If
you are an elder care advisor working
in Senior
Housing
you may run into clients who refuse their medication. If a client is unable to
take their medication due to illness, refusal, or any other reason, you must
report it immediately to the manager as well as the prescribing officer. Each
client has the right to refuse their medications. This refusal must be recorded
on the MAR sheet with the reason for refusal. The codes should be used in the
client notes to depict the reason for refusal. These codes can be found in the
local or organisational policy.
Clients are allowed to change their minds whether or not they previously gave consent. A competent adult can refuse treatment even against the advice of experienced health professionals or care workers. In the past whenever a client was no longer competent enough to give consent, health professionals and any care workers would have presumed they were able to act in the best interests of the client. This also assumed that if they client was unable to give consent they were also unable to make decisions. However, this is not true.
Clients are allowed to change their minds whether or not they previously gave consent. A competent adult can refuse treatment even against the advice of experienced health professionals or care workers. In the past whenever a client was no longer competent enough to give consent, health professionals and any care workers would have presumed they were able to act in the best interests of the client. This also assumed that if they client was unable to give consent they were also unable to make decisions. However, this is not true.
Prior
to administering medication to an individual, you must have consent from the
client. You have to respect the right of the client to determine what happens
to their body. This is not just a fundamental component of good health practice
but a legal requirement. You have to get consent to do anything from helping
the individual get dressed to administering medication to them.
Competent
adults have the right to refuse treatment even if health professionals have a different
opinion. Remember, consent is not a one-off event, but rather, an on-going
process and as such, service users are allowed to change their minds regardless
of whether they previously provided consent.
You
cannot crush tablet medication or open capsule medication. You should only
consider covert administration of medicine, i.e. hiding medicine in drinks or
food, as a last resort if and only if it is in the best interest of the client.
The decision to administer medication in a covert fashion should be made by the
general practitioner, pharmacist, care team, advocate, or other significant and
relevant personnel. The decision should be documented thoroughly and should be
reviewed habitually. Local and organisational policies should be considered as well
when deciding to administer covert medication.
In
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columns.
Author
is a social activist and Blogger in New York (USA). He has a great affection to
elders and seniors and always writes articles about Elder
Care Advisor. He has an extensive knowledge about Adult
Residential Communities and Charlotte Memory Care .
Contact him directly on (704) 249-7718.
