sjcree Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Hi - I have a question about the administration of medication. Does anyone here train staff in how to give medication such as Calpol or penicillin? Our medication policy states that anyone giving medication should be first aid trained but I don’t ever remember first aid training covering how to actually give medicine. Should I be training staff how to do this or is it common sense (they do get trained to check dates, labels and quantities etc). I know that the EYFS requirement is to have training if medical knowledge or technical expertise is required but how do I know when medical knowledge is required? For example, if a child needs to be given a tablet each day (and is able to manage this largely unaided) what training should I be giving my staff? What do others do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 are you school or pre-school? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjcree Posted January 28, 2018 Author Share Posted January 28, 2018 Pre-school Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 so technically......... 3.45. Providers must have and implement a policy, and procedures, for administering medicines. It must include systems for obtaining information about a child’s needs for medicines, and for keeping this information up-to-date. Training must be provided for staff where the administration of medicine requires medical or technical knowledge. Prescription medicines must not be administered unless they have been prescribed for a child by a doctor, dentist, nurse or pharmacist (medicines containing aspirin should only be given if prescribed by a doctor). 3.46. Medicine (both prescription and non-prescription) must only be administered to a child where written permission for that particular medicine has been obtained from the child’s parent and/or carer. Providers must keep a written record each time a medicine is administered to a child, and inform the child’s parents and/or carers on the same day, or as soon as reasonably practicable. 47 Subject to any restrictions imposed by Ofsted or the relevant childminder agency on registration. 48 The Childcare (Exemptions from Registration) Order 2008 specifies that where provision is made for a particular SO you do not need medical training for the giving of calpol etc as this only requires the ability to follow the instructions on the box...as any other lay person would do Children of this age group should not be taking medicine by themselves even if they are able...the PSLA policies are quite clear about this and 2 members of staff should be there when medication is given (one to administer and one to witness) Personally i do not give any paracetmol based products unless there is a doctors prescription for it as it can be extremely dangerous if an overdose occurs (and parents don't always tell you reliably how much they have already given) does that answer your question????? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjcree Posted January 29, 2018 Author Share Posted January 29, 2018 Hi Finleysmaid - yeah, you have sort of answered it. I only began to worry about this after a friend was told that she had to train staff in how to give medication and I wondered then where the line would be drawn in what needs training and what does not. Something like Calpol / antibiotic syrup seems to be straightforward, but with the little one I mentioned, his medication comes in the form of a tablet he takes with a fruit shoot to wash it down. It really is as simple as giving the child the tablet and the fruit shoot and he does the rest - but should I train staff in how to do this? Our policy, as I said is to only have first aiders administer medication and my assumption was that first aiders should be able to manage this without further training, but now I am beginning to wonder. (We always have two people present when medication is given, I would never leave a child alone with medication. We don’t give Calpol unless it has been prescribed and we know when the last dose was given, I was really just using it as an example of medication we might haveto give). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 We have a tick-box on our medication forms about whether specific training is needed or not. So.... for example Epi-pen yes... Antibiotics -no Parents sign to say how/when it will be given (full written instructions) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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