Medication Safety and Medication Management
Preventing medication harm in behavioral health: safe administration within your role, medication reconciliation, types of errors and how to prevent them, high-alert and look-alike medications, controlled substance security and theft or loss reporting, recognizing adverse effects, documentation and reporting.
Online, self-paced · about 40 minutes · graded exam and certificate
Who should take it
Prescribers, nurses, and any staff who prescribe, administer, assist with, store, transport or document medications (as their role and state law allow), plus staff who observe clients taking medications.
National course on shared medication safety principles. It doesn't authorize anyone to perform medication tasks outside their license, certification, state law or organizational policy. Specific drug information must come from prescribers, pharmacists and current labeling.
What employees will learn
- ✓Apply the "rights" of safe medication administration within your role.
- ✓Explain medication reconciliation and why it matters at transitions.
- ✓Recognize types of medication errors and practices that prevent them.
- ✓Identify high-alert and look-alike, sound-alike medications.
- ✓Secure controlled substances and know theft and loss reporting duties.
- ✓Recognize serious adverse effects and report them promptly.
Topics covered
- •Medication safety principles
- •Medication reconciliation
- •Medication errors
- •High-risk medication awareness
- •Controlled substance security
- •Adverse effects
- •Documentation
- •Reporting
- •Role-specific medication responsibilities
Sources this course is based on
- DEA: other security controls for practitioners, including theft and loss reporting (21 CFR 1301.76(b)) · eCFR
- DEA: physical security controls for practitioners (21 CFR 1301.75) · eCFR
- Institute for Safe Medication Practices: high-alert medications and confused drug names lists · Other
- FDA MedWatch: reporting serious adverse events · Other
- FDA safety communication: boxed warning on combined use of opioids and benzodiazepines (2016) · Other
This course is not accredited for continuing education credit and is not approved by a government agency. Training supports, but does not guarantee, your organization's compliance. Course content explains federal rules and accepted practice; state requirements may differ.