My father is stuck in a rehab facility after amputation of a toe. He has a pick line and being given anitbiotics every 6 hours. However, no one seems to have assigned him a infectious disease doctor. We don't know what the orders were and who prescribed the antibiotics. He has been there 2 weeks. He is not encouraged to be up and around. He goes to the bathroom on his own, showers, changes, etc. He is getting weaker just because he sits there and doesn't have anything to do. He is an easy bed to take care of and get the Medicare benefit. I am sure they are in no rush to check him out. How can we follow up? No one knows who the physician in charge even is. Hospital did not give good discharge orders and if they did the case worker did not share them with our Sister who has the health care power to make decisions. Please advise.
I'd go to the facility and make a nuisance of myself (I am good at this) and find out WHO the 'in charge' doc is, what the dx is, what you can expect and why he's getting the antibiotics he's getting. Also, what kind of rehab is he expected to do once he's released.
Drs are good at hiding from annoying relatives, but you have to stick it out to get the info you need!
DON'T call and expect someone to call you back with all the info. It could be weeks, seriously.
AS much as I hate having to do this, I have in fact, done it several times.
You can be tenacious AND nice. They aren't mutually exclusive behaviors!
Have you asked either of these two people who the in-charge doctor is?
Even if your father may have trouble standing on the operated foot (and I'm assuming this may be a factor), he can still do seated PT.
Document all your calls, messages left and conversations, with date, time and the person with whom you spoke. If the Administrator or DON aren't available or don't call back, ask for the Social Worker, and express your concerns, giving him/her a chance to intervene. If that doesn't happen, I would consider contacting the Ombudsperson for your state to get things moving.
Show up and nicely ask for a meeting with the director of nursing or administrator (as someone else mentioned). Be willing to be patient and be there for the long haul. Keep asking and expect it to be a long, difficult day.
Wait, if your sister has health care POA, maybe she is the one who needs to go there. Are they not giving you info because of your sister having POA? I wonder....
If after another day of trying hard to get info, I would call someone at the state to report them. As a last resort, this might work and get their attention.
My point is that this was ordered by an infectious disease doctor. There is a reason for this. It had to be ordered. You need to demand who did this. Do you know if blood is drawn from the line?
I know it can be frustrating dealing with a facility and your elderly family member there,but it is unacceptable to not be given more information especially with a specific medical issue such as this. As others have indicated you need to become more demanding and unrelenting in search of information. I hope you are able to get answers.