Medication

It is so important to ask what medications a patient is getting.
Today, I noticed that the nurse replaced Michael's Fentanyl patch. I asked how many mcg is the patch for? She replied 100 mcg. I said that the doctor told me yesterday that Michael will continue his wean from this sedative and would get a new patch at 50 mcg. Why did he get this high dosage? She didn't know. Immediately I went to the doctor, (his desk is right outside Michael's door) and asked about the dosage. The doctor said that Michael's patch wasn't supposed to be changed until tomorrow and it should be 50 mcg. I said fine, but it was changed today and is 100 mcg. He was confused and said he would look into what happened. He came back to me and said that it was a computer error and tomorrow the patch would be replaced with the correct dosage.
Michael is sleeping a great deal. The nurse agreed that Michael is over sedated. Hopefully he will not have any trouble weaning from this drug and will continue to improve.
I also noticed that Michael's peripheral line dressing hasn't been changed since he arrived. The nurse thanked me for being observant and said the dressing would be changed.

Michael had a good morning. He was changed back to a Trach collar on 40% O2. He tolerated OT and PT well (his sats stayed in the 90s). If he continues to do well they will keep him on the Trach collar over night.

PT and OT came and he was able to sit for 4 minutes! Then he continued his arm and leg exercises lying down. He was able to participate by moving his limbs. He is much stronger than yesterday. He is still very weak and needed quite a bit of help to move his limbs, but he could move!