Most medication training doesn’t teach staff how to administer medicines
The Care Home Use of Medicines study (click here) revealed two thirds of residents in care homes suffered at least one medication error. We don’t yet have figures for community settings. Yet most medication courses still focus on theory, legislation, classification of medicines, routes into the body, and even how medicines work (difficult, with nearly 70,000 medicines available!).
We teach people how to administer medicines by administering medicines
We’ve spent 20 years watching staff at work, and gathering error data, to continually refine competency checklists that define how to administer medicines safely. And this is what our hands-on practical training and online courses teach. We use simulated medicines rounds with deliberate errors that staff must identify and avoid. Managers receive learner reports detailing how staff perform before and after training, with follow on assessments to support any staff who fail. Staff practise administering oral liquids, creams, inhalers, and eye drops (in the classroom or from interactive video).
And it works. A cost benefits analysis by Hampshire County Council showed a 36% reduction in administration errors.
We are endorsed by Skills for Care, with Foundation Courses also accredited by the Royal College of Nursing. We provide all formats: practical face-to-face training, virtual (live) online training, and on demand online training (e-learning). We offer medicines assessor training, managing medication errors, medicines transcription and reconciliation, courses on controlled drugs and many more. Our medication training is trusted by 20 local authorities and numerous health and social care providers across the UK.