Professional issues. According to the NMC (2015) in agreement with the Care Quality Commission (CQC, 2015) by administrating medication covertly in patient’s food and drinks without patients knowledge or consent the patient is being lied to and led to believe that they are not receiving medication therefore lying to the patients is wrong and considered as bad practice, the registrant is fully accountable for those actions The administration of covert mediation is highly common is healthcare and usually unreported due to lack of knowledge and guidance. Since use of covert medication is a potential legal ethical and professional issues healthcare providers are reluctant in admitting to it.
In the study by Abdool, R 2017 it is shown that only 40% of covert administration of medication is documented in patients notes.The pharmaceutical concerns and issues are when it comes to converting medication are when the decision is made by an individual healthcare professional without the knowledge or participation of me MDT team is when crushing medication it is possibly overdosing or under medicating when changing the mode of delivery of the medication (Abdool, R 2017)The author describes the issues of covert medication, what are the rights of patients and their advocate or decision maker when it comes to administering the drugs, should there be additional consent to each drug when administering. The ethical principles such as person-centred care, trust or fairness among other factors it is simply unethical to lie to the patient.Healthcare professionals lack in guidance and knowledge on covert medication poses significant issues for patient care.
Critically reflect on and comprehensively describe several legal, ethical, and professional considerations that ought to guide and support policy-making and practice as a platform for future discussion about this practice issue4And the main professional issue healthcare professionals face when administering medication covertly is the lack of knowledge and education on this matter ACCAURDING TO;;; it should be mandatory to have training programs on this matter so that more healthcare professionals are aware of EthicalFurthermore, the ethical issues behind covert medication administration given to autonomous individuals against their will or without being aware is ethically and legally unacceptable. Where doubt exists, there would be relation to non-autonomous individuals who are unable to give valid consent to receive or refuse medication, the author argues if the medication is prescribed under best interest principles ethically is there any difference, patient passively accepting medication and having it discussed in some way following the refusal. The medication should be administered covertly if the individual is unable to give informed consent in Joyce’s circumstances the benefit of covertly medication administration outweigh harm that may result in not taking the medication that is needed,
