6 Common Medication Administration Errors

Working in a care home can be a demanding job. Overwhelmed by a number of responsibilities, one can make different errors. And one such error is medication administration error. Administering medications is one task that affects the health of the resident directly. However, due to lack of drug knowledge, overwriting or other causes, care home staff often make medication administration errors. By automating medication administration in your care home, you can reduce the risk of medication errors.

Switch to eMAR to reduce the medication administration errors

If you are running a elderly home care which is still using paper MAR sheets, it’s time to let eMAR help you save your valuable time. Paper MAR sheets require double checking, counting medications, and retraining staff when dosages change. By switching to digital medical administration record sheet, you can reduce the risk of medication errors and save staff time. If you are running a care home in the UK, to book a demo with us today visit https://www.electronicmar.co.uk/book-a-demo/.

Here are 6 common medication administration errors that your care home should avoid making:

Lack of knowledge about drug interaction: Different drugs interact with each other differently. This is why some medicines are not prescribed along with others. However, a lack of knowledge about drug-drug interaction can have a serious consequence. Whenever a new medicine is prescribed, the nursing staff must either check or bring to the doctor’s notice the existing medicines that the resident is taking. An overall review of medication can help avoid this problem.
Dosage error: This usually happens when either a doctor prescribes a new medicine or asks to stop the old one. For instance, a doctor may have suggested stopping a particular medicine for a particular problem. However, the resident may require that dosage for another ailment. This confusion can result in either overdose or underdose.
Overwriting: This is one of the common mistakes that happen when the nursing staff is still using paper medication administration. But these changes should be legible and comprehensive, because rewriting and overwriting can cause confusion.
Poor communication with doctors: Sometimes medication errors stem from poor communication among the nursing staff and the doctors. This can involve messy handwriting, ambiguous abbreviations, and confusion between drugs with same-sounding names.
Right medicine but wrong route: There are many ways of administering different medicines. Some pills are taken orally but some administered through the rectum or vagina or they are injected. It is better that the doctor and the nursing staff are clear on the route for administering medication.
Wrong patient: Same-sounding names and change in rooms and bed numbers are one of the few reasons that can result in administering medications intended for one patient to another patient. The best way to avoid this is to have more than one way of verifying a patient. Some care homes go by a patient’s room number while some check ID number. Having more than one layer of checking can help avoid this problem and initiate more effective care of elderly patient.

The Importance of eMAR in Medication Management

Medication management plays a key role in determining the quality of care offered in different types of care homes such as nursing care homes, respite care homes, dementia care homes, and disability care homes.

Using eMAR (electronic Medication Administration Record) can help care homes streamline their medication administration as the system outperforms paper-based MAR sheets.

Here are some reasons why using eMAR in medication management is important:

1. Increased operational efficiency and productivity

By using eMAR, care home staff can benefit from operational efficiency and productivity. How? The system eliminates the need for care home staff to spend valuable time correcting or precisely updating paper-based medication administration records.

eMAR has an easy-to-use user interface. By using it, care home staff spend less time documenting and updating medication administration. The result? They can devote more time to providing personal care to residents, which is an essential part of quality care.

2. Adhering to the highest standard of medication administration procedures

As eMAR incorporates alters and modifications, the system can help ensure the practice of the highest standard of medication administration procedures by prompting care home staff to comply accordingly.

The alerts in eMAR can also help care home staffs adhere with the six Rs of proper medication administration – Right medication, Right resident, Right dose, Right documentation, Right route, and Right time.

3. Improved management of medicine stocks

Inefficient management of medicine stocks can result in medication errors such as untimely dosage resulting from delays in restocking care home inventory; it can also result in wastage of medicines. However, eMAR can help improve management of medicine stocks as the system can integrate with pharmacy.

4. Improved communication between care homes, GP, and pharmacy

Transparent communication between care homes, GP, and pharmacy is essential to ensuring proper medication management and lowering the risks of medication errors. eMAR allows seamless integration between the three entities.

5. Versatility in viewing documented records

Care home managers when looking into the documented medication administration records can get a 360 degree view of the care home’s overall medication management. They can run the reports by user, resident, medication, and time.

In other words, they are able to view who gave what to whom and when. This is also possible in traditional paper-based MAR sheets but it takes more time and can be stressful.

Improve medication administration management in your care home using Electronic MAR

Electronic MAR is solely designed to help care homes improve their medication administration management in order to lower medication errors. The mobile and cloud-based solution is easy to install and use. Electronic MAR is designed to look like paper-based MAR sheets.

Learn how care homes in the UK have benefited from implementing Electronic MAR into their medication administration management. Watch the video here: https://www.electronicmar.co.uk/emar/.

What is an eMAR?

In order to streamline medication administration and reporting in care homes, documentation of medication is crucial. MAR (Medication Administration Record) chart is the standard system used in care homes for managing medication administration. However, a new alternative, eMAR (electronic MAR), is replacing traditional MAR charts as it is more precise and efficient.

Here’s what you should know about eMAR:

What is eMAR?

eMAR, an electronic medical records software, is an alternative to paper-based MAR charts. It’s a cost-effective solution to improve operational efficiency in care homes. eMAR, with a host of benefits, eliminates the hassles involved in traditional MAR charts.

Features of eMAR

eMAR, with a number of features, helps improve different areas of medication administration including documentation, reporting, time management, and restocking medication inventory. Below are the important features of electronic MAR;

Alerts – eMAR alerts care workers of medication dosage. This way, care workers can ensure that no dosage is missed out.
Audits – care workers can prepare extensive month-end reporting with ease using eMAR.
Notes – care workers can prepare notes and record them securely using eMAR.
Pharmacy integration – restocking medication inventory becomes easier using eMAR as it is integrated with pharmacy. Regular restocking of medication inventory helps reduce medication errors.

The benefits of eMAR

With a myriad of benefits, more number of care homes are integrating eMAR for improving quality of care. Here’s a rundown of the benefits of eMAR:

1. Streamlined medication administration

eMAR helps improve operational efficiency in care homes by automating medication administration. Care workers can improve efficiency in different processes involved in medication administration including documenting and reporting medication of each patient.

2. Easy to implement and use

eMAR is easy to implement and use; it can be easily implemented in different types of care homes. eMAR has a simple and user-friendly interface, making it easier for care workers to use it.

3. Low risk of medication errors

Medication errors adversely affect patients’ health as well as lower care homes’ credibility. The risk of medication errors are drastically lowered using eMAR.

4. Easy accessibility

eMAR is compatible with Android smartphones and tablets. This makes it easy for care home managers and staff to easily access cloud-based MAR sheets. Also, eMAR allows remote access to care home managers and care workers.

5. Efficient time-management

All of the benefits of eMAR (mentioned above) are the factors that contribute towards efficient management of time. For instance, the user-friendly interface of eMAR makes it easier for care workers to document medication quicker.

6. uality work experience for care workers

eMAR provides a transparent platform for care workers to seamlessly access electronic medical record. This way, care workers can effortlessly streamline medication administration which, in turn, helps reduce the risks of medication errors and save care workers’ time.

Improve the quality of care using eMAR – electronic MAR sheets for care homes

Inconvenient-to-work-with MAR charts are now a thing of the past. Switch to eMAR, an efficient and cost-effective solution to improving the quality of care. Learn more about electronic MAR at https://www.electronicmar.co.uk/emar/.

Essential Caregiving Tips

Caring for patients/residents in care homes involves more than just aiding them with proper diet and safe mobility; problem-solving, careful planning, etc. are some of the skills required in professional caregiving.

Here are some of the essential caregiving tips:

1. Attentive listening

Careful listening is the key to fully understand the concerns of patients; this way, care workers can precisely address their concerns. By listening closely to the patients, care workers can prepare plans or take notes regarding their diet, sleep timings, physical activities, etc. to provide tailored care to them. Also, attentive listening imparts a feeling of being understood and appreciated.

2. Clear communication

Clear and transparent communication is essential in different areas of caregiving. With clear communication, caregivers can have a healthy bond with the patients; it also helps in precise reporting.

3. Patience

Care home residents, including older patients and patients with serious diseases such as dementia need patience from caregivers. Such residents are slower at explaining what they need and moving about. Also, patients can be annoyed or frustrated at times and can take that out on the carer. Therefore, being patient and calms helps carers stay focused.

4. Punctuality

Good punctuality is a must when it comes to ensuring smooth care service in care homes. Many patients prefer planning their day around care provision; when a care worker is late, it can impact patients’ daily routine as well imbalance the work flow among the staff.

5. Maintaining dignity

Differently-abled patients, older patients, and patients with serious diseases need extra care such as aiding them with mobility and other tasks. However, it is crucial to maintain their dignity. For instance, it’s always a good option to ask them the permission of helping them in bathing.

6. Cheerful personality

In cares homes, care workers might be the only people patients come into contact with. Therefore, a cheerful and friendly personality can make a difference in providing quality care and encouraging well-being of the patients.

7. Kindness

Kindness and showing are the two essential traits of professional caregivers. Patients appreciate kindness; they are generally happy or coordinative when the carer is polite and kind to them.

8. Willingness to learn

A care worker has to care for a myriad of patients during the span of his/her career. This, in itself, is a great opportunity to learn. Over time, care workers can gain experience caring for patients of different nature.

9. Quick problem-solving

Things might not always go as expected or planned in care homes where patients with severe care need reside. In such a setting, care workers must be able to deal with unexpected scenarios. Their ability to think on their feet can help save patients’ lives during emergencies.

10. Efficiency

In any care home, care workers have to complete several tasks during the day. Working efficiently helps them manage time and provide quality care to the patients.

Improve medication administration in your care home using eMAR

eMAR (electronic MAR) a smart alternative to traditional MAR (Medication Administration Record) charts. eMAR packs an array of benefits to care homes; it helps improve operational efficiency, saving care workers’ time.

Most importantly, care workers can lower the risk of medication errors using eMAR. Learn more about eMAR at https://www.electronicmar.co.uk.

4 Common Caregiving Challenges

Providing quality care to ensure the well-being of patients is the main objective of every care home. However, complications in medication administration and special care required for differently-abled patients and patients suffering from disorders such as dementia present a host of challenges.

Here we discuss 4 common challenges that caregivers face:

1. Patients with severe diseases/conditions

Taking care of differently-abled patients and patients affected by dementia and other severe diseases is one of the biggest challenges for caregivers. Unlike other patients, they have problems with mobility and understanding speech. Therefore, caregivers must be extra cautious while providing special care for them.

2. Providing personal care to patients

Caregivers have to spend countless hours documenting medication of each patient using MAR (Medication Administration Record) charts. This makes it challenging for them to devote time to the patients to connect better with them and provide personal care.

3. Time-management

The inefficiency involved in administering medication using MAR charts makes it challenging for caregivers to effectively manage time. As a result, care workers have a poor working experience which, in turn, lowers performance and increases the risks of medication errors (which leads us to the next point).

4. Medication errors

Medication errors not only hamper the health of patients but also lower the credibility of care homes. Medication errors occur in the following areas:

Prescribing the medication; writing the prescription
Giving wrong medication
Wrong dosage of medication
Medication given in the wrong time
Documenting medication administration
Reporting medication administration
Keeping records of medication administration.

Streamline medication administration and lower the risk of medication errors in your care home using electronic medication administration record

Electronic MAR (eMAR), a smart alternative to conventional MAR charts, helps you improve operational efficiency in your care home by streamlining medication administration.

It works as an App on tablets and Android smartphones and is the right solution for care homes where compliance and security are paramount.

Features such as recording care workers’ notes, medication dosage alerts, integration with pharmacy, and easy-to-use interface make eMAR a better and smarter alternative to conventional MAR charts.

Eliminate the inconvenience of working with paper-based documents in your care home using electronic medical records software. Learn more about electronic MAR at https://www.electronicmar.co.uk/emar/.

5 FAQs About Caregiving

The quality of care giving determines how quickly and effectively a patient can recover from his/her health disorder and see improvements in overall health. There are countless confusions and concerns regarding caregiving; here are 6 FAQs about caregiving to help you develop a better understanding:

1. What are the different types of care homes?

Usually care homes specialise in these categories:

Disability care: this type of care home provides care for physically disabled patients. Disability care homes can provide care for elderly, frail, and terminally ill patients as well.

Dementia care: this type of care home provides care for Dementia patients. People suffering from Dementia face problem understanding and coordinating; Dementia care homes comprise skilled care staff to provide proper care.

Respite care: this type of care home provides short-term care during short-time stay of patients. Respite care homes generally provide around one to two weeks of stay and care.

Convalescent care: this type of care home provides care to patients recovering from a serious illness, injury, or surgery.

2. What is MAR chart and why is it used?

A MAR (Medication Administration Record) chart is a paper-based working document used in care homes to record and report administration of medication. Care workers are required to manually record medication administration of each patient on a daily basis.

3. Who prepares MAR charts?

MAR charts are generally prepared by pharmacies on a monthly basis. However, care workers can prepare a MAR chart by themselves. While doing so, they have to make sure that the same format of standard MAR chart is followed.

4. What are medication errors?

Medication errors lead to inappropriate use of medication and patient harm; however, they can be prevented. Medication errors occur in different areas; they can occur as incorrect prescription, wrong timing, and wrong dosage of medication.

5. hat is eMAR and why is it becoming increasingly popular?

eMAR or electronic MAR is a smart alternative to traditional MAR charts. Unlike paper-based MAR charts, eMAR works as an easy to use app on Android smartphones and tablets. Therefore, they are much easier to work with.

eMAR packs an array of benefits to care homes and care staff – the cloud-based software helps you streamline medication administration, reduce the risk of medication errors, and save care workers’ time. These are the reasons eMAR is becoming increasingly popular.

Improve operational efficiency and quality of care in your care home using eMAR

Say goodbye to time-consuming MAR sheets in your care home, switch to eMAR. Using eMAR is a win-win for care homes’ credibility and staff – the software saves care workers’ time and streamlines medication administration while reducing the risk of medication errors. As a result, you significantly improve operational efficiency and quality of patient care in your care home.

Learn more about electronic MAR at https://www.electronicmar.co.uk/emar/.

Alzheimer’s Disease and Caregiving: A Guide for Caregivers

Care home residents suffering from Alzheimer’s disease require extensive care as their decision-making ability, reasoning, and judgment become poorer with the progression of the disease. A care home must have a trained staff and a structured operation to provide proper care to such residents. Over here, we discuss tips for providing proper care to Alzheimer patients.

1. Communication
Effective communication is the key to ensure residents receive proper care. Unfortunately, this can be a challenge for caregivers as residents suffering from Alzheimer’s disease often face difficulty in understanding others.
As a care provider, ensure that the communication between you and the residents is as simple as possible. One good way to do this is to use simple words and ask simple questions. Call the residents by their names to get their attention and remember to make eye contact while having a conversation.
Give enough time for the residents to respond to your questions. Don’t interrupt while they are trying to answer.

2. Exercise
Regular exercise is one of the best ways to improve the overall health of the residents. Simple exercises such as walking, cleaning, and gardening can keep them occupied.
However, do not expect them to complete the tasks as per your expectations. Instead, reward them for even the smallest success. Remember to track their mood as they can get agitated or frustrated too quickly.

3. Diet
Residents suffering from Alzheimer’s disease can have an unpredictable nature when it comes to their diet. If they get agitated when asked to complete their meals, cooperate with them. It’s best to serve small meals to them throughout the day rather than serving them with three large meals in a day.
Mealtimes are a good opportunity to encourage social interaction. If the residents have trouble using the utensils, serve the food items in bowls or utensils with no-slip grip handles.

4. Bathing
Bathing can be a confusing or a frightening experience for residents. Never force the residents to bathe when they are frightened, confused or angry.
Use eMAR to improve caregiving
Managing MAR sheets manually is time-consuming. As a result, care workers find it challenging to devote time for personal care to the residents. eMAR, a smart alternative to MAR sheets, streamlines medication administration and saves care workers’ time.
Learn more about eMAR at https://www.electronicmar.co.uk.

How care homes can benefit from eMAR?

eMAR makes it easy for care workers to effectively manage medication administration. Care workers can drastically lower the risk of medication errors, save time while documenting medication, and restock medication inventory via pharmacy integration using eMAR.

Here we discuss how care homes can benefit from eMAR:

1) Efficient and streamlined medication administration
eMAR improves the operational efficiency of care homes. With eMAR, care homes can automate medication administration to improve the efficiency of processes such as gathering, consolidating, and reporting data.
Care home staff can keep records of medication documentation and view them with ease using eMAR. The MAR software also allows care home managers to remotely view medication administration in real-time.

2) Reduced risk of medication error
From prescribing medication to administering and documenting, medication errors can occur at any point. eMAR lowers the risk of medication errors. With eMAR, no medication dosage is missed as the care workers get alerts before the prescribed time.

3) Saves staff time
Care workers spend significant time searching and going through paper documents to administer medication to residents. As a result, the care workers cannot devote adequate time to the residents. With eMAR, the inconvenience of working with paper-based documents is eliminated.

4) Improved working experience for staff
Care workers are responsible for daily management of medication for residents, and it’s a challenging task which causes intense stress to the care staff. eMAR comes as a perfect solution to lower the pressure care workers face by providing a structured and centralised electronic medical record. eMAR provides a high level of transparency as all the authorised staff can effortlessly access the electronic medical record. As a result, care homes can distribute workflow and effectively leverage the skills of their care staff.

3) Easy accessibility
eMAR offers easy accessibility. Care home managers and staff can remotely access the MAR software. Also, the software is compatible with web and Android devices. This further improves its accessibility.
Unlike conventional MAR charts, eMAR is easy to work with. With its simple and user-friendly interface, any care worker can access the cloud-based MAR sheets using an Android tablet or a smartphone. eMAR includes secure data backup and login as well.
Improve medication administration in your care home using eMAR
eMAR is a cost-effective solution to improving medication administration in your care home. Learn more about eMAR at https://www.electronicmar.co.uk.

Suggestions For Caregivers to understand Dementia Behaviours

Taking care of patients/care home residents who are suffering from Dementia is a challenge. Such residents often face a great deal of difficulty communicating, remembering things, and most importantly, taking care of themselves.
Care workers face the biggest challenge when it comes to understanding dementia behaviour of the residents. Do you face the same issue in your care home?

Over here we discuss the tips to understand behaviours associated with Dementia and how to address them

1) Cause of the dementia behaviours

The first step to understand and cope with behavioural changes is to question why the patient has been behaving in a particular way. It’s important to note that people suffering from dementia can have poor judgement skills. Therefore, some of their behaviour (which might seem strange to others) might be their way of dealing with problems.
For instance, a patient who wants to disrobe might be feeling hot or need to use the bathroom. It’s important to understand what’s causing the patient to behave in an unusual manner, rather than stressing about their erratic behaviour.

2) When does the patient exhibit dementia behaviours?
Understanding the patterns or triggers of the resident’s behaviour can help you effectively cope with the problems. Keep a track of the situations when the resident starts to behave abnormally. Some of the key triggers to check include:
Your behaviour – Was it because of something you did?
Certain tasks –He/she might not like it when you help them complete a specific task such as bathing or clipping nails.
Difficult times –He/she might be uncomfortable with certain weather conditions or seasons.

3) Dealing with dementia behaviours
It can be stressing to deal with unpredictable and erratic behaviour. Remember, the key to dealing with unusual behaviour of dementia residents is to understand their concerns.
As a care provider, you must not contradict or correct them if they say something wrong. Instead, agree with them and make them feel comfortable.

Improve care for dementia residents in your care home using eMAR
Unlike conventional MAR charts, eMAR saves medication administration time – making it possible for care workers to devote more time to understand the residents.
With eMAR, you also lower the risk of medication errors in your care home. Know more about eMAR at https://www.electronicmar.co.uk.

Care Home Staff: 10 Things to Know About MAR Sheets

Medication administration is one of the key responsibilities of a care worker. Medication documentation when done accurately helps in effectively treating the patients/care home residents. MAR (Medical Administration Record) sheets/charts are designed for this specific purpose – to effectively administer medication.

Want to know more about MAR sheets? Read on…

1) How to use MAR sheet?

MAR sheets are available in a printable format; they can be printed and used in a care home. Some pharmacies may provide MAR sheets; one can also prepare a handwritten MAR sheet.

2) When is MAR sheet used?

MAR sheet is often confused with drug charts. However, they are not the same. MAR sheet is to be used only after the medication has been prescribed and labeled by a doctor, a pharmacy, or a non-medical prescriber.

3) What does MAR sheet include?

A standard MAR sheet includes the patient/care home resident’s name, health complications, date of birth, and address. When documenting the MAR sheet, care workers must make sure:

• What are the medications that are prescribed to the resident

• The date and time for giving the medication

• What is the dosage instructed in the prescription

• In what form should the medication be given

4) The format of MAR sheet

The format of MAR sheet can vary from care home to care home. However, some of the basics (the points mentioned above)must be included.

5) What happens when the medication is altered?

A new MAR sheet is to be used when the resident’s medication is altered. It’s important not to modify the current MAR sheet. Instead, the old MAR sheet must be submitted for record keeping.

6) What happens when the medication is discontinued?

If a medication is discontinued, then a diagonal line is to be drawn through the dosage instruction section.

7) DOs of MAR sheet

• The codes used in the MAR sheet must be clearly explained.

• The MAR sheet must be signed immediately after administration.

• All the personal details must be completed in every MAR sheet.

8) DON’Ts of MAR sheet

The don’ts of MAR sheet include:

• Sign for medicines that were administered by other caregivers.

• Care workers must not use a pencil to sign the MAR sheets.

• Correction fluids should be avoided.

9) Pros of MAR sheet

• Standardises medication administration.

• Easily available.

10) Cons of MAR sheet

• Several medication errors.

• Stressful to work with.

• The current MAR sheet must be copied from the scratch when medication is altered.

Use Electronic MAR ( eMAR) to manage MAR. Some of the benefits of eMAR include:

1) Saves support worker’s time.

2) Reduces medication errors.

3) Ensures that doses are not missed.

4) Records the carer’s notes.

5) Integrates with the pharmacy.

Care Home Staff: Time Management Tips

For care home staff, time management plays a key role in meeting the healthcare needs of the residents. With a myriad of tasks to be completed every day, efficiently managing time can seem overwhelming for care home staff. However, effective time management isn’t an unachievable goal. Here’s a quick read on time management for care home staff – we hope you find it useful:

1. Starting early

A simple solution to effectively manage time is to show up at work early. Arriving at work early has a number of perks – you can read your handover sheets and organize your tasks prior to starting your shift.

2. Making a to-do list

As care providers are required to complete numerous tasks every day, it is important to streamline everyday task by making a to-do list/routine.

3. Communication (verbal and written)

Proper communication eliminates misunderstandings and medication error. When writing records do not use jargons, meaningless phrases, and personal opinions.

4. Robust record keeping

Every care home should have a robust system of record keeping, especially when it comes to maintaining current and old MAR sheets. For instance, care workers are must change the MAR sheet of a care home patient/resident if the medication is altered. The old MAR sheet then needs to be deposited at the office for record keeping. Care staff may have to refer to the old MAR sheet in future, and a robust record-keeping eliminates the process of wasting time searching for the old sheets. MAR sheets care homes can be one of the best solutions.

5. Listening to the patient

It’s important to listen to your patient’s requirements before you prioritize your tasks. Understanding what they would like first goes a long way in streamlining your tasks and saving time.

6. Taking breaks in between

Constant work can negatively affect your productivity and efficiency. It’s important to take a breather; spending a couple of minutes sipping tea/coffee while collecting your thoughts help you focus better and complete the tasks on time.

7. Taking note of tasks that take time

There are some tasks that you might spend much time completing. It’s helpful if you take note of such tasks and analyze them to understand how you can be efficient at completing them in less time.

8. Being flexible

Working in a care home requires you to perform unpredictable tasks which can change the priorities you set for yourself. Learning to be flexible and quickly adapting to changes is helpful in effectively managing time.

Care Home Managers: Replace Conventional MAR Sheets With eMAR And Help Your Staff

For care home staff, medication administration is one of their important and time-consuming daily tasks. With conventional MAR sheets, care providers take more time to accurately report medication. The time taken can be drastically reduced with eMAR, and also the process is less prone to human errors.

Switch to electronic MAR and save medication administration time

eMAR automates everything and its use is easy and simple. Care home managers learn more about eMAR here and know how the digital record sheet can help you reduce medication errors and quicken the medication rounds.