Medication Administration in Child Care

Ideally, child care providers will not be administering medications to children.  Generally, the first dose of the medication will be given at home before the child comes to the child care program.  Ideally, the next dose will be given after the child is picked up from care and the last dose for the day will be given at bedtime.  When that's not possible, child care providers may choose to administer medication.

Because medication administration is a very risky procedure, when we choose to administer medications, we have to have a very clear policy to minimize the risk to both the child and our program:

• who we will administer medication to?
• what medication we will administer?
• where will the medication be stored?
• when does the child receive the medication?
• how do we document all of this?

We have to make sure that we understand the doctor's instructions in administering this medication to a child and that we understand how the parent's wishes correspond with the doctor's instructions.  Above all, we have to make sure that the medication is stored in a safe manner and that the right child receives the right medication in the right way at the right time.   We do this through a clear Medication Administration Policy which includes a staff training component as well as a way of documenting the administration of the medication.

Misty 

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