Medication Administration
Guide for NursesThe ground rules of medication order; for infant, adult or elderly, are same regardless of its route of administration. The nurse must follow these ground rules to ensure the safe medication administration.
General Considerations
- A medication order must include the patient's full name, the date, and time the ord
er was written, the name of the medicine, the dose, the route, frequency, and signature of the person writing the order. - Medications must be checked for the five rights with each administration: right patient, right medication, right dose, right route, and right time.
- Allergies should be checked prior to each medication administration.
- Some medications have special administration instructions, such as the patient must remain upright after administration.
- Many medications are made by more than one company, and may have similar names. if an order is unclear, check with the prescriber before administration.
Special condiderations must be taken for certain age group to ensure safe medication administration.
Special considerations for Paediatric patients
- Do not refer to medications as candy.
- For infants, a syringes of droper is the best.
- Place syringe alongside the tongue to prevent gagging and expulsion of medication.
- Postion the infant in a semi-reclining posion and administer in small amounts, to prevent chocking.
- If using a spoon, collect and re-feed expelled medication.
- Play techniques may help elicit the child's coopoeration.
- For children taking sweerened medicaitons, especially on a long term basis, follow mendication with oral hygiene to assist in decreasing dental caries.
Special considerations for Elderly patients
The elderly are often on multiple medications from various physicians. Look for possibe drug interactions as well ad prescriptions for more than one drug from the same class (such as bta-blockers).
