This is lesson 8 Taking Medication Away from Home.

Transcription

1 Welcome to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW), Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) Medication Administration Course for life sharers. This course was developed by the ODP Office of the Medical Director in conjunction with the Lifesharing Coalition and with technical assistance from Community Health Connections, the Western Pennsylvania Healthcare Quality Unit. This is lesson 8 Taking Medication Away from Home. 1

2 Hello, I m Jill Morrow and I am the Medical Director for the Office of Developmental Programs. I ll be your presenter for this webcast. 2

3 The learning objectives for lesson 8 appear on the slide. In this lesson you will learn how to plan for medication administration when you are away from home. You will also learn how to respond when something unexpected happens affecting medication administration. 3

4 People like to go on vacations and participate in activities away from home. This lesson discusses the need for planning and safety related to administering medication while away from home. The time away from home can be a week long vacation or simply a day at the park. It is important to remember that if a person takes medication, then planning for medication administration while away is necessary. 4

5 When planning a trip, it is important to know how long you will be gone because this affects how much medication you need to take with you. Planning for someone who is on two to three medications is different than planning for someone who is on one medication. In addition, approaching medication for a week long vacation differs from that for a day trip. It is important to know some of the potential side effects or drug interactions of the medications the person takes since they will likely be doing different activities and probably be eating different kinds of food than usual. For example, some people are on medication that makes them sensitive to the sun. These are called photosensitive medications. When going to the beach, people spend more time out in the sun than usual. Therefore, for people taking photosensitive medication, it is important to remember this and use high SPF sunscreen or stay out of the sun when it is the hottest to prevent the person from getting sunburned. Let s look at two scenarios that highlight why planning for medication administration when away from home is important. The common themes in these scenarios outline how to prevent unsafe situations for the person on medication and allow them to have fun. 5

6 Lets look at the first scenario: The family planned a trip to Ocean City, Maryland for a week at the beach with John. John takes four different medications for seizures, high blood pressure, depression and calcium supplementation to prevent osteoporosis. Everything has been packed and you are ready to go. You decide to travel at night and when you arrive in the morning you have discovered that John s medication was left behind. What should you do? Some suggestions that may be helpful to you if this occurs are: Call the person s insurance company as they may be able to assist you to get the medication replaced. Call the person s home pharmacy and have them work with one of the local pharmacies to replace the medication. You should have a list of all John s medications with you kept separately from the medication. If you don t, then the home pharmacy will have the required information about John s medications. You may need to call John s healthcare practitioner if the prescription for John s medication would need to be renewed prior to being refilled. Lessons learned from this scenario include: The most important thing that you can do is double check that you have the medications with you when you take a trip away from home. Be sure to take a list of everyone s medications with you and pack it in a different place than the medication. Take medical insurance, healthcare provider and pharmacy contact information with you when you travel. 6

7 In the second scenario, a day trip is planned to a local amusement park with Anne. She takes medication that causes photosensitivity. The weather report said it would be overcast and cool that day. Because of the weather report, you did not plan to take sunscreen or have Anne wear protective clothing. However the day turned out to be very sunny and hot and there was no sun protection for Anne. What should you do? Because Anne is on photosensitive medication she needs to be protected from the sun s rays. You will need to get sunscreen and protective clothing for her to prevent sunburn. She should have a hat and a light jacket or shirt with sleeves to cover her skin. You may also want to have her stay in the shade or indoors during the hottest and most sun-exposed time of the day. While careful planning can assure that you have medication when it is needed to be given, sometimes the unexpected happens. Knowing how to respond when something affecting medication administration unexpectedly happens can help prevent ruining a vacation or fun activity. In this example, the change in weather could be managed by knowing what was needed to prevent Anne from reacting to the sun exposure. Remember from the first scenario that packing both the person s medication list and insurance card can help in situations when medication is lost or left behind. 7

8 This concludes Lesson 8. For those completing the course through the Provider Information Center, a Certificate of Achievement will be available after completing all course requirements. Please return to where you launched this webcast to complete the course requirements and access your Certificate. Thank you for watching these webcasts about how to safely administer medications. 8