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Bringing your own prescription when admitted to hospital
Visiting Mayo Clinic | Last Active: Sep 18, 2023 | Replies (15)Comment receiving replies
I am the spouse and care giver of a man that 1 year ago had a liver transplant because of liver cancer. Care after a liver transplant is planned in a very strict schedule. He is supposed to take his medications at the same times every day, some AM some PM. Over the past year he has had medical issues that have led to him being admitted to a hospital. Upon admission we tell the hospital staff about this required routine for his medications but we may as well be talking to a wall on this subject. I bring with him a recorded list of his medications and dosages prescribed by his liver transplant team and ask that they coordinate with the team on further medications but they behave as though we are invading their territory by trying to keep him on his schedule. They tell us they have two hour window to dispense medications which translates into they bring some of medications at various times as they choose and stop medications without explanation or increase dosages without explanation or discussion. The staff just brings drugs in and hand him the plastic cups to take them and expect that he will blindly just take them. He is on 9 different medications at present which has been trimmed several times over the past year just after the surgery he was on twice that many. He can't keep up and know he has had all that he needs to take in this dispensing whenever manner they use. Why can't we just bring his medications from home and let him take them on schedule and they can handle whatever new medicine he needs?
Replies to "I am the spouse and care giver of a man that 1 year ago had a..."
@parient0 Oh, dear! Adherence to medication schedules is critical, definitely! I haven't had that experience with my husband [he is a kidney recipient] having to be admitted to the hospital. I would go up the chain of command as far as need be, to make sure he gets those meds as prescribed by his transplant team. Start with the nursing supervisor, get the patient advocate involved, social worker, and if you have to, go to the hospital administration. If his transplant team will also communicate to the hospital the importance of his medications, it might help.
Would they consider leaving his meds with him, for him to take at the correct times?
Ginger
Hi patientO, when I have been admitted to hospital I have always been put on the TP floor, they r more on the ball with TP protocol. I am sorry to hear that u r trying to do what you have been instructed to do by your TP team and they seem not to care.
My understanding from my TP team u do have a window of time if you have forgotten or in your case not given your meds at the same time u have been instructed to do. This is not something that is routine of course, but a just in case u have gotten off track for reasons out of your control.
You r a great caregiver to your husband I can tell😊💚
Good luck and hope your husband gets home soon.
Hi @patient0 Sounds like your a concerned care giver like my wife was and I love Her for it. I am now celebrating 5 years with my new transplanted Heart and I'm well versed on the importance of Meds on time. Mine can be even trickier since I also take a med at 6 AM that has to be at least 1 hour before my anti-rejection meds. So even in the Hospital that I had my transplant in, I had to set up a routine to help us remember to take our meds every morning at 8 AM and again at 8 PM but to get us in the habit we had to call the nurse just prior to the hour of our meds to let them know its time. So during that time I developed a habit of calling about 15 min prior to the 8 AM or 8 PM time to request the meds. Even during a period about 2 years after transplant I was hospitalized for a different reason, I still did it and they appreciated that I kept up the habit.
Now I will tell you that I was always told it's not like we have to take them exactly on the Hour as depending on other factors it may be delayed, Like for surgery running a bit longer or other things out of our control like driving for instance, So I was told that plus or minus 1 hour was acceptable time frame. So Yes I would still call just prior to 8 but if it was like 8:30 it wasn't a big deal. A great example of this is even now when I get my labs drawn which have to be in the morning prior to taken Tacrolimus sometimes the Lab is running a bit late and it may be a bit after 8 AM. Or if I know ill be driving on a highway like heading to an appointment I may take them a bit early keeping within that hour. Now I was told this was OK and maybe discuss this with His transplant Doctor to see what They say. But also everyone else is correct that we should keep to a routine and not break it too often. I too have even run into some nurses who are tied up with an emergency or an unexpected delay due to another patient so I try to understand if it within the plus or minus an hour.
Great Job as I can tell you are on top of this and as a Transplant patient myself, I could not have done it without my Wife who was my care giver. Now with Life back to normal for me, if needed am ready to help Her as I like to remember there is no "I" in team.
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@patient0, oh this must be very concerning for you. Being the caregiver of someone who has had a transplant is an important job. It's obvious that you and the liver transplant recipient are honoring the "gift of life" by following medication protocols as prescribed by your transplant medical team.
I'm tagging a few transplant recipients and caregivers like @gingerw @myfablife @rosemarya @loribmt @danab @tasher3433 @nkdonahue to invite their thoughts on this.
@patient0, is he being admitted to the same hospital where he had the transplant? Might you get a letter from his transplant team regarding the importance of scheduled administration of his medications? Might you speak to the Office of Patient Experience about your concerns?