Communication and the captain
When I first started this blog I was worried I might run out of things to discuss. Fortunately that has not happened and new things keep popping up each day. Today I want to tell you about a family I recently saw who was dealing with an elderly individual that had a very serious neurological disease which often causes memory problems. (As is the case with all anecdotal information I share on this blog, I have to be somewhat vague to protect confidentiality).
Most family members will monitor the medication usage of an elderly family member with memory problems by administering the pills themselves, having a home nurse administer them, and/or placing the medications in a pill box so the patient does not need to sort out the medications. I am speaking here about elderly patients who live at home. Considering that it is not uncommon for the elderly to be on 12 prescription medications, it is no wonder some assistance is needed.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that the family was allowing the patient to tell them what medications he was taking. Although they described prominent memory problems in other areas, they said the patient seemed confident about the medications. When I asked if they had a list from the doctor about what the actual medications were, they said no.
So I dug a little deeper to find out what was going on here. Turns out, there were about seven different family members taking care of this person. No one really knew what the other was doing. For example, when the patient’s functioning dramatically declined after a medication change, no one had notified the physician. As a result, the patient was still in a compromised state. In social psychology, this is known as diffusion of responsibility. Multiple people are involved, there is poor communication, and each person thinks the other will take the lion share of responsibility. As a result, nothing gets done.
If you have a family member who is sick, and multiple caretakers are involved, someone needs to be designated as a captain who will be mainly in charge of things. That person can delegate tasks to others as needed. The captain role should switch from time to time because caretakers can easily get burned out. Lastly, communication is the key. That goes for communication between family members and communication to the doctor’s office when something goes wrong.
Most family members will monitor the medication usage of an elderly family member with memory problems by administering the pills themselves, having a home nurse administer them, and/or placing the medications in a pill box so the patient does not need to sort out the medications. I am speaking here about elderly patients who live at home. Considering that it is not uncommon for the elderly to be on 12 prescription medications, it is no wonder some assistance is needed.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that the family was allowing the patient to tell them what medications he was taking. Although they described prominent memory problems in other areas, they said the patient seemed confident about the medications. When I asked if they had a list from the doctor about what the actual medications were, they said no.
So I dug a little deeper to find out what was going on here. Turns out, there were about seven different family members taking care of this person. No one really knew what the other was doing. For example, when the patient’s functioning dramatically declined after a medication change, no one had notified the physician. As a result, the patient was still in a compromised state. In social psychology, this is known as diffusion of responsibility. Multiple people are involved, there is poor communication, and each person thinks the other will take the lion share of responsibility. As a result, nothing gets done.
If you have a family member who is sick, and multiple caretakers are involved, someone needs to be designated as a captain who will be mainly in charge of things. That person can delegate tasks to others as needed. The captain role should switch from time to time because caretakers can easily get burned out. Lastly, communication is the key. That goes for communication between family members and communication to the doctor’s office when something goes wrong.
posted by MedFriendly | 7:57 PM
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