Serious mistake made with Mom at the facility
My Mom lives in a facility and the last few months have been very difficult. She was suicidal at one point which I believed was brought on by a change in her medications. We now have her on Zyprexa which has finally provided her peace. Mom is no longer has any lucid moments but she keeps herself busy piddling around her room enjoying her treasures. Last Saturday I went to visit Mom and couldn't believe when I walked into her room that her medication drawer was left unlocked and Mom had taken all of her medications out and had them all over the countertop. I had no idea if she had taken anything but I immediately left the room with my Mom and informed a staff member that she had gone through all of her medication and the drawer was left unlocked. A med tech went into the room and put everything back and locked the drawer. Nothing more was said.
This is the 3rd medication error in a month. One day I found a Zanax on her countertop and another day Mom had an Exelon Patch on after it had been discontinued. How serious are these errors? Should I take any further steps? I don't want to get people fired but I'm worried about Mom's safety.
This sounds serious to me. Who is responsible for her meds? Why are they kept in her room? Is this a nursing home or assisted living? All questions to look at. If she's in assisted living and she hires someone to give her meds, they need a better system of storing them.
Unfortunately, assisted living centers aren't as controlled as nursing homes. With a nursing home, if you get no satifaction after going through the chain of command, you can go to your state Web site, find aging services and find out who your ombudsman is. That person is your representative. With assisted living, this may not be an option.
I'd get to the bottom of this, and if it can't be taken care of, I'd look at another facility.
Carol
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For good reason! If she's moving to a different floor anyway, maybe it will all shake out, but it does seem like there's a disturbing lack of attention to this important matter - locking up the meds. I'm assuming in the memory unit, they have a better system.
Only you can decide what to do, if anything, since a move to a different unit is in the works, but your concern is warranted and it shows that you will always be a good advocate for your mother.
Blessings,
Carol
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I want to add more point to this conversation. I would strongly recommend that you start putting your concerns in writing to the administrator, director of nursing and other key individuals either through a letter (possibly using certified mail) or an email. This, in effect, gives you a paper trail to share with authorities if these situations continue. Be as specific as possible in your letter(s). This is not time to sugar coat what is going on. The facility needs to look at their processes and come up with effective remedies so that the medications are effectively stored. And if this is a personnel issue, then there need to be steps taken with any staff members involved to stop these events from happening, whether through ensuring the process is followed, training, or even termination.
Take care and stay strong!
Dorian
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Mom is living in a facility that is licensed as an Intermediate Care Facility. She is supposed to be moving next week to different floor that is a secured Ahlzeimers/dimentia care unit. We pay for medication administration and her meds are locked in a top drawer in her room with the reasoning that they do not want to administer meds outside of the residents rooms. These med tech have to be certified but I believe the management is just very "sloppy". I do have a number for the ombudsman. Thank you for your thoughts and comments........this situation has been weighting heavily on me.