my patient forgot their prescription at discharge....

[paperheart]

The patient was discharged about 4 days ago. On the day of discharge I provided his discharge/follow-up/and medication information and his prescription and made sure to tell him to get it filled out as soon as possible. Having done that I leave the room while he gets ready and the CNA takes him downstairs. A few hours later he calls back the unit saying he forgot his prescription and would come back to pick it up, OR he would call back. I go back to the room (not cleaned yet) and turns out the papers were under a pillow. He never did call back, or come back to pick up the prescription (not to my knowledge) I gave the prescription and discharge information papers to the charge nurses desk and told the charge that the discharged patient forgot them. I inquired about maybe calling them in to the patients pharmacy but the patient wasn't sure the exact location of the pharmacy he went to. I was hoping to get this information about his pharmacy if he called back, but he never did. Could I get written up for this?

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Why would you get written up for this?

[AnonRNC]

Once the patient is discharged, the onus is on THEM to manage their healthcare and prescriptions. You handed the stuff to the charge nurse. I think you've done what you could.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

(long narrative about a patient who didn't take his prescriptions with him but hid them under a pillow )..... Could I get written up for this?

This last sentence made my head spin it was so unexpected. Wha'? Why would you get "written up" for this (whatever that means)? You gave it to the charge nurse to handle. If you're curious if there was something else you could have done, ask the charge nurse what s/he did.

[NurseOnAMotorcycle, ASN, RN]

:) Would you get written up if they'd forgotten their cell phone?

They'll just mail it to them or whatever their protocol is.

[BSNbeauty, BSN, RN]

I can imagine how you feel. I've had patients leave abrutly without their prescriptions and paper work. I often had to chase them down. You did all you could. No worries....

[brownbook]

Relax, in our out patient surgery department this happens at least once a month.

Sometimes the patient or family is given the papers then lays them down, goes to move the car, the patient is wheeled out, and the papers are found later. Or even the nurse realizes after the patient has left she accidentally kept his papers with her paperwork.

We just call the patient, review what the discharge papers said, and put them in the mail. We don't deal with written prescriptions, they are always called into a pharmacy so I can't say how we would handle that?

[wanderlust99]

No. I think you covered yourself especially by offering to call in prescriptions to the pharmacy. He was just being noncompliant.

I had a patient a few weeks ago who wasn't willing to wait any longer for me to discharge him so he left with his IV in place. I called him at home and made sure he took it out. lol. These people make me wonder...

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

I sounds like the pt is a (fairly) competent adult. You gave him the prescription along with all his other papers. As an adult he should check that he has that script when he is leaving the room and he should take it to the pharmacy. You were his nurse, not his babysitter. He has to be responsible for the most basic of things. This one is on him. You did what you could do...otherwise, it's his responsibility to come back for the script (or call his doctor, or...whatever--point is, it's on him!). I don't mean to sound like a jerk about it, but I think society needs to demand a little more personal responsibility from some of its adult members (sorry, a rant for another day).

Anyway, you did what you could...although a little note in his chart describing what you did wouldn't hurt.

[Morainey, BSN, RN]

I don't mean to sound like a jerk about it, but I think society needs to demand a little more personal responsibility from some of its adult members (sorry, a rant for another day).

That is a rant for EVERY day.

[SaoirseRN]

Document what happened -- that you provided the patient with the prescription and discharge info. Once that information is given, the patient is discharged and you are no longer responsible for his care. If he then left the stuff behind, that's on him, not you. I agree with other posters who said that patients/adults should demonstrate a reasonable amount of responsibility for themselves, and remembering to take the prescription with them on discharge is one of those responsibilities.

[loriangel14, RN]

Why on earth would any of this be your fault?