 |
 |
Linda and Greg, Dabu Patel wrote.... 2. Medication protocol. In almost all hospitals, nursing staff are allowed an 45min to hour's leeway in giving medications. For example, if his Sinemet is due at 8 am, then the nurses can give it to him anytime between 7am - 9am I was just fortunate in that I was not ill and could fend for myself....you are so very right...Ivan does need an independent advocate. Unfortunately, I live on the West Coast....can you contact a PD support group in that area...if you go to the NPF site (where Dr. Lieberman's column comes from) it has links to finding support groups for PD.... This leeway can really jeopardize your pd med schedule...I spent 5 days in hospital for heart tests...my PD med schedule was confirmed with the hospital in writing by my neurologist with the hospital/doctor/head nurse, etc. I complained everytime they brought my meds in at the wrong time but didn't do any good and mainly because of this leeway in giving medication, by the 3rd day my PD med schedule went from 7 am 12 noon 5 pm 10 pm every 5 hours during waking hours to 3 am 10 am 2 pm 6 pm given at 7 hrs/4 hrs/4 hrs/9 hrs ....they woke me up at 3 am to give me meds that I really needed just before I got out of bed as my pd is a balance and walking problem and not in the middle of the night and the 6 pm dinner time protein interfered with the sinemet cr absorption ....that's when I had my daughter bring my medication from home, hid it from the staff and took it on my original schedule.... --- Joan Hartman --- [log in to unmask] --- EarthLink: It's your Internet.