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hi all ditto on the amen! charlie and mary ann! this sounds like a great beginning to a PD awareness program! i wonder if it might be possible (assuming the patient is conscious and cognizant) for the parky's physician to set up a "self-medication" protocol so that pd patients can take their pd meds on their own without bothering the nursing/medical staff at all? or would this undercut the awareness value of the education/discussion efforts? janet At 21:00 2001/07/09 -0500, Charles T. Meyer, M.D. wrote: >AMEN; > >If the patient is able to take his/her own Meds perhaps one >dose of Sinemet and other vital meds can be placed on the >bedside table an hour prior to when the next dose is due to >be taken with nurses checking at their leisure that it has >been taken. That way the time pressure is less for the nursing >staff and the PWP-patient. We know when it is time to take our >meds and most of us are usually quite reliable in taking them. >The nurse should always check to be sure it has been taken but >doesn't have to drop everything that she is doing and give the >meds out for a PWP. > >PWP are rare enough as inpatients in most hospitals that nursing >needs to be educated about optimal med timing for PD patients. >Ask the head nurse to meet with her staff and discuss the potential >problem, since in general nursing 2:00 PM often can mean anything >from 1-3 PM . The nursing staff will often see the PWP as demanding >and we will see the nursing staff as uncaring and incompetent . > >I hope pose this idea and ask the RN out there if it passes federal >and state rules it might be adopted by some institutions in order to >make life easier for nursing and hospitals as well as PWP who are >served by them. > >Charlie > >At 11:16 AM 7/9/01 -0400, Mary Ann wrote: >>The hospital care horror stories of PD patients comes up rather >>frequently on this list. Inevitably, the comment is made that >>hospital personnel should certainly be prepared to take care of >>the complicated medical regimen that PD folks depend upon to >>function. I've commented on this problem before, and it's time >>to review the reality of the response of hospital personnel to PD. >> >>1. PD patients are *infrequently* hospitalized. Those that are >>admitted usually have an acute problem unrelated to PD. >>2. The PD patients most seen on medical units *do not have >>complicated medical regimens.* Yesterday, for instance, I cared >>for a man with PD who was obviously under-medicated (and barely >>functional as a consequence). He was receiving Sinemet 3 x day >>before meals - that was it. >>3. When a person with a complicated medical regimen is admitted >>to the hospital it is *critical* that the medication schedule used >>at home be somewhere at the patient's bed side as well as in the >>patient's chart and at the nurses station. The bigger the font type >>used for such a schedule, the better. Believe me.......all medical >>staff in a general medical surgical hospital need to be appraised >>over and over again about the importance of timely medication >>administration for PD patients - such patients are *rare*, therefore >>personnel need to be educated by family members about the importance >>of timely med administration. Having a loved one staying with the >>patient is not a bad idea. >> >>The reality of hospital care today is that we are suffering a >>terrible nursing shortage in the midst of ever increasing acute >>medical cases appearing on general med-surg units. The person having >>the coronary is going to be getting more attention than the PD patient >>down the hall ... it is an unfortunate situation that isn't going to >be resolved any time soon. >>------- >>God bless >>Mary Ann Ryan R.N. janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky . pd: 54/41/37 cd: 54/44/43 tel: 613 256 8340 email: [log in to unmask] . snail mail: 375 Country Street, Apt 301, Almonte, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1A0 . a new voice: the nnnewsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/janet313/ . a new voice: the wwweb site: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn