Medication Aide

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, and you’re a modern-day Mary Poppins helping patients in nursing homes and assisted living facilities track and take their medications. It’s your duty as a Medication Aide to measure and administer patients’ prescriptions, and to monitor each patient in case of an allergic reaction.

On a day-to-day basis being a Medication Aide you’ll work with Doctors and other heads of staff who prescribe medications and inform you who gets what and how much. With so much on their plate, the regular staff can’t keep up with all the medications that need to be handed out. That’s when you, the Medication Aide, step in to keep the system flowing smoothly.

With all those medicines—ranging from strong painkillers to blood pressure medication—floating around, you’re the one who triple-checks that each patient receives the right medicine in the correct dosage. Dangerous health problems can arise from a drug mix-up or an overdose.

A set schedule dictates when to lay out medicine and help the patient take it. It might be an oral medication for the patient to swallow, or an intravenous medication that’s injected with a syringe or through an IV. Administering each type requires different steps, such as cleaning the injection site or cutting large pills in half.

Not only do you monitor the daily medications of the patients, but you also keep careful inventory records to ensure nothing gets misplaced. Medicine plays a vital role in healing the sick, but only when an attentive Medication Aide is around to keep an eye on the process.