12.1 Introduction
A medication is a substance that assists in preventing or treating illness or disease. Taking medications is a daily reality of the patients and clients in various health care settings. This unit will discuss how Health Care Assistants can support their clients in taking prescribed medications.
Supporting clients with medications requires different levels of support provided by different health care team members working in collaboration according to their scope of practice and role function. It is important for HCAs to know who the team members are and who is responsible for what aspects of medication management. While the responsibilities of HCAs may differ between workplace settings (such as acute care, complex care, home care, and group homes), the HCA role is determined by provincial government legislation, the B.C. Ministry of Health, and the 2023 HCA Program Provincial Curriculum. It is important for HCAs to understand how these legal limitations and regulatory obligations guide and limit their participation in medication management.
This unit reviews essential information and safety regarding medication management.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this unit, the successful student will be able to:
- Define terms for medication assistance.
- Describe the HCA’s role in assisting with medications.
- Differentiate between medication assistance and medication administration.
- Identify routes of medications.
- List the different forms of medication.
- Describe guidelines to follow when assisting with medications.
- List and describe the critical rights of assisting or administering medications.
- Discuss documentation in the medication record.
- Identify what to do in the case of a medication error.
Terms to Know
A service provided to a client to facilitate the client’s ability to self-administer medication for as long as possible and to promote medication taken as intended by the prescriber. Medication assistance includes medication reminders, some/partial assistance, or full assistance.
The activity of supplying a dose of a medication to a client for immediate ingestion, application, inhalation, insertion, instillation, or injection. Medication administration is more than just a psychomotor task of giving a medication to a client. It is a cognitive and interactive aspect of care and involves assessing the client, making clinical decisions, and planning care based on this assessment. Medication administration requires the knowledge and skills of a competent, regulated health care provider.
A variety of treatments and remedies used in addition to traditional Western medicine. They include herbal or natural products available over-the-counter, such as St. John’s Wort, ginseng, or melatonin.
A regulated health care provider who is permitted by federal and provincial legislation, their regulatory college, service provider/employer, and practice setting (where applicable) to prescribe medications.
The ability to demonstrate the requisite knowledge, skills, judgement and attitudes to perform a specific function.
When a regulated health professional (such as an RN) authorizes an unregulated care provider (such as an HCA) to perform a restricted activity. Delegation is required because the restricted activity is normally the responsibility of a regulated health care professional and, therefore, outside of the role and training of the unregulated care provider. Delegation must be client-specific and is limited by the boundaries permitted by legislation and the regulated health professional’s regulatory college.
Provide a medication pursuant to a prescription for a person but does not include the administration of a medication to a person. Dispensing is a restricted activity under the law.
A critical examination by the interdisciplinary team of a client’s medications for appropriateness, effectiveness, interactions, and adverse reactions to optimize the impact of medications and minimize the number of medication-related problems.
Medication that does not require a prescription and is taken to treat minor health problems at home.
