QA Level 3 Award in Safe Administration of Lifesaving Medication (RQF)

Qualsafe’s Safe Administration of Lifesaving Medication (SALM) course gives you the knowledge and skills needed to safely administer medication in a prehospital environment.

If you work as an emergency care provider in an emergency care setting, expected to assess patients, administer medication and monitor the effects of the medication, this qualification will provide you with the practical skills and underpinning knowledge to do so safely. Examples roles are ambulance technician, associate practitioner, medical technician & assistant practitioner.

This qualification and learning outcomes are based on the guidance of:

• Resuscitation Council (UK)
• Skills for Health Assessment Principles
• The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) – Faculty of Pre Hospital Care (FPHC)
• Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

By the end of the course, you’ll be able to demonstrate the practical administration of safe, prompt, effective medication delivery with an understanding of the role of a medication provider.

Upcoming Safe Administration of Lifesaving Medication courses

We can also run this course at the premises of a CQC registered organisation. If you have 4-6 staff members interested in this qualification, please email training@promed999.co.uk or call 03333 445442 to discuss.

These courses are provided by our training partner, STC Training Solutions, a Qualsafe Awards Registered Centre No. 0907391.

Safe Administration of Lifesaving Medication qualfication details

This qualification contains 1 mandatory unit with a Total Qualification Time (TQT) of 30 hours. This is made up of 14 Guided Learning Hours (GLH); the time your are being taught and assessed under the immediate guidance of a trainer/assessor. The remaining 16 hours are what you will reasonably spend preparing & studying and towards assessment, directed (but not supervised) by a trainer/assessor.

The credit value for this qualification is 3 credits at level 3.

Topics covered

You’ll learn the legislation, regulations, guidelines, policies & protocols that apply to medicines in the UK.

We’ll teach you how to safely administer the lifesaving medication, using different drug routes. This includes demonstrating the safe & effective administration of lifesaving medication in a prehospital environment.

The common types of lifesaving medication will be presented, including:

• Determining a patient’s condition to help distinguish the correct lifesaving medication
• Their effects and potential side effects
• Common adverse reactions

Your QA Level 4 FREC knowledge will help you carry out the physiological measurements before & after administering. You’ll expand on this to assess, monitor & review the effects of lifesaving medication.

Assessment

You must complete all assessments & skills tests in the unit successfully within the registration period to achieve the qualification. The maximum period to achieve this qualification, including any referrals is 6 weeks

Assessment of performance is carried out on a 1:1 basis.

5 x practical assessments/skills tests:

• Calculations (written paper)
• Diabetic patient (practical scenario)
• Anaphylactic shock (practical scenario)
• Administration of medication (practical scenario)
• Medication overdose (practical scenario)

1 x theory assessment:

• Workbook 1 (13 question written paper; open book)

Pre-requisites

• Be employed by a CQC registered organisation (or an overseas equivalent)
• Have successfully completed the QA Level 4 Certificate in First Response Emergency Care (RQF) or a QA recognised equivalent qualification
• Be at least 18 years old on the first day of the training

QA Level 3 Award in Safe Administration of Lifesaving Medication (RQF) certificate

You’ll receive your Qualsafe Awards Level 3 Award in the Safe Administration of Lifesaving Medication (RQF) e-certificate soon after your results have been submitted. We’ll also post a printed certificate within a few weeks of the course ending.

We’ll issue you with an interim ecertificate confirming what you have been assessed on to cover the time from our Internal Quality Assurer (IQA) confirming your have met the requirement for the award until your certificate is issued. You can show this to employers pending the certificate from the awarding body.

Recommended reading

You can prepare for this course and support your learning by reading Medication Safety An Essential Guide (ISBN 9780521721639). The JRCALC Clinical Guidelines (ISBN 9781859596555) is extremely useful for drug information.

We’ll provide a copy of each of the above texts for you to use during the course. You may take them home between sessions to support your self-study.

You’ll also receive a JRCALC Clinical Practice Guidelines Pocket Book (ISBN 9781859596562) to keep on the first day of the course. This will support you in your career to put your knowledge into practice. We recommend that you always refer to the drug information before administering any medication.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is often referred to for treatment guidelines. From here you can access the British National Formulary (BNF) and clinical practice guidelines (CPGs).

Requalification

You must maintain a current continuous professional development (CPD) portfolio. This must be related to the learning outcomes and be sufficient to demonstrate an ability to provide safe & current practice.

ProMed can audit your CPD portfolio and advise on your learning targets. Please call 03333 445442 or email training@promed999.co.uk for details.

Important information

While achievement of this qualification confirms learners have met both the theoretical and practical requirements, this does not imply a ‘license to practice.’ Their scope of practice will be determined by the organisation responsible for medication provision. This qualification does not allow a learner to obtain, store or medicate without clinical governance.