I recently spent Christmas and the new year in hospital, with unstable angina, but they could give any DONEPRIZOLE, tablets for my dementia, as the my hospital does stock medication for dementia patients, they stated that I could survive a week without them, is this true, , I took my blister pack in which contained it, among other medication, but the dr, would not open the pack, as he did not know which one was the DONEPRIZOLE, pill. can this possibly be true
Dementia medication
- Thread starter MIKYPLUM
- Start date
How annoying.
The hospital cannot use anything from a pharmacy-filled blister pack, that is true. But it's a shame that they did not allow a friend or family member to administer the tablet to you.
Missing it for a week is not likely to have caused you any long term harm, if you ignore the upset this has caused you.
I recommend you ask the pharmacist who fills your blister pack to give you a strip of doneprizole in its original packaging with your name on it (to give to the hospital if you are ever readmitted).
The hospital cannot use anything from a pharmacy-filled blister pack, that is true. But it's a shame that they did not allow a friend or family member to administer the tablet to you.
Missing it for a week is not likely to have caused you any long term harm, if you ignore the upset this has caused you.
I recommend you ask the pharmacist who fills your blister pack to give you a strip of doneprizole in its original packaging with your name on it (to give to the hospital if you are ever readmitted).
We get medication in a dossette box and everything including the Donepezil is clearly labelled and even described in colour and form in the notes section so I don't see why the doctor could not give it to you. If you don't have a clearly labelled dossette box yet, ask the pharmacy for one.
Possible solution to dementia patient dependant on blister pack medicine in hospital.
Hi I recently encountered the same issue in both hospital & nursing home with respect to blister pack medicines, I can appreciate the necessity of the hospital approach.
Here is my description and solution below. I expect it needs further discussion, but it any one manages to implement the idea and you report back here
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The problem was recently incurred with a patient with dementia who has been managing their own medicine using blister pack for the past few years, this practice is part of their long term memory, the hospital/nursing home required that the patient immediately learn to accept the hospitals method of providing medicine filling the patient with anxiety as a short time after receiving medicine the same patient had no recollection of having received their tablets, nor could they look for their familiar blister pack for evidence of having taken their medicine for the right time of day and the right day. This was a great cause for anxiety and left the patient with less trust in the medical staff caring for them and as a result may have been more difficult to care for.
In this instance the patients anxiety subsided after 4-5 days but so did their interest in knitting and writing letters which previously were a core daily activities outside of hospital.
A non drug related intervention.
The invention/intervention of a p-pack (placebo pack) prescribed by a doctor whose perscription would be attached to the same p-pack and look the same as their original tablets except of a doctors illegible but unique prescription attached to the same pack . The p-pack is something which a patient retains within hospital. During an individual hospital drug round, after administering the prescribed drugs, the nurse would also check if the patient has taken their appropriate p-pack tablets, for that time of day and if not so they would remind them to do so. A short time later the patient is now left with a familiar record of whether or not they have taken their tablets, the same p-pack may be checked many times between hospital drug rounds providing reassurance that all is as it should be and without the cause for additional dementia related anxiety. With the same process medical staff could evaluate a patients potential ability to be managed their own medicine while not in a hospital/nursing home.
Problem
Nothing should interfere with a hospital drug round once it has started, even possible the evaluation of a patient during the administering of their proscribed medication ? It this a questions that may be raised or do medical staff when administering a drug round also naturally evaluate each patient while doing so ?
It would be unclear if a hospital would trust a pharmacy to make up a p-pack, the importance being that any p-pack should not include medicine.
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Whether it would be best if a working version of the idea should come from doctors or nurses is unclear. Nursing staff would I expect be at the fore-front for experiencing, evaluating and implementing such an idea, but I expect all medical staff would need to be onboard for such an idea to work.
Any constructive responses would be appreciated.
Regards
Colm
Hi I recently encountered the same issue in both hospital & nursing home with respect to blister pack medicines, I can appreciate the necessity of the hospital approach.
Here is my description and solution below. I expect it needs further discussion, but it any one manages to implement the idea and you report back here
--------------------------------------------------
The problem was recently incurred with a patient with dementia who has been managing their own medicine using blister pack for the past few years, this practice is part of their long term memory, the hospital/nursing home required that the patient immediately learn to accept the hospitals method of providing medicine filling the patient with anxiety as a short time after receiving medicine the same patient had no recollection of having received their tablets, nor could they look for their familiar blister pack for evidence of having taken their medicine for the right time of day and the right day. This was a great cause for anxiety and left the patient with less trust in the medical staff caring for them and as a result may have been more difficult to care for.
In this instance the patients anxiety subsided after 4-5 days but so did their interest in knitting and writing letters which previously were a core daily activities outside of hospital.
A non drug related intervention.
The invention/intervention of a p-pack (placebo pack) prescribed by a doctor whose perscription would be attached to the same p-pack and look the same as their original tablets except of a doctors illegible but unique prescription attached to the same pack . The p-pack is something which a patient retains within hospital. During an individual hospital drug round, after administering the prescribed drugs, the nurse would also check if the patient has taken their appropriate p-pack tablets, for that time of day and if not so they would remind them to do so. A short time later the patient is now left with a familiar record of whether or not they have taken their tablets, the same p-pack may be checked many times between hospital drug rounds providing reassurance that all is as it should be and without the cause for additional dementia related anxiety. With the same process medical staff could evaluate a patients potential ability to be managed their own medicine while not in a hospital/nursing home.
Problem
Nothing should interfere with a hospital drug round once it has started, even possible the evaluation of a patient during the administering of their proscribed medication ? It this a questions that may be raised or do medical staff when administering a drug round also naturally evaluate each patient while doing so ?
It would be unclear if a hospital would trust a pharmacy to make up a p-pack, the importance being that any p-pack should not include medicine.
--------------------------------------------------
Whether it would be best if a working version of the idea should come from doctors or nurses is unclear. Nursing staff would I expect be at the fore-front for experiencing, evaluating and implementing such an idea, but I expect all medical staff would need to be onboard for such an idea to work.
Any constructive responses would be appreciated.
Regards
Colm
How annoying.
The hospital cannot use anything from a pharmacy-filled blister pack, that is true. But it's a shame that they did not allow a friend or family member to administer the tablet to you.
Missing it for a week is not likely to have caused you any long term harm, if you ignore the upset this has caused you.
I recommend you ask the pharmacist who fills your blister pack to give you a strip of doneprizole in its original packaging with your name on it (to give to the hospital if you are ever readmitted).
I am so sorry this happened to you. I was recently in the hospital twice in the last couple months. I was given my dementia medication and anxiety medication every single day. For me it is important that the level stay consistent to keep me at a stable level.
