As the strain on hospitals rises around the country and at Intermountain, patients are waiting longer to be treated. These patients still need to receive their appropriate doses of necessary medication, especially patients with Parkinson’s disease and other chronic conditions. If one of these patients arrives in an Intermountain emergency department and there are extended wait times, there may be delays in receiving their medication or missing their dose completely. This must not happen. Delays and missed treatments can cause significant instability or increase in their symptoms, which may take weeks to get back in balance.
Recommendations for how to prevent these issues:
- ED and hospital providers should seek specialty consults as soon as the need is identified.
- Providers, nurses, and pharmacy teams should ensure their role in medication reconciliation is completed in a timely way.
- Establish an awareness with your team about staffing shortages and its impact on timely medication delivery. Talk about it in huddles and team gatherings.
- Use the patient’s own supply of their medication if the medication isn’t available at the hospital. Pharmacy teams can review the need to continue the medication(s), assess the patient’s supply, and create a label that allows a nurse to scan the medication prior to administration.
- Escalate any concerns related to delays in therapy as quickly as possible.