My wife is in the hospital. While visiting her, I was talking to the nurse about the lack of a drug “allergy” wrist band. The nurse pointed to a green band on my wife’s wrist, saying that that was an alert band to let them know to check the records for drug “allergies”.
So, I asked her what drugs were on the list. She got the records and read them off. Much to my suprise, there was a drug missing. I told her I was sure I had given that drugs name when we checked in, so the nurse looked at that form and sure enough, it was there. The nurse then said “Someone forgot to transfer that drug from the entrance form into the computer.” She then left to add that one in.
Now, to me, this is a serious mistake. Not entering a drug to the “allergy” list could be a real problem if a doctor wants to administer that drug and doesn’t know the patient has a problem with it.
My question is, who in the hospital do I go to to file a complaint about this?
You’re not going to want to hear this, but a missing item on an allergy list isn’t that big of a deal. Yes, it’s a big deal, but it’s not what the doctor goes by when he prescribes meds.
Hospitals are now so conscious about errors that there are numerous fail-safe mechanisms in place. The bracelet is one, but her allergies are also in her medical record, her physical chart should be flagged, and if the hospital uses a computer-based system, the computer should notify the prescriber, nurse, pharmacist and clerk that she has an allergy to that particular food or medication, forcing any of these people to make a conscious choice. (And believe me, even if the doctor tried to prescribe something to which your wife is allergic, the pharmacist will not fill the order without consulting the doctor as to why it was prescribed.)
If you feel you must complain, talk to the patient advocacy office. The best you can hope for, though, is a new bracelet. It sucks, but it’s not worth making a federal case over.
Many hospitals have a patient / customer care representative. If that’s not available, you might try the social work department. I hope someone with more direct knowledge of the hospital situation in Wisconsin will post.
Man, if you only knew of half the things that go on is hospitals, you’d never go again. Just have some blind faith in the healthcare professionals. There mistake rate is pretty low, and seems to get lower all the time. With thousands of patients a year, having to keep track of several in a day, more patients per nurse/doctor, a mistake is bound to happen. Be glad it was something as minor as a drug allergy, and not something major, like thinking she was the one donating a kidney.
Every time I’ve been in the hospital, I’ve been asked about my drug allergies about eleventy-billion times. I think sometimes they called in people from other wings just to ask me about my allergies. And I don’t have any. Which my records reflect.
I think you’d be very unpleasantly surprised at the number of people who say over and over and over again that they don’t have any drug allergies, get prescribed something, and say, “Oh, last time I took that I got a rash/had hives/nearly died, and they said I couldn’t take it any more.” Trust me, they don’t keep asking because they’re bored and have nothing better to do.
This is why, when my husband was admitted to the hospital last February I asked to see his chart so I could check, for myself, the information was there. Which is was.
And a doofus doctor STILL tried to prescribe something he was allergic to. Multiple times.
You really do have to keep an eye on the staff in the hospitals. Most are good folks, but there’s always a few bad apples.
There are still safeguards, the best ones being you and your wife herself. She is allowed to refuse any treatment for any reason. I myself have refused drugs to which I’m allergic, and treatments and tests I did not want.
If you still feel that strongly about pursuing this, talk to the nursing supervisor for your wife’s floor, explain the situation, and ask that the supervisor “remind” your wife’s admitting nurse about double-checking admissions paperwork.
I will say this much, though. Nurses are busy. They may have several patients under their care at any given time. Some require a lot of care, some don’t. But they do get busy passing meds, changing dressings and IVs, taking vital signs and doing exams, and so forth. They’re lucky if they get a long enough break to sit down and eat. Occasionally, things like paperwork fall by the wayside. It’s stupid, it’s dangerous, but it happens.
And then on the other hand you’ve got the people who have a list of allergies a mile long, and if you ask them what happened, they say something like “it made me nauseous” or “it made me drowsy.”