5 Things To Do Before Asking Your Nanny To Administer Medication

Whether your child needs an occasional fever reducer or a daily dose of prescription medication, if you expect your nanny to administer medicine it’s vital she knows how and is comfortable doing so. If your child takes medication on a daily basis or has emergency medicine like an inhaler or an epinephrine pen, consider these 5 things before asking your nanny to administer medication.

1. Give your nanny written consent. When medicine is given to a child at a daycare center or at a school, the nurse will have you fill out a written consent form. This consent form is proof that you have authorized your child’s caregiver to medicate your child. Providing your nanny with written consent can serve as the same type of proof of permission to give your child medication.
2. Write down instructions for your nanny. It’s always best to write down clear and concise instructions for your nanny on how medication is to be administered, and leaving these instructions out for her is a good habit to get into. Doing so will ensure that the dose and schedule has been clearly communicated and documented. Medications should always be left in their original packaging with instructions from the doctor so that the nanny can refer to them prior to dispensing each dose.
3. Make a medication log. Print out a simple sheet with 4 columns and several rows. Make one heading for the medication name, one for the date the dose was given, one for the time it was given and one for how much medicine was administered. The log will allow seamless care of the child and no one will be left wondering when the child was last given medication. This log may also come in handy for reviewing treatment with the doctor.
4. Provide proper measuring tools. No one wants to give a child too much or not enough of a medication that they need. Going back a generation or two, it was common practice to use a spoon from the silverware drawer to measure medicine. Today that is not the case. For oral prescription medications, the pharmacist should provide a syringe or measuring cup. For over the counter children’s oral medications, a measuring device should be included in the packaging. For pills that need to be cut, be sure the nanny has a pill splitting device.
5. Ask your nanny if she has any questions. Probably one of the most important steps in directing your nanny to administer medication is making sure that she clearly understands the instructions. She needs to know where the medicine is kept, whether it needs to be refrigerated or not, how much medicine the child needs and how often. Some children may need medicine for an ongoing condition, so it’s important that your nanny is aware of all medicines that your child is taking in case she needs to take him for medical treatment. If your child has severe allergies and may at some point need a shot of epinephrine, you will need to train your nanny how to give the child the shot. Knowing how to give the shot and giving it without hesitation could be the difference between life and death.

Once you are confident that your nanny fully understands how and when she should be administering medication to your child, than she may be ready for the responsibility.

Taken From Nanny Classifieds