My sister was not taken care of in a nursing home

[Ginger45]

I feel really quilty about this because this is my specialty. My older sister, who is 55, has to have a hip replacement. We were in a really bad car accident when I was 15 and she was 25. It shattered her hip joint. She received a new one but that has been a very long time ago and it gave out. She was put into a nursing home last week to wait for her DR to return from vacation. I hated it because I live a long ways away. I am between jobs, and I don't have the money to go there. My sister has a long history of mental illness that includes a panic disorder. She has been on a high dose of Klonopin for years. She sees a psychiatrist regularly.

Apparently, they never even started her meds until yesterday and only started the antipsychotic. My mom said that she has been shaking for days. Also two nurses stood outside of her door and called her a "Drug addict." Yesterday, she suffered a Grandmal seizure and was sent to the ER. That was when my mom called me and I found out about the meds and the shaking. It was the lack of Klonopin that caused the seizure, and they gave it to her in the hospital. She will be staying in the hospital until her surgery. The hospital will not send her back to the nursing home now. I am very upset about this. I feel like I could have maybe prevented it had I called. I didn't though because of Hippa and you know how it is when a family member calls and throws their weight around. Also I did not know she was shaking, my mom never said anything about it or I would have picked up on that immediately. She did have a good nurse yesterday who noticed the shaking and tried to get the DR to give her something but he wouldn't.

Anyway, I am just venting here. Thanks for listening......

[jmgrn65, RN]

I am sorry about your sister. Can she not speak up for herself to ask why she wasn't getting her meds? If she can it is not all on you. DOn't feel bad you weren't there you couldn't have known. She is getting good care now. (((((hugs))))

[Ginger45]

I think that she could have spoken for herself but she is very timid. She may have asked for them. I don't know. Thanks for your support.(((hugs)))

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I hope your sister gets her surgery soon! Is she going to be well enough to manage on her own AFTER surgery? If not, how about starting to find a facility now. I'm so sorry that she went thru this.

[zimsaint]

Please call the facility and get the information for the Ombudsman and file an official complaint. That is so ridiculous. Nurse are so quick to be judgmental when it comes to patients needing narcotics. That really infuriates me. You should also call the corporate headquarters for the company. If it were me, I would be calling a lawyer too. If these people are not held accountable they WILL do it again. What if your sister had died or suffered some permanent debilitating brain injury. I's sorry for venting, but I am so angry for you and your sister.:angryfire

[Ginger45]

Thank you. I plan to call the state today and make a complaint. I used to work there and considering the circumstances of what happened they will be in there in a couple of days. My sister's husband was in the room luckily or I know she would have died. One of the LPNS (my sister told my mother that she reminded her of me) actually recognized what was happening just before the seizure and called the DR for ativan but he refused to give it to her. I do not understand why the RN did not get involved, I would have. I have had to fight with a DR over things like this but I always got my way because I reminded him that if something were to happen it was in his lap. I have dealt with corporate so many times before as a DON. They don't care. The only way to get their attention is through the survey process and a lawyer.

She is on a surgical unit across from the nurses station now.

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

I agree a report needs to be made ASAP. There is no reason if they recieved a med list on her admission she shouldnt have been getting her meds. Whether they called home and had your mother read the labels to them, or called the pharmacy to find what her most recent scripts and doses were it should have been done. Some monitoring needs to be done at that facility for sure.

[CHATSDALE]

patients that requestcertain meds are given the sing-song voice

'we can't give you anyhting but what the doctor ordered

co-workers giggle

[Indy, LPN, LVN]

patients that requestcertain meds are given the sing-song voice

'we can't give you anyhting but what the doctor ordered

co-workers giggle

It's true, chatsdale, we do that sometimes. However, it's always a good idea to find out why the meds weren't ordered, why does the pt need them, etc. Epileptics need their seizure meds regardless of who puts what value judgement on them. Doctors get paid to answer the phone and give orders, whether they are grouchy about it or not. Even if I have a doc telling me up front, hey FYI this is probably an addict, I feel better if I've done the best job I can in advocating for the patient and calling him/her back if I think the patient presents with a need for something else. They don't all turn out to be addicts.

[Ginger45]

I talked with the Administrator yesterday. He was very concerned himself and interested in what I had to say. The thing is, I don't know if the mistake was made by the hospital in the transfer orders or by the facility. So I hate to bring the state down on them if they were never given those meds to begin with. Her husband, God bless him, loves her but knows nothing about the medical field and I am not sure that he relayed the meds she needed. The administrator admitted that he has a problem with some of the nurses and assured me that he would look into it and call me back. I am going to let them do their own investigation and see what they come up with. If they can assure me to my satisfaction that this will never happen again, to anyone, and that the nurses involved have been dealt with. I will probably let it go. I worked for the state. I know how it is. Sometimes it does not help the situation. I do know of this administrator from my years in the business and he is a straight shooter. I told him that my main concern was that noone noticed she was going through withdrawls. PLus the talking about her outside her room. I will keep u posted. I want to best for all concerned. My sister is doing fine. Yes, she could have died but thankfully, she didn't. I took care of her myself for years so I am very protective of her even though I cannot be there.

[redranger]

I would file a complaint with the state board of nursing and report any suspect nurses whom was in the wrong.

[quezen]

I agree with the nurses who pointed out that the patient should have come with some kind of 'med reconciliation' worksheet listing the meds she was taking. It IS true that we can only give the meds that are ordered. You only have so much time in a shift and trying to 'play detective' is not what the nursing home managers want you to do. They want you to knock out as much work as is humanly possible in a shift!

If a patient has been on 'high doses' of a med for a long time it is the physicians responsibility to order this med for the patient Q whatever so it will be given. I have seen a case where the Benzodiazepine is misinterpertered as a PRN med in a nursing home, and this is why the patient did not get it regularly, could that have been the case here?

It would be nice if Benzodiazepines are not lumped into the same category as other 'adictive' drugs. They are such a nice 'tool' to calm patients. Some doctors seem to be afraid of them however, and just don't like to perscribe them.