Can nursing home staff make prescription medication changes without consulting patient or the Power Of Attorney?

Short answer NO. The staff nurse is not a physician. Prescriptions should not be altered by anything other than the prescribing physician or another licensed medical doctor. You should talk to the administration of the nursing home and have this investigated as it could have resulted in serious harm to the patient. Helen

NO
If that happened it needs to be addressed immediately! Very unprofessional & possibly criminal.

I think you have to ask that they call you about all med and therapy changes; that's been my experience too that they don't always even then. I periodically get a listing of my mom's meds. She once had her PPI d/c'd by a doc who assumed it had just been given in-hospital, and Mom of course could not tell him that she'd been sleeping upright in a chair and stoped eating many favorite foods before she was on it. Of course he could have looked at her file and noted she has a hiatal hernia, and maybe asked someone who could have told him, like ME, but only the best ones take the time. I only found out about it when I tried to figure out why my mom who had been sleeping flat with just a pillow suddenly wanted a hospital bed. Oh, and they would NOT have even SHOWN me her meds list had I not presented my Medical POA and reassured them it was not a HIPAA violation. Worse than that, the facility my mom is in now accidentally restarted a med that had caused fluid overload and mild CHF - apparently a d/c summmary was sent early and the update hadn't made it yet. I caught that one as sson as I saw her legs puffing up again, and thought I was going to have to pull her out that weekend, but despite fussing a little over having to call and get orders and not just take my word for it, they were able to do so promptly and got the error fixed before she got even one more dose. If your loved one can't tell you about meds anymore, some serious watchdogging is in order. You want to try to not make it a head-butting thing, or scream at them that they are incompetent or criminals unless they really, really are - e.g. making mistakes left right up down and sideways, not just occasional, or refusing to fix things or to listen to side effect concerns - but do make it clear you want to stay on top of it. In Mom's case I could honestly explain that it was because she has had some unusual reatcions to the things people usually and normally try for her conditions.

So it may not be gross negligence, but someone just misapplying standard practice of trying to reduce unnecessary drugs - which can be a good thing - but without taking enough care to find out why they were on them in the first place.

It would be extremely unusual for a staff nurse to make any med changes without and order from the MD. It is possible that her labs were bad and the MD ordered it held for a few days. If any nurse took it upon themselves to change a medication order without consulting a MD they should be reported to their State Board of Nursing for practicing nursing outside her scope of practice.

No I'm my work at nursing homes residents wernt allowed to have a tylenol or cough drop without a dr. Order. Even pain meds that come with someone from a hospital cannot be given until the dr. Seeing them at the nh puts in his order for it. She should be reported to the administration as well as the state. As a nurse if this occured she knows better. And should be in trouble for it.

I have contacted the Nurses Administrator at the home. The nurse that made the decision is off as her father passed. They are to follow up when she returns.

THATS A FLAT NOOOOOOOO..GET THEM FIRED IM A NURSE THEY CANNOT DO THAT

My Mom had knee replacement and was placed in Nursing home for Rehab and the house doctor change her medicine. I had to advise them she was there for rehab only and that her personal physicians had perscribed her medication and it was to say as noted by the doctor at time of transfer from Hospital. I had to keep on them for a number of things like no rehab therapist and that is why we were there and they said they were a rehab with staff to comply with doctors orders. You have to be on top of it at all times My Mom was very knowledgable about what she was on for medication and notified me right away so I was able to correct the problems as they happened ( which were many) I had to be a voice for her and I have a loud voice when I have to be. If you can not check on things make sure you find someone who will for you. She was being treated like she was not able to make her own decisions and incompatant. When I threaten to call Medicare and the local newspaper things happen quickly to be corrected.

I've had experiences when the doctor just neglected to specifically continue the prescription and no one noticed for a while. And even if the patient does notice, they often are of the attitude "Oh well, the doctor must know what he (she) is doing..........."
I was wondering too, Is possibly the nurse in question a nurse practitioner with the authority to write or change prescriptions?

My Mom was given new medications without my knowledge or approval. I'm her durable medical and financial Power of Attorney. This was a a Skilled Nursing Facility to which she'd been admitted to for rehab after a stroke. Well... she had a bad reaction to the medication (she turned violent and clearly not herself). They'd been giving the medicaiton to her for 2 days before I was curious enough to question someone about her medications. I immediately told them to discontinue medication.

BTW, it was her delegated Nurse Practictioner that made the change, not a RN, CNA or administrator. Nurse Practictioners can perscribe medications, but must consult with their boss (the doctor) before adminstering. I've no idea if this guy consulted with anyone or he played God.

Needless to say, I had words with this man.