Six Rights of Medication Administration for Disability Support Workers

The six rights of medication administration are right person, right medication, right dose, right time, right route and right documentation. A support worker checks all six every time they prompt, assist with or administer a medicine. They are not set out in the NDIS Act or NDIS Rules; they are a widely used safe-practice framework that providers build into medication policies to meet the NDIS Practice Standards (registered providers) and state and territory medicines law.

This guide is general information current at September 2026. Confirm your position with the prescriber, the participant's plan, your provider's procedure, your state or territory health department and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.

The six rights explained

MRSS counts right documentation as the sixth right because an unrecorded dose cannot be checked by the next worker.

Right person

Check the participant's full name and date of birth on the chart or dose administration aid against the person in front of you, and use the chart photograph where your procedure includes one. Ask the participant to say their name if they can. Common failure: two participants in a shared house on similar packs, and a worker relying on familiarity rather than the label.

Right medication

Match the name on the label or pack to the chart, including strength and form, and check the expiry date and intact packaging. Brand and active-ingredient names often differ between documents, so check both and ask the pharmacist if unsure. Common failure: a prescriber changes a medicine, the pharmacy repacks, the chart is not updated and the worker follows the old chart.

Right dose

Check the dose on the chart matches the label, then count or measure it with a pharmacy measure, never a kitchen spoon. Do not crush, halve or open a medicine unless the prescriber or pharmacist has confirmed it is safe; crushing a slow-release tablet changes how it works. Common failure: a strength change while the chart still says two tablets, or doubling up after a missed dose.

Right time

Give the medicine at the time on the chart, within the window your procedure allows, and follow instructions such as before food or at bedtime. Timing matters most for medicines that must be spaced apart, such as antiepileptics, anticoagulants and pain relief with a daily maximum. Common failure: a late morning dose followed by an on-time lunchtime dose, or a PRN given before the minimum interval has passed.

Right route

Give the medicine by the prescribed route: swallowed, under the tongue, on the skin, inhaled, or in the eye or ear. If the participant cannot take it that way, ask the prescriber or pharmacist rather than improvising. Enteral tube and subcutaneous injection routes are high intensity supports with their own training requirements. Common failure: a new patch applied over an old one, or a tablet crushed into food when it should be swallowed whole.

Right documentation

Sign the medication administration record immediately after the participant takes the dose, never before and never from memory at the end of the shift. Record refusals, missed doses, vomiting after a dose, PRN use with reason and outcome, and anything unusual. Never sign for a dose you did not see taken. Common failure: unexplained gaps in the record, or a signature entered in advance for a dose never given.

Assisting, prompting and administering are different

Medication support is not one task:

• Prompting: reminding a participant who manages their own medicines that it is time. They select and take the dose.
• Assisting: helping a participant take a dose from a pharmacist-packed dose administration aid (a Webster-pak or blister pack) as labelled, such as opening the pack or handing it over.
• Administering: the worker selects, measures and gives the medicine, from original packaging or by a route that needs a skill.

What you may do depends on state or territory medicines and poisons legislation (which regulates who may administer scheduled medicines and differs between jurisdictions), the prescriber's instructions, the participant's plan, your provider's policy and your assessed competence. Many providers only allow assisting from a dose administration aid unless the worker is signed off to administer. Independent support workers face the same legal limits and should agree the scope in writing with the participant.

PRN medication

PRN (pro re nata) means as needed. Because the worker decides when to give it, there must be a plan or chart entry based on the prescriber's instructions that states:

• what it is for, and the signs that mean it should be offered
• the dose, route and minimum time between doses
• the maximum in 24 hours
• what to do if it does not work, and when to call the prescriber or 000
• what to record: time, reason, dose, who decided and the outcome

A medicine used for the primary purpose of influencing a participant's behaviour is a chemical restraint under the NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018, unless a medical practitioner prescribed it to treat, or enable treatment of, a diagnosed mental disorder, physical illness or physical condition. Chemical restraint is a regulated restrictive practice: a registered provider needs it in a behaviour support plan, authorised under the state or territory process and reported to the Commission. See our guide to restrictive practice authorisation by state and territory.

When something goes wrong

Errors include a missed or wrong dose, wrong medicine, person, time or route, a vomited dose and a spill. Whichever it is:

1. Stop and check the participant. If they are unwell or you are worried, call 000.
2. Do not give another dose to catch up until you have advice.
3. Seek advice from the prescriber, the dispensing pharmacist or the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26 (24 hours, anywhere in Australia).
4. Record it on the medication administration record and a medication error report, with the advice received.
5. Report internally under your incident procedure and notify the participant's family or decision-maker where the participant wants that or your procedure requires.
6. Find the cause (an outdated chart, a distraction, look-alike packs) so it does not repeat.

A medication error is not automatically a reportable incident to the NDIS Commission. For registered providers it is reportable if it results in death or serious injury, or fits another category, such as a PRN given as an unauthorised restrictive practice. Our guide to reportable incidents and the 24 hour and 5 business day timeframes explains the categories. A refusal is not an error, but repeated refusals go back to the prescriber.

What the NDIS Practice Standards expect

Registered providers assessed by certification are audited against the Core Module, whose Provision of supports environment standards include a management of medication outcome: "each participant requiring medication is confident their provider administers, stores and monitors the effects of their medication and works to prevent errors or incidents" (section 26 of the NDIS Quality Indicators Guidelines, compilation of 1 July 2026). The indicators cover:

• records that clearly identify each participant's medication and dose, with the information needed to identify the participant and administer safely
• workers who administer medication understanding its effects and side effects, and the steps to take if there is a medication incident
• medication stored safely and securely, easy to identify and tell apart, and accessed only by appropriately trained workers

An auditor will look for the policy, current charts, training records, storage and error follow-up. Verification providers, including sole traders, are not audited against the Core Module, but the NDIS Code of Conduct duty to provide supports with care and skill applies to every provider and worker. High intensity supports such as subcutaneous injections or enteral feeding sit under a separate module and skills descriptors; see the High Intensity Supports Add-On Module. Check the current version of the Practice Standards before an audit, and use the Core Module self-assessment checklists to self-assess first.

Templates that support medication management

The NDIS Provider Core Library's clinical and medication templates include a Medication Management Policy and Procedure built around the six rights, an Administration of Medication Procedure, a Medication Administration Record, a PRN Medication Care Plan, a Medication Error Report and a Medication Audit Checklist. The rest, including the Schedule 8 register, is in the clinical and medication templates collection.

They are editable Word files and a starting point, not a finished system. Customise them to your state or territory medicines law, your participants and your workers' competence, then implement them; audit outcomes depend on what you actually do, not on the documents.

Frequently asked questions

Are the six rights of medication administration an NDIS legal requirement?

No. The six rights are a safe-practice framework, not a rule in the NDIS Act or the NDIS Rules. Registered providers must meet the management of medication outcome in the Practice Standards Core Module (accurate records, workers who understand effects and side effects, safe storage), and most use the six rights to do so.

Is a medication error a reportable incident to the NDIS Commission?

Not automatically. Registered providers must notify the Commission of reportable incidents, which include death or serious injury and the use of an unauthorised restrictive practice. A medication error that causes serious injury, or a PRN given to control behaviour without authorisation, can fall into those categories. Every error still goes through your own incident system.

Can a support worker give PRN medication?

Often yes, where a written PRN plan based on the prescriber's instructions states when to give it, the dose, the minimum gap between doses, the maximum in 24 hours and what to record, and where state or territory medicines law and your provider's policy allow it. A PRN meant to influence behaviour may be a chemical restraint.

Sources: NDIS (Quality Indicators for NDIS Practice Standards) Guidelines 2018 (Compilation No. 3, 1 July 2026), section 26; NDIS Practice Standards and Quality Indicators (NDIS Commission); NDIS (Restrictive Practices and Behaviour Support) Rules 2018; NDIS (Incident Management and Reportable Incidents) Rules 2018; NDIS Code of Conduct; healthdirect, Poisoning (Poisons Information Centre 13 11 26). All accessed September 2026.