Rize Support approached Medecs with a clear objective: to find a clinical partner who could verify staff medication administration practice and provide clinical oversight of the organisation’s medication records, protocols, and procedures.
For the Queensland provider, the aim was to strengthen confidence that its people and systems supported safe, compliant medication administration.
This is a question other provider leaders may recognise: how do we know our workers can apply their medication training—and that our records and procedures support them to practice safely?
Our work with Rize brought these elements together, providing individual worker verification and practical clinical insights for its leadership team.
What did the program involve?
Ten Rize support workers participated in the Medecs NDIS Medication Competency Verification Program.
The program combined online medication learning with Clinical Nurse-led practical competency verification through virtual simulation.
A key feature is the use of the provider’s own medication records, protocols, and procedures. Workers demonstrate how they apply their medication knowledge using the documentation and processes their organisation expects them to follow.
This connection matters. Understanding a medication safety principle is one element of capability. Applying it through the provider’s records, instructions and escalation processes is another.
Alongside worker verification, clinical oversight of the provider’s documentation helps identify opportunities to strengthen the systems guiding medication practice.
All ten Rize workers successfully completed verification against the program’s criteria.
For Rize’s Co-Director, Chelsea Watts, the approach offered a meaningful extension to training:
“This was the first program that moved beyond simply completing training to actually verifying practical capability.”
Chelsea Watts
Co-Director, Rize Support, Queensland
What did verification reveal?
A successful verification outcome is valuable. So is understanding the strengths and development needs identified along the way.
Across the Rize program, clinical observation and feedback identified opportunities to strengthen documentation, reinforce consistent medication safety checks, and consolidate less frequently used medication techniques.
These findings show why practical verification can be useful even when workers successfully meet the assessment criteria. Capable workers can benefit from specific feedback, and managers can use that feedback to guide ongoing support.
Using the provider’s own documentation makes the feedback relevant to everyday practice. It connects what workers demonstrate during verification with the systems they use at work.
From a clinical education perspective, we want workers to understand what they do well, where further attention would help and when they should seek guidance.
What did Rize’s leaders receive?
Rize received individual verification records and certificates, together with an organisational governance report and an executive briefing.
Individual records documented each worker’s verification outcome. The organisational report brought the findings together so leaders could consider strengths, patterns and recommended actions across the participating team and the medication systems supporting them.
This gives managers practical information to prioritise follow-up, reinforce expectations and make informed decisions about workforce development and documentation improvements.
The value extends beyond the verification session. It also comes from how the organisation uses the findings to strengthen medication practices.
How does this connect with participant-specific support?
Verification needs a clear scope.
The program examines foundational medication knowledge and its practical application using the provider’s systems and documentation. It contributes evidence to inform decisions about worker readiness and areas requiring further support.
Participant-specific preparation remains essential. Providers need to establish whether a worker can safely undertake the medication support required by each person, follow their current instructions, recognise relevant risks, and respond to changes or concerns.
The provider then makes and records its authorisation decision, including any limits, supervision requirements, and review triggers.
I encourage providers to think of this as a connected pathway: Train → Verify → Authorise → Review. Foundational learning, verification using organisational systems and participant-specific preparation each contribute to that pathway.
Would this approach suit your organisation?
Rize’s experience reflects a motivation shared by many provider leaders: wanting clear evidence that workers can apply their learning and that organisational systems support safe medication practice.
A conversation can help clarify what you already have in place, where clinical input would be useful and how verification could work with your records, protocols, and procedures.
If these are questions your organisation is considering, I would welcome a conversation.
[BOOK A CONVERSATION WITH DEB]
Discuss your current approach, ask questions about delivery, and explore whether the program is a suitable fit for your team.