At a home visit,the nurse asks the patient,"Have you taken your blood pressure medicine today?" The patient replies,"I don't remember.Maybe." On the table are several bottles of medication,some open,some not.They have all been prescribed for the patient.The patient cannot say how often to take each one,when asked.A compartmentalized medication organizer is on the table,with a few capsules in it,and some compartments left open.What should the nurse do?

A) Show the patient how to put the medications in the organizer for the next 2 days; observe while he fills the rest of the organizer.
B) Arrange for a home health aide to come each day to show the patient which pills to take.
C) Administer today's medications and arrange for the pharmacy to put medications in easy-to-open containers in the future.
D) Fill the organizer for each day of the week; explain how to use it; and return in a day or two to evaluate.

Question

Jasmine Chunn · Accepted Answer

Final Answer : D , Explanation :  From the cues given,it seems likely the patient would not be able to accurately load the medication organizer-and,in fact,may not be able to use it properly to take the correct medications at the correct time.The nurse would need to return every day or so until he is certain that the patient can actually administer his own meds after someone else loads the organizer.Showing the patient how to load the organizer solves part of the problem; however,this would not allow the nurse to evaluate whether the patient would then know to take the medications each day.Home health aides cannot be responsible for patient medications.There is no indication that the patient is having difficulty opening his medication containers,so there is no need to talk to the pharmacy.

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