med/surg nurses..what would you have done?

[juzme]

My sister was d/c from a med/surg unit after a 3 day stay for a severe asthma attack(unsure what triggered it) upon her d/c the nurse gave her a paperwork and said the company, carecentrix, would call her to set up a homecare nurse to come and see her and to bring any medications she needs. My sister told the nurse she needs a rescue inhaler and the nurse told her that they would bring her whatever she needed. They let her leave the hospital with NO inhaler?! My sister was so tired and confused when they d/c her, she did not push the issue. When I talked to her after she got home, I could not believe what I heard.

I immediately had her call her Mds office to have them call one in for her and they could not believe they let her leave without an inhaler....ok my sister called the NS of the unit she was dc from and the NS told her it wasnt in her dc orders...ummm ok, well why wouldn't the dc nurse question that? When I had to dc in the hosp. if the pt told me they needed a med(and for good reason, an inhaler)and it wasnt on the dc sheet, I wouldve questioned it or called the adm. md. something....who would let a pt with a dx of a severe asthma attack leave w/o an inhaler? any input?

believe me I know dc are crazy at times and there is so much going on but really.....

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

Yeah, something should have been clarified. If the MD did not want one, then he should have said so to your sister. If it was an oversight then the discharging nurse should have caught it.

I do dc's as a large part of my job. The attending RN does not do them. You really have to be on the ball to catch things like this. Mismatched scripts to the med/rec, or missing meds, like what happened to you.

Thankfully your sister had you to intervene.

As for calling. I would have done what you did. They need to be reminded to be a bit more careful.

[nightengalegoddess]

She legally has to leave with a prescription. The under the table law of old nurses........" We just will have to throw this inhaler away after you leave......so you may as well take it home".....unless you work in a huge cost cutter which makes SEVERAL patients use the SAME inhaler with a spacer unit.....(YUCK YUCK YUCK)...........then.....it is the discharge nurse responsibilty to make sure that the patient has monies and access to pharmacy to go home with inhaler or script for one......some hospitals will make sure the meds are in the patients hands when they leave if they have no access to pharmacy after discharge.....come on RNs!!!! Push your weight around!!!! For our patients..........Geez............love and hopefully health care for all........

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

The nurse discharging the pt should have caught this. Did she happen to list and MDI on her admission drug list b/c maybe being an ashmatic they assumed she had one already. Either way they should have asked the pt and called the MD for the MDI.