Medication Management in Daycare Centers and Preschools: a manual construction

Abstract

Background: Medication management is the process from selecting the medication to its administration and monitoring, including steps such as storage. This process, applied to the context of daycare centers and preschools, has the main objective of ensuring the administration of the correct medicine to the correct child, at the correct dose, time and route of administration, as well as ensuring good storage conditions for the medicines. Medication management in daycare centers and preschools is a reality little explored in Portugal, however, it is an area of ​​great importance, since acute drug poisonings are common in the pediatric age group.

Objective: to build a manual of safe practices for use by institutions, with the aim of contributing and assisting them in the correct management of medication in daycare centers and preschools.

Methods: To create the safe practices manual, a systematic review of the literature was carried out, extracting and systematizing information available on websites of national institutions and organizations (such as the Directorate-General for Health and Social Security) and international institutions. Furthermore, a visit was made to an institution with daycare and pre-school facilities, in order to deepen knowledge and better adapt the manual to this reality.

Results: The manual constructed focuses on priority areas such as: storage, administration, documentation relating to medication administration and levels of responsibility in the institution, applied to medication management.

Conclusions: The contribution of the Pharmacy Technician in this area is particularly relevant as it aims to promote the good use of medication, contributing to increasing medication literacy among educators, assistants and parents, preventing potential medication errors.