When a parent moves from one level of care to another there becomes an opportunity for medical errors – especially in medication dosage, strength or the discontinuation of an old medication.
Just recently when my mother was hospitalized for a stroke and rehabilitation, she was discharged with all new orders. Since she would be moving to Assisted Living at discharge and obtaining a new Primary Care Physician (PCP) who had not seen her yet – presented an even greater opportunity for something to fall thru the cracks.
You or a professional (Geriatric Care Manager) must check and recheck in each transition or very serious errors can occur.
What happened with my mother is that the hospital wrote the discharge medications out clearly and I handed them over to the receiving Assisted Living Community. I questioned a few of the orders but decided to wait until she was to be seen by the new PCP before any changes were made.
The new community then transcribed the medications (incorrectly) to the PCP and the following errors were made in that communication. Two medications had the dosages incorrect and one of the medications, a patch, was written as two per day. This could have had extremely negative consequences if I had not caught it prior to her doctor appointment.
I did communicate my concerns to the new doctor and he quickly corrected the errors and addressed them.
Can you see how easily mistakes can be made when parents go from one level of care to another? I am fortunate to have years of experience with clients to know how important checking and double checking is when it comes to medications.
The adage “check and double check” is a phrase used in carpentry as well as tailoring – but it should be used in prescribing and transferring medications, too!