MEDICATION POLICY

MEDICATION POLICY

RATIONALE:
• Teachers and schools are often asked by parents to administer medication for their children while at school. It is important that such requests are managed in a manner that is appropriate, ensures the safety of students, and fulfils the duty of care of staff.

AIMS:
• To ensure the medications are administered appropriately to students in our care.

IMPLEMENTATION:
• Children who are unwell should not attend school.
• The Assistant Principal has agreed to be he staff member responsible for administering prescribed medications to children.
• Non-prescribed oral medications (eg: head-ache tablets) will not be administered by school staff.
• All parents requests for the Assistant Principal to administer prescribed medications to their child must be writing on the form provided and must be supported by specific written instruction from the medical practitioner or pharmacist’s including the name of the student, dosage and time to be administered (original medications bottle or container should provide this information)
• All verbal requests for children to be administered prescribed medications whilst at school must be directed to the Assistant Principal, who in turn, will seek a meeting or discussion with parents to confirm details of the request and to outline school staff responsibilities.
• Request for prescribed medications to be administered by the school ‘as needed’ will cause the Assistant Principal to seek further written clarification from the parents.
• All student medications must be in the original containers, must be labelled, must have the quantity of tablets confirmed and documented, and must be stored in either the locked office first aid cabinet or office refrigerator, whichever is most appropriate.
• Consistent with our Asthma policy, students who provide the Assistant Principal with written parent permission supported by approval of the principal may carry an asthma inhaler with them.
• Classroom teacher will be informed by the Assistant principal of prescribed medications for students in their charge, and classroom teachers will release students at prescribed times so that they may visit the school office and receive their medications from the Assistant Principal.
• All completed Medication Request Forms and details relating to students, their prescribed medications, dosage quantities and times of administering will kept and recorded in a confidential official loose-leaf medications register located in the school office by the Assistant Principal in the presence of, and confirmed by, a second staff member.
• Students involved in school camps or excursions will be discreetly administered prescribed medications by the ‘Teacher in Charge’ in a manner consistent with the above procedures, with all details recorded on loose-leaf pages from the official medications register. Completed pages will be returned to official medications register on return of the excursion to school.
• Parents/carers of students that may require injections are required to meet with the principle to discuss the matter.

EVALUATION

• This policy will be reviewed as part of the school’s three-year cycle.