My father cannot get shoes or socks on anymore. His feet and legs have been red and very swollen for a couple of weeks now. He has developed sores on the soles of his feet and is in pain. He refuses to let staff change dressings sometimes and his feet look absolutely awful. I cannot understand why the Dr hasn’t been called to him. Should I see his Dr as POA? I don’t want the home to think I’m going behind their back or criticising them for lack of action but I am very worried. He has vascular dementia, has had a heart attack in the past and is on Warfarin so I’m wondering if the swelling is a result of his heart working inefficiently.
I brought up the swelling to the aid that helped dress her. She looked at her chart and told me that there were no orders from her doctor to wear stockings. I politely told her that mom has dealt with edema and her doctors do insist on her wearing compression stockings. She responded by telling me that she had to hear it from her doctor. In other words, I as her daughter with medical POA was going to be ignored so I learned an important lesson that day. EVERYTHING must be included in the doctor’s orders.
So, after any discrepancy comes up I feel it must be discussed with the DON, doctor and social worker. Otherwise, it may be brushed aside and never addressed even if a family member has inquired about it.
To give the staff the benefit of the doubt, they're dealing with a lot of sickly people and at times they drop the ball. If you have POA, you should be able to call the doctor's office, have conferences directly with him, and do what you'd do if he was an off-site PCP.
Keep the doctor's office info in your contacts list and never hesitate to deal directly with him and his office.
NP that mom had was really good!
You may need to be proactive here; unless dad has been declared incompetent, they are asking HIM if he wants to see the doctor and I'm sure he says no.
Call a care meeting and meet with the DON and SW. Find out what they need from you to get him seen. Also, remember that you can always call 911 and have him taken to the ER.
That's what I would be doing in this situation.
If it were me, I would make sure he gets seen by a doctor one way or another.