[Closed] Fuming

chip - Member

The staff treated my freind with kindness and dignity but
I'm fuming, surely providing the right medication at the right time is basic care, yet everytime my freind stays in hospital they seem to cock it up.

I bet they lack the skills to put attention to details or simply work on the basis of what the doctor writes like a robot. If the doctor overlooks the detail or do not bother with details then the patient suffers.

The question is are they trained to be meticulous or do they simply just have a job?

Course, you may be wrong - staff may have been halving tablets and then chucking away the other half each time.

However, what you describe isn't uncommon either - say it's all on an electronic record from his last admission and they read your note but then merrily copy across from last time's entries on the "official" version.

He should have a copy of his discharge medication list - take a look at that; in most cases it ought to relate to what he was given during his stay for regular meds.

Hospitals aren't great at giving doses bang on time, especially if his usual times don't fit with their scheduled drug rounds. Luckily, timing of many meds isn't critical (though it is for some, of course).

If it's been inappropriately dosed or the timing/frequency is badly out then you're absolutely entitled to raise this as a concern, whether or not he's still an in-patient.

Course, you may be wrong - staff may have been halving tablets and then chucking away the other half each time.

His discharge notes say 25mgs twice a day so hopefully you are right. But I did tell the pharmacist over the phone exactly what he had and when when she was preparing his discharge meds.

He takes 40+ tablets a day and has a history of serious colitis so all his tablets should be given after meals apart from one he has before to help protect his stomach.

I bet they lack the skills to put attention to details or simply work on the basis of what the doctor writes like a robot.

Nursing is a skilled profession these days. Giving an inpatient right dose of existing medication is a basic skill, as is the ability to deal with an incorrect prescription for an inpatient by raising it with the relevant professional so the dose can be changed.

I'm also guessing they're ditching the half tablets, though, but you're perfectly within your rights to query this and make sure.

We'll if throwing away the spare half is common practice that has put my mind at rest thank you.

As I said above my freind has a serious stomach and bowel condition that can quickly be aggravated if his tablets are not based around his meal times, a regime put in place by a hospital he spent two months in with his stomach.

My freind also has a history of pain killer addiction/abuse, which was a nightare that he recently eventually conquered after a particularly bad overdose.

So as his carer at times when care is needed In the past have had to ask to see doctors or pharmacist several times before they actually start giving him his medication in a way that was best for him and not what best suited them.

I have been to every out patient appointment for his many medical conditions (heart/AAA/renal/stomach/ortho)
he's had for three or four years and the respective doctors are always pleased when I can shed any light on anything they want to know about my friends previous/other conditions. And as his medical next of kin I deal with the doctors when he is admitted.
And when ever I bring into question the way they are administering his meds I am met with an attitude of "who are the medical proffesionals here",and they may know more about general medicine than me but no one knows their patient better than me except maybe his excellent GP.

Also as said above, the staff treated him kindness and dignity, which has not always been the case at all times elsewhere.