Clinical Skills: Giving oral medication
Hello. Today I will talk about the different ways to administer oral medication.Normally you do everything on this list, but to keep things concise, we’ll focus on the steps in blue, and we’ll also include a summary.Regardless of how you’re administering the medication, sit the patient upright.
To do so, have the patient open their mouth before you visually inspect the cheeks and under the tongue.If the patient is unable to swallow tablets, break them up one at a time in a pill-crusher device, then mix the crushed medication into a teaspoon of soft food, and have the patient eat that.Remember, not all medications can be crushed or chewed; some will have to go down whole.Disintegrating formulations come in the form of tablets or strips.
Simply just place the formulation onto the patient’s tongue and encourage them to hold it there while it dissolves. Now, for sublingual or buccal medications, place sublingual medications under the patient’s tongue, and buccal medications between the cheeks and gums.
In either case, encourage the patient to hold the medication there while it dissolves.If you’re using powdered medications, you can mix them right before you administer it to the patient.
Pour the powder into a glass of water or another appropriate liquid, like orange juice, and have the patient drink the mixture normally.For liquids, briefly shake liquid medication before pouring it into a medication cup.
Next, ensure that you’ve read the quantity of the medication from the bottom of the meniscus, not the top. Then, have the patient drink the medication directly from the cup.
Or, you can transfer the medication into an oral syringe, and administer it directly into the
No notes for this video yet
Try adding a note below