It's important to ask patients about their financial status, while telling them that there are medical reasons for asking. Remember that a patient relying on Medicaid or Medicare without private insurance pays all prescription costs out of pocket. Know the pharmacy costs of medications prescribed so patients are not forced to choose between meals and medicine. If patients can't afford their medications, they can't adhere to the medical regimen, with then leads to readmissions. Generic drugs are sometimes an option, and changing doses can reduce the number of trips to the pharmacy.
Nurses can turn to pharmacists for help.
Be Sensitive Nurses and patients must work to correct communication breakdowns, no matter how widespread. Above all, we think that everyone's goal should be caregiving with sensitivity. As an advocate for patients' rights, he has worked for 12 years to help severely disabled people who wish to leave nursing homes and reenter community life. Bill is the author of more than 100 articles on disability issues, and has taught classes on disability issues as part of continuing education programs. Amy Easton, RN, CCRN, is a caregiver in a large Northern Illinois hospital.