems
• Medication calculations
• Misuse of drugs
• Identifying and reporting reactions to medicines
• Common medication errors
• Staff responsibilities
• Complying with laws and legislation
• Hazardous waste and disposal of medication

Record keeping

Every care home will have its own system for record-keeping. Some will have paper-based records while others invest in digital medication management systems. It is imperative that every employee receives comprehensive training around your in-house processes for record-keeping and information sharing. They may require additional support if they are moving from a digital system to a paper-based or vice-versa.

Managing medication errors

Unfortunately, medication errors do happen; in fact, they are common. However, the worst thing that an employee can do is try and cover it up. That’s where good training comes in.

Ensure your employees understand the most common reasons for errors, how to prevent them and your process for reporting errors. Reinforce the message that reporting errors will allow everyone to learn from them and implement measures to reduce the risk of it happening again.

Respecting patients

Care staff often become so focused on the task of administering medication that they forget the primary objective is ensuring the well-being of patients. Train your employees to be aware of simple things like ensuring there is water available to a patient when tablets are being administered.

Your training should also include guidance on communicating with patients about their medication. Patients who understand their medication play a big part in preventing errors. They will know if their medicine is being duplicated or if they have not received the right dosage.

If a patient refuses medication, then employees must have training on how to deal with this and how to report it correctly.

Infection control

Infection control should be part of the basic training for anyone working in a health or care setting. They should understand the importance of infection control measures and their responsibility in managing them.

Your training should cover types of germs and infections, preventing infection, hygiene standards and protective equipment, and the chain of infection. It should also cover how to contain an infection and your escalation policies and processes.

Bespoke Training

Although there are some elements of medication management training that apply to any type and size of care home, every organisation is unique. Some organisations have large medicine storage rooms while some have just a small cabinet. Some care homes have digitised MAR charts while others rely on paper-based systems.

At Homecare Pharmacy, we put together bespoke training for your employees covering all the essential information, as well as how to ensure best practice within the constraints of your organisation.

If you’d like to know more about our bespoke training packages or any of our medication management services, then contact our friendly team.