WAJD Learning

Specialist practice · Level 2 to 3, care workers and senior carers

Safe administration of medicines in adult social care

The six rights, the errors that actually happen, and covert administration done lawfully.

  • 2modules
  • 3.0CPD hours
  • 105guided minutes
  • Freealways

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About this course

Medication errors are among the most common causes of avoidable harm in adult social care, and the great majority are systems failures rather than carelessness: interruptions, unclear records, look alike packaging, and covert administration done without a lawful process.

This course teaches safe administration properly. It covers the legal framework, the six rights, the medication administration record, controlled drugs, homely remedies, when as required medicines may be given, and the two areas that generate the most serious incidents: covert administration and refusal.

Practical competence must be assessed in your workplace by an assessor observing you administer medicines. This course gives the knowledge and the decision making that assessment assumes you already have.

What you will be able to do

  • Apply the six rights of medicines administration consistently
  • Complete a medication administration record correctly, including refusals and omissions
  • Explain the lawful process for covert administration
  • Handle controlled drugs, as required medicines and homely remedies safely
  • Recognise and report a medication error without concealment

Modules

  1. 1 The six rights, the MAR and the errors that actually happen 60 min study · 5 min script · 4 question knowledge check
  2. 2 Covert administration and refusal, done lawfully 45 min study · 4 min script · 4 question knowledge check

Assessment and certificate

Knowledge check after each module and a final assessment at 80 per cent, with unlimited attempts.

A free digital certificate showing 3 CPD hours with a verification code. It evidences knowledge only. Your employer must separately assess your practical competence by observation before you administer medicines unsupervised.

Questions

Can I crush tablets to make them easier to swallow?

Not as a routine decision. Crushing can alter how a medicine is absorbed, can make modified release preparations dangerous, and often takes the medicine outside its licence. It requires advice from a pharmacist or prescriber, recorded in the care plan. If the reason for crushing is that the person is refusing, that is covert administration and it needs the full lawful process.

What do I do if someone refuses their medicine?

Record the refusal on the MAR with the correct code, do not hide it in the medicine, find out why, and report it. Repeated refusal of a critical medicine such as an anticoagulant, an antiepileptic or insulin needs escalating the same day.