What just happend here?

[nursenancey]

I am a student just finishing pre req's. I love this site and hope someone can help me make sense of all this. My mother-in-law has been battling lymphoma for about 2 years. Before she was diagnosed, she would complain of a cough to her primary care physician. ( she is a long time smoker) He gave her tussinex. She would joke about how much she loved the stuff, and would consume it at an alarming rate. Not a problem, Doc would just give her more. Then it became back pain, and he added Loratab to the tussinex, then oxicontin (sp?). This went on for about two years until the cancer was diagnosed. By the way, Doc never ordered tests of any kind to find out just what was causing the cough or the pain, just gave her meds... Lymphoma went into remission, but mom kept taking all the pain meds, even though her oncologist informed her that she shouldn't be in any pain... She was taking loratab, oxi, boxes and boxes of benadryl, temazipan (?) tylenol pm, tussinex and wearing a phentynol patch to boot. Long story short, we got her weened off most of the stuff, and she is now in an assisted living center, where they distribute her meds.

So. yesterday they call me from assisted living and tell me that she only has 3 loratab left and the doctor is out of town and his nurse is refusing to refill the perscription. Well, I know that to mom, the world will come to an end if she does not get her loratab on schedule. She actually sets her alarm clock so she knows when she can call for it. (she keeps a tablet and logs the time they give it to her and when it's due again). So I call the Dr.'s office to see what's up and if anything can be done. The nurse was really snippy with me, and said that the center has been told time and time again that they have to give 24 hours notice and there is nothing she or I can do about it. Now, mom wears 125 micro phentynol patch (changed every 48 hours ) so I felt pretty sure that she wouldn't suffer too much if she missed one or two loratab's until morning, but I did get the feeling that we were caught in between two fueding nurses... the one at the Dr's office and the one who didn't get the med's refilled on time. The assisted living nurse and I decided not to tell mom that she was out until it was time for the meds to be given, that way she wouldn't stew about it all evening. Well, about 9:00 mom calls me and she was livid! Heads were going to roll, mine included, since she ran out of her pill. While I agreed that never should have happend, I tried to tell her that the Dr would call her meds in first thing in the morning and that she should just try to go to sleep and rest and do the best she could till then since there was nothing we could do about it. Not good enough. She called her pharmacist at home and he actually brought her 7 loratab! My question: Can he do that ? And why did the assisted living let her run out of meds? And really... couldn't the on call Dr. called in the prescription for mom in law? I feel like the whole situation was unneccessary and maybe even a little petty as far as the two nurses were concerend. What can I do if this ever happens again?

[RN1982]

hmmm.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Some physicians do not and/or cannot call in Rx for controlled substances. This may vary by state, but in my state it is not allowed.

This is a situation that is not within our scope to comment about. It sounds like a difficult one, to be sure, and our sympathies are with you. However, our Terms of Service state:

This is a board for nurses and nurses-to-be to discuss nursing issues. Please do not ask for any medical or nursing feedback related to a health situation that affects you, a family member, or somone that is not a patient under your care.

We do sincerely hope the best for your MIL. Thanks.