Here’s a tricky question for a new live-in carer. If you have joined any of the forums on social media platforms, you may have seen this come up. Normally the question is asking if a carer can give an OTC medicine to their client for things like constipation or diarrhoea. You also may have seen the varied answers suggesting different products.

So, can you give your client OTC meds?

Technically you can. You know of something that worked for your friend’s mom. There’s no reason why it should not work for your client. You suggest it, your client agrees, you head off to buy it and give it to her. Now you wait for the medication to work – and it does, but not in the way it worked for your friend’s mom. What went wrong?

Because OTC (over the counter) medications do not need to be prescribed by a doctor, anyone can buy them. Anyone can administer any amount of dosage to another person.

Before you do this, you may want to consider this.

You – and only you – are solely accountable for administering that medication, and you – and only you – are responsible for the outcome.

This is a very frightening statement, which is unfortunately true. If your client dies because of something you gave her, you are responsible for her death. Think about it.

As a live-in carer you should remember that you are not a doctor, neither are you a nurse. Unless you have been trained as a doctor, you have no way of guaranteeing that your OTC medication will not have an adverse reaction to the medication your client takes on prescription.

You have no idea of any potential reactions your client may develop, neither can you say without doubt that what you give her will agree with her.

What if family give her OTC meds?

You can neither prevent this nor stop it. You can discuss your reservations with family and suggest they discuss the condition with the GP before administering additional meds. Unfortunately, after that it is out of your hands. The family can give their mom or dad anything they want to. Of course, the effects will be the same if they pass away because of complications, but you will be in the clear.

Document it

Having refused to administer OTC meds to your client, and discussed the reasons with the family, they still go ahead. What should you do?

Write it down. At every client you should keep a daily log of events, whether normal or not, and this should be noted as you refusing to administer OTC meds.

If you are employed through an agency, you may want to put this in writing to them.

To sum up

No matter how much you think you can help with an OTC medication, don’t be tempted to do it. Rather call the GP and have him review the medication and adjust it.

If family choose to give them, make sure you note it down to cover yourself.

Remember that if you do happen to be sued for administering OTC drugs which give your client an adverse reaction, you will lose your job, the family will not support you, and you will find yourself regretting the decision.

The bottom line – don’t do it.

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