can family give pt unprescribed meds

[smartnurse1982]

A family of one of my pts who is 50 are giving him vicodin because they ran out of percocet,and doc won't write another presription for another 4 days,even after being told the family ran out. Can the family give unprescribed meds?I know its dangerous and id never encourage it to them but they give it when I'm not there. This doc is very strict. She will not write any refills for the percocet. Famliy has to go each month to pick up a prescription at the office each month, and the percocet is given qid; she won't even fax the script to the pharmacy.

[sasha2lady]

Ive seen this happen where I work....and I work in LTC. I had a family come in and they had brought in some kind of OTC cold med for their gma. Ive also suspected that a former rehab pt gave something to a rest home pt...they became instant smoking buddies (both are total pill poppers) because the day that the rehab one left...the rest home fell...and has been on our rehab unit for months now with a broken knee that wont heal right. The rehab pt told me she buys her pain pills off the street.

[mamamerlee, LPN]

Okay, everyone. I have a herniated disc, and take both Ibuprofen, 800 mg, and Vicodin. The Ibu is written for q8 hours, and was written for 50 tabs. You do the math. 3x30days is 90. Luckily, I don't take them that often. The vicoden was written '1-2 tabs q6h, prn' given 60 tabs. Again, I don't take them very often. But this is typical. The docs sometimes don't do the math, either.

So if the family was giving the meds around the clock, they may have run out early. Do not assume that there was anything inappropriate in their care. Of course, this requires a bit of investigation, such as looking carefully at the labels. Set up a med sheet, or just have them write down exactly when each pain med is given. Do not jump to conclusions.

[caliotter3]

Most of my agencies required a controlled med accountability sheet. If family members were involved in giving the meds or there were shifts with no nurse present, they would count and sign off on the sheet also. This way there is no confusion about where the meds are going. But none of my present agencies bother with this. I asked each of them when the subject came up, how does one counter accusations against the nurses. Nobody could give me an answer.

[MaxAttack, BSN, RN]

So if the family was giving the meds around the clock, they may have run out early. Do not assume that there was anything inappropriate in their care. Of course, this requires a bit of investigation, such as looking carefully at the labels. Set up a med sheet, or just have them write down exactly when each pain med is given. Do not jump to conclusions.

You can't automatically assume the worst, granted, but something's wrong in this situation. The patient has been there for more than a month, since the poster noted that the family must go every month to pick up this prescription, but this seems like a problem that has only happened recently. It's a definite possibility that the doctor could've wrote the wrong amount, but what's the reasoning for waiting the four days if it's her fault? The poster should check to see if there's a discrepancy in this months prescription and inform the doctor if there is. Otherwise there's another reason that this month the patient ran out early. Perhaps ask the patient why there's missing mediation - could be as simple as a few dropped to the floor.