This is lesson 12 Self-Administration.

Transcription

1 Welcome to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW), Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) Medication Administration Course for life sharers. This course was developed by the ODP Office of the Medical Director in conjunction with the Lifesharing Coalition and with technical assistance from Community Health Connections, the Western Pennsylvania Healthcare Quality Unit. This is lesson 12 Self-Administration. 1

2 Hello, I m Jill Morrow and I am the Medical Director for the Office of Developmental Programs. I ll be your presenter for this webcast. 2

3 This slide includes the learning objectives for lesson 12. In this lesson, you will learn how to maximize a person s independence through self-administration of medication. This lesson will teach you the steps to determine how a person can participate in administration of their medication. 3

4 Maximizing independence is one of the goals of services provided to people who are elderly or have a disability. Self-administration of medication or participation in the process has the potential to maximize a person s capabilities. First we need to define what is meant by self-administration and what a person must be able to do in order to self-administer medication. Generally, self-administration of medication requires that a person be able to do a few tasks. They must be able to identify the medication that they need to take and when they need to take it. They also must be able to successfully take the medication. As part of self-administration it is helpful for people to know what the medication is supposed to treat, what good and side effects it may have, and the importance of following the instructions for the medication. 4

5 It is important for you to look at what parts of medication administration the person may be able to participate in. Sometimes the team may be creative to develop ways for people to participate. This may include the use of visual cues to help identify medications or to remember when to take them. Some people may be able to participate in part of the process, but not complete it. They should be able to do what they can. Others may need to have some supervision to assure that they are taking their medication correctly. Everyone should be encouraged to participate in the process as much as possible. 5

6 The first step is to assess whether or not the person is able to identify the correct medication. Some people can read and helping them learn to read the medication name will allow them to be able to identify which container has the right medication in it. You should start with a single medication and add medications only after they have mastered that one. If the person cannot master reading the medication name, then there may be some strategies to help them identify the right medication. For example, they might be able to identify the medication by a color coding on the bottle. Be sure to use something that doesn t change. Do not teach the person to use the color of the pills since different brands of the same medications may have different colors or different medications may have the same color. 6

7 The next step is to teach the person the steps of administration of medication. We will use the steps that you learned previously and appear on the slide as a basis for this. However, there likely will be some differences in how an individual person approaches taking their medication compared to someone administering medication to them. For example, an individual person may not use a medication log to document that they took their medication. In fact, people who are self-administering independently don t need to document when they take their medication. Let s look at the five steps of administration. Don t forget to encourage the person to wash their hands before and after they take their medication. Step 1: PULL MEDICATION OUT The person should have some strategy for identifying which medication they take when. This could be a medication log or a list or a daily or weekly pill organizer. For this step, they need to identify what medications they need to take at this time. Have them pull out the containers with those medications and read the pharmacy label to make sure the medication is the right one. If they have a list or a medication log, they should compare the pharmacy label to it. This is Check 1. Step 2: POUR MEDICATION Have the person look again as they did in Step 1 to make sure that they have the right medication. They will then take the dose of medication out of the container and put it on a clean surface. This is Check 2. Step 3: RECAP MEDICATION When they close the container, have them check one more time to make sure they have the right medication. This is Check 3. Step 4: ADMINISTER MEDICATION The person takes their medication. 7

8 Step 5: DOCUMENTATION If the person documents the administrations, then they will mark each medication that they took. 7

9 By teaching the person to use the steps of administration, they can then check their medication so that they are less likely to make an error and take the wrong medication. The use of pictures for the steps can help people remember what comes next. Even once someone has mastered the process, it is important to periodically evaluate their performance to assure that they are still able to do it correctly. You will be looking for things like changes in vision related to aging that make people no longer able to read the pharmacy label. If this happens, then they will need to get their vision evaluated and perhaps move to a different strategy to identify their medications. While independent self-administration is the ideal, there may be people who will not be able to attain that goal. You may need to be creative to make sure that the person is doing as much of the process of medication administration as they can. Don t forget to offer support to the person as needed. Remember that as a part of everyday life, the time for medication administration also can be used to teach people about their health and help them practice everyday skills like using a cup. 8

10 This concludes Lesson 12. For those completing the course through the Provider Information Center, a Certificate of Achievement will be available after completing all course requirements. Please return to where you launched this webcast to complete the course requirements and access your Certificate. Thank you for watching these webcasts about how to safely administer medications. 9