HLTENN040 - Administer and monitor medicines and intravenous therapy

For Melbourne campuses

Assessment tasks will be designed to reinforce & extend knowledge and skill competence within set & controlled parameters in accordance with each unit’s learning outcomes & performance criteria requirements, including the setting of work based practical application tasks designed to provide evidence of competence outcomes, within periodic and scheduled timelines.

Students will be expected to demonstrate the following required skills:
• Demonstrate evidence of the ability to complete tasks outlined in elements and performance criteria of this unit in the context of the job role, and:
• for two people:
• reference medical history records to identify documented allergies and contraindications
• use the Rights of Medication Administration and calculate medicine with 100% accuracy to administer medicines:
• oral medicine including two in simulation and three in the workplace
• sub-cutaneous injection including one in simulation and one in the workplace
• intramuscular injection in simulation
• peripheral IV injection including one in simulation and one in the workplace
• prepare equipment for IV therapy and blood and blood products
• monitor administration including assessing cannula site

The tasks must be undertaken in accordance with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) professional practice standards, codes and guidelines.

Students will also be expected to demonstrate the following knowledge:
• legal requirements for practice parameters of enrolled nurse in relation to the administration and documentation of medicine, including legal requirements for each route of administration
• Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) National Standard Medication Charts
• legal and regulatory framework including Commonwealth and State/Territory drugs and poisons acts, regulations and codes
• pharmacology of medicine:
• pharmacodynamics
• pharmacokinetics
• pharmacotherapeutics
• therapeutic drug levels
• anaphylactic reactions
• adverse reactions
• contraindications
• precautions
• side effects
• management of potential complications of blood transfusion
• safe transport, storage, handling, checking and disposal of blood and blood products
• Rights of Medication Administration requirements:
• right medicine
• right dose
• right prescription
• right route
• right time
• right person
• right expiration date
• right to refuse
• right documentation
• right response
• right form
• high risk medicine as per the ACSQHC
• how medicine is administered via the following routes:
• oral
• sublingual and buccal
• inhalation
• subcutaneous
• intramuscular
• intravenous
• enteral
• intranasal
• ocular
• rectal
• transdermal
• vaginal
• aural
• IV medicine administration methods:
• push
• bolus
• gravity
• electronic infusion pump
• secondary line
• syringe driver
• subcutaneous
• intravascular access devices:
• central venous catheter (CVC)
• peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC)
• vascath
• implanted venous port
• Hickman
• access devices:
• peripheral
• central
• percutaneous
• subcutaneous
• patient-controlled analgesia (PCA)
• pharmacodynamic effects of medicine groups:
Anaesthetics, Analgesia, Antacids, Antianginals, Anxiolytics, Antiarrhythmics, Antibiotics, Anticholinergics, Anticoagulants, Anticonvulsants, Antidepressants, Antidiarrheals, Antiemetics, Antifungals, Antihistamines, Antihypertensives, Anti-inflammatory, Antineoplastics, Antiparkinsonian, Antipruritic, Antipsychotics, Antiseptics, Antiulcer, Antivirals, Beta-blockers,
Benzodiazepines, Bronchodilators, Laxatives/aperients, Contraceptives, Corticosteroids, Including narcotic analgesia, Hormones, Hypnotics, sedatives, Hypoglycaemics, Insulin, Electrolyte solutions, Ophthalmic, otic, Nasal medicine – nasopharyngeal medicine, Diuretics and Vitamins.
• techniques for calculating medicine dosages:
• calculation formulae
• ACSQHC tall man lettering
• commonly used dose measurement:
• microgram (microg, MICROg)
• milligram (mg)
• gram (g)
• millilitre (mL)
• litre (L)
• millimole (mmol)
• calculation of dosages of injectable drugs including liquid and solid unit dosages
• flow rate:
• drops per minute
• millilitres per hour
• paediatric dosage calculations including body weight, surface area and age-related dose reduction
• geriatric dosage calculations including body weight, surface area and age
• dose administration aids (DAAs) where dose is already calculated
• organisational policies and procedures for addressing medicine errors
• drugs commonly used for fluid and electrolyte imbalance:
• alkalisers
• diuretics
• electrolytes
• replacement solution.