Pea-n-Me
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2004
- Messages
- 41,466
It's not a federal regulation, but pain management is mandated by JACHO, the organization that accredits hospitals. http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/SpeakUp/Speak_up_pain_managment.htm
I'm not certain whether it applies mainly to hospitalized patients, or whether one could infer that a post operative patient of that hospital who's gone home should have their pain properly managed as well. My guess would be the latter.
And unfortuately, even when it is mandated - and there is training of personnel to go along with it - every practitioner might be a little different in their beliefs, actions and interpretations, so it migh vary practioner to practitioner. (See how complex these issues often get?)
If it were me lmp and I needed more pills for adequate pain control, I would call the doctor that's covering for the surgeon (again, if necessary). It's part of their job to deal with this type of thing.
I had occasion to witness the whole pain management issue firsthand these past couple of weeks with both my DD and my mother. If you think it's bad for women, Maureen, you should see it with children.
My DD was screaming in pain for a very long time before she received adequate pain control - probably around 12 hrs. My mother, OTOH, who was not screaming but wincing in pain, got it right away, without my even saying a word, and for the first couple of days, as needed. Eye opening, for sure. (I still might have some conversations with some of the people that cared for DD early in her hospitalization.)
Writing it out here makes it look simple, but it's not, really. You are balancing many, many factors in your head each and every time you medicate someone because even though pain management is mandated, you are responsible for administering it correctly and evaluating the outcome for each patient. (And if something goes wrong, guess who gets the blame and has to worry about being sued, loss of license to practice, etc?) The waters get more murky when it's the patient themselves taking the medication at home and you have no control over whether it's being done right or not, I imagine. I bet if we searched, we'd find cases of doctors sued for ordering too much medication that caused harm to a patient. You also have to wonder, if someone's requiring more pain medication than expected, if there's something else going on, ie problems with the surgical site, infection, etc. So yup, it's definitely not a cut and dry issue.
With that said, lmp I hope you can work it out with your covering surgeon. Maybe the one who's on today will be different from the one your DH spoke to the other day.
I'm not certain whether it applies mainly to hospitalized patients, or whether one could infer that a post operative patient of that hospital who's gone home should have their pain properly managed as well. My guess would be the latter.
And unfortuately, even when it is mandated - and there is training of personnel to go along with it - every practitioner might be a little different in their beliefs, actions and interpretations, so it migh vary practioner to practitioner. (See how complex these issues often get?)
If it were me lmp and I needed more pills for adequate pain control, I would call the doctor that's covering for the surgeon (again, if necessary). It's part of their job to deal with this type of thing.
I had occasion to witness the whole pain management issue firsthand these past couple of weeks with both my DD and my mother. If you think it's bad for women, Maureen, you should see it with children.
My DD was screaming in pain for a very long time before she received adequate pain control - probably around 12 hrs. My mother, OTOH, who was not screaming but wincing in pain, got it right away, without my even saying a word, and for the first couple of days, as needed. Eye opening, for sure. (I still might have some conversations with some of the people that cared for DD early in her hospitalization.)Writing it out here makes it look simple, but it's not, really. You are balancing many, many factors in your head each and every time you medicate someone because even though pain management is mandated, you are responsible for administering it correctly and evaluating the outcome for each patient. (And if something goes wrong, guess who gets the blame and has to worry about being sued, loss of license to practice, etc?) The waters get more murky when it's the patient themselves taking the medication at home and you have no control over whether it's being done right or not, I imagine. I bet if we searched, we'd find cases of doctors sued for ordering too much medication that caused harm to a patient. You also have to wonder, if someone's requiring more pain medication than expected, if there's something else going on, ie problems with the surgical site, infection, etc. So yup, it's definitely not a cut and dry issue.
With that said, lmp I hope you can work it out with your covering surgeon. Maybe the one who's on today will be different from the one your DH spoke to the other day.
It will be nice for Charlie to have a good place to run and play without the leash. The fenced area is about 70 x 40 feet, not real big, but he is pretty small. Our yard is just over an acre, but very heavily wooded, and I was always worried about him getting lost out there.....he'd be hard to find!
GAGWTA!!!! 
~~~***GAGWTA sistas***~~~
