I worked in a nursing home and I administered medication. What I usually did when a resident refused was say ok, then come back in half an hour with a cup of tea and try again. Most of my refusers had dementia. Arguing and reasoning do not work and you can't force them. Other strategies included telling and not asking. They usually didn't understand the reality of their condition or that we were attempting to look after them. They didn't understand the necessity of medication either. It's very different if a patient is entirely mentally aware and can explain their refusal. For example, I refused tramadol after surgery to fix a broken ankle. I didn't feel like I was in that much pain and I didn't want to take such a strong medication. The nurse spoke to the doctor and I was prescribed a different painkiller instead. It wouldn't have been right to keep pushing the meds on me when I'd already said no for a perfectly valid reason.
This is great insight. Education is great. But some still won't listen. I educated while I worked on Step Down and it helped avoid many of these situations. Now I work in psych. Many patients are having fixed delusions, lack of insight, etc. I try to educate and nothing changes. It usually is only an order to treat/override that gets them to take their meds.
Yeah... My mother rationalizes her delusions and hallucinations as witchcraft and telepathy and firmly rejects the idea that there is anything amiss with her psychologically even when she is properly medicated, and she is stubborn as a very stupid mule, so any attempts at convincing her to take her meds is likely just going to make her more firm in her dedication to avoiding them. Also, word use when medical professionals talk to her can make a big difference. She complained to a doctor about the side effects one time, and he suggested trying to lower the dose. What she heard, was "quit the meds". Basically she's been on a rollercoaster of getting on and off those meds all of my life.
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I worked in a nursing home and I administered medication. What I usually did when a resident refused was say ok, then come back in half an hour with a cup of tea and try again. Most of my refusers had dementia. Arguing and reasoning do not work and you can't force them. Other strategies included telling and not asking. They usually didn't understand the reality of their condition or that we were attempting to look after them. They didn't understand the necessity of medication either.
It's very different if a patient is entirely mentally aware and can explain their refusal. For example, I refused tramadol after surgery to fix a broken ankle. I didn't feel like I was in that much pain and I didn't want to take such a strong medication. The nurse spoke to the doctor and I was prescribed a different painkiller instead. It wouldn't have been right to keep pushing the meds on me when I'd already said no for a perfectly valid reason.
This is great insight. Education is great. But some still won't listen. I educated while I worked on Step Down and it helped avoid many of these situations. Now I work in psych. Many patients are having fixed delusions, lack of insight, etc. I try to educate and nothing changes. It usually is only an order to treat/override that gets them to take their meds.
Yeah... My mother rationalizes her delusions and hallucinations as witchcraft and telepathy and firmly rejects the idea that there is anything amiss with her psychologically even when she is properly medicated, and she is stubborn as a very stupid mule, so any attempts at convincing her to take her meds is likely just going to make her more firm in her dedication to avoiding them.
Also, word use when medical professionals talk to her can make a big difference. She complained to a doctor about the side effects one time, and he suggested trying to lower the dose. What she heard, was "quit the meds".
Basically she's been on a rollercoaster of getting on and off those meds all of my life.