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Anyone know where I can address medical issues without rocking the boat too much? Once again, the residents screwed up on writing out the correct pain meds for hubby. I am getting frustrated to say the least. While we want to get off the pain meds as soon as possible, according to the doctors he needs to maintain his pain medications and pain maintenance until the appropriate time. The first time this happened was last year at a different hospital when the messed up the meds so badly that he had seizures. Then when they sent him home, they sent the wrong scripts. Had I filled it and given it to him according the directions, I would have killed him. This year when he had his first foot operation, the resident had a case of senioritis and never ordered his daily medications. Now they wrote the wrong script and we are scrambling to get this correct so that he doesn't run out. Where are the residents held accountable? Any suggestions as to whom who I could drop a very tactful note about this?
Love and blessings to you and your family.
Live strong, Karilynn & Pipers Kitty
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It's your life. Take no prisoners. You will have it your way.
How about the administrator of the hospital involved and the American Medical Association? Although I really don't know, sounds to me like these two places would be a good start. If this is the second time his meds have been incorrectly prescribed, perhaps a bit of "rocking the boat" is in order.
Diva
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"Speak your truth quietly and clearly..." Desiderata
I don't think a note would be the answer. I think a call to the nursing supervisior or head of residents. That is a very serious matter and if it happened with your husband it has happened to others. And others may not have someone advocating for them and others may have died from some residents lack of experience or tiredness or whatever. So, I would suggest that you call the hospital immediatly so that no other innocent person who does not have someone to help them is hurt but a dr.'s carelessness. You can still do it tactfully and politely, but it is a serious matter and the hospital needs to be told so they can protect their patients.
I would sit down with the phone book and call the hospital....especially the higher ups....see if online you can get names of CEO,CFO etc....ALso the head of the residents and the head of med surg....and the head of nursing. I know this happens too often...so sorry it has happened too often to you! Good job looking out for yourselves and not putting complete blind faith in med establishment....that is the only way I discovered my breast cancer...by not accepting what they said when I knew differently in my heart. I can apply it to alanon/addict behavior,too.....always look out for yourself a little bit more and trust your inner voice! Hope your hubby is feeling ok and that you are getting some rest.
The residents are held accountable by the Chief Resident, who then is held accountable by the Medical Director. Find out who these folks are by name, and make a phone call starting with the CR. Write up a letter to the Medical Director, cc'ing it to the CR and the hospital CEO. Just factually outline what has gone wrong and ask that whatever is getting confused in your husband's case be righted.
The big thing with hospitals these days, especially in highly populated areas, is competition with other hospitals. They tend to take customer complaints very seriously, when it comes to the possibility someone might choose care elsewhere.
The corporation who owned the hospital I worked for in California took every complaint seriously. It affects their bottom line when former patients complain . . . they might go to the OTHER hospital next time! Since hospitals are now run by business people instead of doctors/nurses, patients have a lot more power to get their needs met. The docs have to answer to an MBA who is THEIR boss, so patient satisfaction (which equals mo' money) is now a top priority in most major hospital corporations. You should get some action pretty easily. Good luck!
I don't mean to be overly dramatic, but this is what I would do, as a surgeons daughter, and as someone who was once upon a time pre med. And this goes for anyone who's having, had, or about to experience surgery:
If the pain is so bad that your loved one is going to die of it: Call EMS. Yes, you read that right. Call the paramedics and let them administer on site medical care, then transport you to the ER where things can be ironed out. Then, and this is what I was taught by my Dad, my family, and attending physicians: at the ER, INSIST, DEMAND, BITCH until you get the head physician/attending/whomever is RUNNING THE ER that night. They will see to it that the crew attends to this. Also make sure that they are made aware of the fact that the ONLY reason this is being taken care of NOW is because it wasn't taken care of THEN. If this is a resident at fault, a note will be put in his/her record for confrences and evals--as in WTF were you thinking?!
If the pain is progressively getting worse: Go to urgent care or ER yourself and describe the situation. They can assess the wounds and discuss with you options. They can then help you set up a game plan to make sure it stops.
If the pain isn't getting better but it isn't helping the situation: Dr's offices usu have rotation call schedules, and at least in my areas have "Dr call numbers," 1-800 numbers to use for getting ahold of the Dr on call who can make suggestions to ease the discomfort. Also, some insurance plans have 24 hour nurse lines (I wish that more did) who can answer damn near anything and again can make suggestions.
If at anytime an infection breaks out and the pain is worsening, go to the ER.
This is my opinion and my experience. I hope your loved one feels better.
Well after numerous phone calls to the pharmacy and doctor's office we finally got his meds. I talked to the doctor's assistant whom is also a nurse, and she was not happy when she heard about the mixup. She even offered to drop the perscription off at the pharmacy for me. She made it clear that she would let the doctor know what happened. That makes me feel better. I probably will be contacting the hospital. I have to be a bit careful as hubby has hospital funding and we don't want to jeoapordize (sp?) that. I had planned to take him to the ER if we were unable to get the meds. Thankfully, he won't die without them, but he would be extremely uncomfortable and that is not acceptable. Thanks for all your suggestions.
Love and blessings to you all.
Live strong, Karilynn & Pipers Kitty
__________________
It's your life. Take no prisoners. You will have it your way.
