Safer Handling of Medicines

Drugs remain the property of the dispensing pharmacy until they are actually taken by the person for whom they have been prescribed.

Carers have a role to play along with health professionals in helping to ensure medicines are not wasted.

A dose of a prescribed medicine may be varied as long as the individual taking it gives their consent.

Under which of the following categories would you find controlled drugs listed?

Which Act considers medicines as divided into three types?

Record-keeping is largely to ensure that regular repeat prescriptions are handled well. Acute or one-off prescriptions do not require the same level of scrutiny.

Which one of the following is generally not the responsibility of a carer?

It is useful to update the pharmacy on an individual’s medication details at the following points

Which of the following characteristics is it important for a good pharmacy to have?

After you receive written prescriptions from the GP’s surgery, and before they are submitted to the pharmacy for dispensing, you should…

Drugs prescribed and dispensed for one person may be given to someone else in similar circumstances.

Medical Administration Record (MAR) charts have a number of uses, including three of the following. Which three?

Which three of the following could you do if you had only basic training in handling medicines?

What does the term ‘Secondary Dispensing’ mean?

Secondary dispensing must never occur as it presents an unacceptable risk.

Which one of the following could have an impact on the effectiveness of a particular drug?

Just because medicines are prescribed to someone, it doesn’t mean they belong to that person

Which one of the following pieces of advice on handling medicines would you give to a new care worker?

The service user wishes to take their medicine in private

There is a discrepancy between what was ordered and what is received from the pharmacy

The person’s GP does not get on well with the pharmacist

The medication now comes in a plastic bottle (it used to be glass)

Medicines should not be stored in temperatures that exceed

Which one of the following is not appropriate to the effective safe storage of medicines in a residential setting?

They can be sold by supermarkets

They are available to buy in unlimited quantities

They are sold in containers which have not been opened

They can only be obtained with a prescription

Very strong (and potentially addictive) prescription-only medicines are known as

Care staff should order repeat prescriptions rather than the pharmacy.