An elderly woman shared that she had six different physicians, each focusing on one particular health problem. Which of the following would be of immediate concern for the home health nurse? (Select all that apply.)

Question

a. Whether the client has a family physician who was coordinating her care
b. Whether the physicians communicate with each other
c. If each physician was prescribing medications, what drug interactions might be occurring?
d. Were all these health care providers licensed physicians?
e. Who was helping her with transportation to all these physicians?
f.
Would all these physician visits add up to more than what Medicare would reimburse the client?

Answer 1

ANS: A, C
The client needs a family physician or a nurse case manager who is coordinating her care and ensuring that the medications are not having interaction effects. A pharmacist might also do this, but the client may be using several different pharmacies. Errors associated with preventable adverse drug events occur most often at the stages of prescribing and monitoring (i.e., the same medication[s], or different medications for the same condition, being prescribed by different health providers).