	Risk Prevention and Management

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

RPM 3: Medication Control and Administration*

The organization ensures safe, uniform medication control and administration.

Note: Organizations that are licensed by their state to do medication management must verify applicability.

Note: Please see Medication Control and Administration Management_Policy and Procedure Template in the Announcements section of My COA account for additional assistance with this standard.

NA The organization does not prescribe, dispense, administer, or store medication.

RPM 3.01

Personnel directly involved in medication control and administration receive training and demonstrate competence in medication control and administration, and knowledge of applicable legal requirements.

Interpretation: Personnel who have not completed training must work under the supervision of qualified staff.

RPM 3.02

When medication is initially prescribed, the organization or the prescribing physician:

obtains the written, informed consent of the service recipient, and/or a legal guardian:
fully explains the benefits, risks, and alternatives.

Interpretation: The organization obtains consent for over-the-counter medication, either at the initiation of service or upon administration of the medication.

NA The organization does not prescribe medication.

RPM 3.03

When individuals are receiving prescription medication, administration of over-the-counter medications should be done in consultation with a qualified medical professional to identify possible adverse interaction of medications.

NA The organization does not prescribe or administer medication.

RPM 3.04

Protocols and controls governing the proper administration and storage of medication include:

locked, supervised storage with access limited to authorized personnel;
packaging in childproof containers and labeling with the name of person served, medication name, dosage, prescribing physician name, and number or code identifying the written order;
appropriate disposal of out-of-date or unused medication, syringes, medical waste, or medication prescribed to former persons served;
a record of who received medications, what medications were dispensed or administered, and when and by whom medications were dispensed or administered;
protocols for the administration of over-the-counter medications; and
a prohibition against dispensing drug samples without a prescription.

Note: Please see Checklist: Facility Observation in the Tools Index for additional assistance with this standard.

NA The organization does not dispense, administer, or store medication.

RPM 3.05

Personnel observe and assess the effects of medication on the service recipient and consult with medical professionals, as necessary.

NA The organization does not prescribe or administer medication.

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	PURPOSE: Comprehensive, systematic, and effective risk prevention and management practices reduce the organization’s risk, loss, and liability exposure.

RELATED FILES


	PREVENTION Actions taken to minimize and/or eliminate social, psychological, or other conditions. Prevention can occur at the individual, group, community, and societal levels and enhances opportunities to achieve positive fulfillment.


	PRACTICE Established actions or ways of proceeding in the regular performance of organizational duties. Policies and procedures often guide practice.


	MEDICATION A prescribed or over-the-counter drug that is injected, taken orally, applied topically, or otherwise administered.


	ADMINISTRATION The personnel responsible for management functions of the organization, including fiscal management, human resources, and service delivery. Such personnel determine organizational goals, acquire and allocate resources to carry out a program, coordinate activities toward goal achievement, and monitor, evaluate, and make needed changes in processes and procedures to improve the likelihood of goal achievement. The term is synonymously used with MANAGEMENT.


	PRESCRIBE To issue lawful order from a practitioner for the preparation and administration of a drug or device for a specific client that is communicated directly to a pharmacist in a licensed pharmacy.


	DISPENSE The act of processing a drug for delivery to a client pursuant to a practitioner's order. Dispensing medications includes the following: checking the directions on the label against the directions on the prescription or order to determine accuracy; selecting the drug from stock to fill the order; counting, measuring, compounding, or preparing the drug; placing the drug from stock into the proper container; affixing the label to the container; and adding any required notations to a written prescription.


	ADMINISTER The act of giving a single dose of a prescribed drug to a client by an authorized person in accordance with federal and state laws and regulations governing such acts. The complete act entails removing an individual dose from a previously dispensed, properly labeled container (including a unit dose container), verifying it with a physician's order, giving the individual dose to the proper client, and recording the time and dose given.


	MEDICATION MANAGEMENT Ongoing review and oversight of a client's use of prescribed or over-the-counter medications by a physician or other prescribing clinician.


	PERSONNEL The body of employees and/or volunteers that carries out the organization's tasks under the organization's administration and/or supervision. This definition does not include foster parents who are specifically referenced in relevant standards


	TRAINING Instruction so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient in a skill or body of knowledge.


	MANAGEMENT See ADMINISTRATION


	LIABILITY An obligation, responsibility, or debt.


	SUPERVISION Assumption of responsibility for directly overseeing and evaluating the work or work products of personnel within an organization. Also includes inspecting the act or process of accomplishing a function or activity.


	INFORMED CONSENT The explicit granting of permission by a consumer or his/her legal guardian to the service provider and organization to use a specific intervention or participate in research. The consent is predicated on full disclosure of the facts to enable the consumer to make a decision based on knowledge of the risks and alternatives.


	SERVICE RECIPIENT The individuals, groups, organizations, or communities that use, receive, or benefit from programs and services. Service recipients can include consumers, patients, family members, legal guardians, advocates, public/private organizations, employers, and purchasers. All are regarded as significant stakeholders served in a variety of agencies and practice settings.


	LEGAL GUARDIAN A person who has legal responsibility for the care and management of a person incapable of administering his/her own affairs. In the case of a minor child, the guardian is charged with the legal responsibility for the care and management of the child and of the minor child's estate.


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	PROTOCOLS Instruments and procedures used to accomplish a particular goal, activity, or purpose.


	SAMPLE A portion or representative percentage of a greater whole.