Administering medications

You can see when medications are due on the patient list.

Read about viewing EPMA information on the patient list

You can scan the patient’s wristband before or after scanning the medication.

1. From Patient list > (select a patient) > Chart, select a prescription.

2. Select Due > Give medicine.

   

3. Check the prescription and the 'Five Rights of Administration', then select Next.

   

   If the medication uses a weight-adjusted dose and the patient's weight changes, you are notified under Right reason?.

4. Scan the medication barcode.

5. If more than one unit is required, add extra units one of the following ways:

   • Enter the number of units to be administered and select OK.

     

   • Scan the medication barcode once and select OK. Select Scan more and scan the medication barcode again. Repeat until you reach the right number of units.

     

6. Select Scan more and scan the patient’s wristband.

   

7. Add any notes.

8. Select Administer.

1. From Patient list > (select a patient) > Chart, select a prescription.

2. Select Due > Give medicine and check the prescription and the 'Five Rights of Administration'.

3. Select Next.

4. If you are unable to scan the patient wristband, medication, or witness, select , and select a reason.

5. Add any notes.

6. Select Administer.

You can administer several medications at the same time as part of a drug round. This reduces the number of actions needed to administer multiple medications individually.

You can only administer STAT and regular medications as part of a drug round.

You can only administer medications as part of a drug round if you can scan the barcodes of both the medications and the patient's wristband.

1. From your patient list, select a patient, then select Chart.

2. Select Give.

   A list of all due STAT and regular medications is displayed.

3. Select Scan.

4. If you didn't scan the barcode on the patient's wristband to enter the patient's record, scan the patient's wristband now.

5. Scan the first medication.

6. Select Give.

7. Check the 'five rights' and enter any notes.

8. Select Next and repeat steps 5-8.

You witness and countersign Approval from a qualified person. For example, a qualified nurse checks and countersigns all medication administered by a student or unregistered health professional. This signature is the Countersign. prescriptions the same way, and can do both with or without scanning.

A secondary check of a medication by a registered professional is called a witness signature. You might need a witness signature for high-risk medications, for example, class 2 medications or IVs. You can enter a witness signature manually or by scanning.

A registered professional must countersign Approval from a qualified person. For example, a qualified nurse checks and countersigns all medication administered by a student or unregistered health professional. This signature is the Countersign. the MAR when a student administers a medication. You can add a countersignature manually or by scanning.

1. From Patient list > (select a patient) > Chart, select a prescription.

2. Select Due > Give medicine and check the prescription and the ‘Five Rights of Administration’.

3. Scan the patient’s wristband and the medication.

4. When you see Witness Required, select Scan more and scan the witness’s barcode.

   

5. Select Administer.

   

1. From Patient list > (select a patient) > Chart, select a prescription.

2. Select Due > Give medicine, check the prescription and the ‘Five Rights of Administration’, and select Next.

3. If you are unable to scan the patient wristband or medication, select , and select a reason.

4. Select Sign and enter the witness’s User ID and Password.

   

5. Select Administer.

   

There are two ways you can see which medications are due: from Clinical, and from the MAR.

View current medications from Clinical. This is an overview of the MAR. You can't administer medications from this page.

View the MAR from Meds. When medications are due, a Due cell is highlighted on the prescription.

From the MAR, or from Clinical > Current Medications, select the medication to view details of the prescription.

Depending on your organisation, you might also see charts associated with the prescription.

You can scan a patient’s wristband before administering medication, from  > Clinical pages > Patient List. Or you can scan the patient's wristband during the administration process, when you see the 'five rights of administration'. Both scanning options positively identify the patient for all medication administration until you exit the patient’s record.

From the MAR, select the dose you want to administer, marked Due, or Overdue, and select Give medicine. This opens a screen showing the 'Five Rights of Administration'.

Read about the five rights of medication administration

Some prescriptions contain multiple route options.

When you administer a medication with multiple route options, Nervecentre EPMA automatically asks you to choose an enteral route.

1. Scan the barcode on the patient's wristband to verify their identity.

2. Scan the barcode on the medication box to confirm the correct medication, form, and strength. If an incorrect medication is scanned, a warning appears, and you cannot continue with the administration.

   

3. To remove scanned medication, select Discard scanned meds.

4. Select Print label to print a patient medication label.

   

5. After you have confirmed patient and medication, and the other rights of administration, select Click to confirm given.

When administering a medication, you might need to give more than one unit, for example, a tablet, to complete the dose. When you confirm the medication dose with a scanner, you must include this information.

In the following example, two 500 mg paracetamol tablets are required to make up the 1000 mg dose.

You can either:

• Scan the barcode on the box of medication once for each tablet.

• Scan the barcode on the box of medication, and then enter the number of tablets in the box.

 appears next to the medication and you can proceed with the administration

If there is no scanner available, or if there is another reason why you are unable to scan patient wristbands or medication packaging, you can still administer medication.

1. Select Policies to view any policies attached to the medication or BNF British National Formulary. The BNF aims to provide prescribers, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals with sound up-to-date information about the use of medicines. It includes key information on the selection, prescribing, dispensing, and administration of medicines. Medicines generally prescribed in the UK are covered and those considered less suitable for prescribing are clearly identified..

2. Positively identify the patient manually. In this scenario, the window is not updated with .

3. Select Administer without scanning and select a reason.

You can administer several medications at the same time as part of a drug round. This reduces the number of actions needed to administer multiple medications individually.

You can only administer STAT and regular medications as part of a drug round.

You can only administer medications as part of a drug round if you can scan the barcodes of both the medications and the patient's wristband.

1. From  > Clinical pages > Patient List > select a patient > Patient detail, select Meds.

2. Select .

3. If you did not scan the patient's wristband to enter the patient's record, scan the patient's wristband now.

4. Scan the first medication.

   • Medications that are due are listed on the left.

   • If your organisation uses a unit dose medicine cabinet linked to Nervecentre, any medications not added automatically to the trolley are marked as Not in trolly.

   • If your organisation does not use a unit dose medicine cabinet linked to Nervecentre, all medications show Not in trolly. You can ignore this message.

5. Check the 'five rights' and enter any notes.

6. Select Confirm.

7. Repeat for all medications.

A secondary check of a medication by a registered professional is called a witness signature. You might need a witness signature for high-risk medications, for example, class 2 medications or IVs. You can enter a witness signature manually or by scanning.

Manual entry

A second user, with correct user permissions, can enter their username and password.

Scanning

Use a scanner connected to the desktop to scan the witness’s QR code.

Your QR code appears on the settings page of Nervecentre on your device.

QR codes change frequently.

A registered professional must countersign Approval from a qualified person. For example, a qualified nurse checks and countersigns all medication administered by a student or unregistered health professional. This signature is the Countersign. the MAR when a student administers a medication. You can add a countersignature manually or by scanning.

Manual entry

A second user can enter their username and password.

Scanning

Using a scanner connected to the desktop, scan the QR codes of the counter-signatory. Your QR code appears on the settings page of Nervecentre on your device.

QR codes change frequently.

If the medication requires a second signature, the witness signature box also appears. This allows two registered professionals to sign for the medication alongside the student. The witness can enter their username and password manually, or by scanning.