All caregivers assist with giving medications in some format when they provide care to a family member. On the surface, giving medications seems simple, but it can be deadly if you’re not careful. Giving too much or too little medication can cause serious harm to someone. On the other hand, giving a medication the wrong way can cause it not to work or to work too quickly. Therefore, it is essential to understand what you give, why, how to give it, when, how much to give, and how often.
Furthermore, some medications are highly sensitive and carefully administered. For example, drugs like insulin and heparin act quickly, and small mistakes can have serious consequences. Therefore, caregivers must be alert and pay attention whenever administering medications.
Mixing Insulins Read the order to determine the total insulin you will have when the two are combined. Roll the two bottles between your hands to mix each. Clean the tops of each with alcohol Draw up air equal to the dose of NPH insulin to be given. Insert it into the bottle and …
Video Demonstrations of Medication Administration Techniques –YouTube Video Resources Knowing how to give medications correctly is essential knowledge for every caregiver. Most of us think we know all we need to know about giving medicine because we have been taking it all our lives, but when you start caregiving, you find that’s not true. As …
How is a Medication Dosage Determined? The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) determines the dosing of medication needed to treat a condition based on clinical research. After completing years of clinical trials which document patient outcomes and drug safety, the FDA approves a drug’s release for use by the public. The drug is approved only to …
What Is a Medication When the doctor asks you what medication you take, he needs a complete list. To help you not forget anything, first consider the form in which medicine might appear. Medicines come in all shapes and sizes so that you may have some in the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, purse, etc. They …
Safe Medication Management Managing medication is all about knowing what, how, and when is the best way to take a medicine to have the best outcome. In addition, it’s important to understand why you’re taking medicine and what you should expect to happen when you take it. For example, many medications can act like poisons …
Parental Nutrition (TPN) Some medical conditions prevent the body from being able to absorb nutrition through the GI tract. When that happens, the body cannot function properly without Parental Nutrition (PN) due to the effects of starvation. With starvation, tissues begin to break down, wounds won’t heal, and the internal organs stop working properly. To …
Daily Insulin Use Insulin use in the United States is very common. Since diabetes may affect any age group, children and adults use insulin. Administered in the fat layer of skin (often in the abdomen, thigh, hip, or forearm), injections are easy to learn to give. Some pharmacies provide them pre-packaged. With sharp, short needles, injections …
Medication Administration Administering medications occurs through multiple routes of entry. A list of some of the routes of entry include: by way of the mouth (swallowed, through a tube into the stomach, under the tongue, held in the cheek), through injection into the muscle (intramuscularly), into the fat layer (subcutaneously), rectally (suppository, enema), into the …
Managing Venous Catheters Managing Venous Catheters at Home Caregivers frequently receive responsibility for managing venous catheters (IVs) at home a few days prior to patient discharge from the hospital. Whether the catheter enters the bloodstream from outside the body or internally using a long catheter that ends close to the heart, family caregivers receive training …
