bethann kelly

Review of Lancaster General

My mother's level of care in the hospital was very...

My mother's level of care in the hospital was very good; however after care upon discharge was sorely lacking. She was put on diabetes medication that she never took before and we were sent home with a paper telling us what symptoms to look for if her sugar drops low and some things to give her to bring it up and basically that was it. She has never checked her glucose levels before and has no experience doing so. She lives with me and I have never checked glucose levels before and have absolutely no experience with diabetes monitoring or proper nutrition for a diabetic. She is 87 years old and I feel completely helpless right now. We are two weeks home and floundering. They left it up to her family physician to write the prescription for diabetes counseling and testing supplies which should have been completed in my opinion before she was discharged and we should have been instructed on how to use the testing supplies properly and how to effectively monitor her glucose levels. She is experiencing symptoms that we have no idea are being caused by the medication, the diabetes or something else. I have called her family physician so many times and they are trying to help us manage things but we cannot get in for diabetes education for another week yet. She also suffered a small stroke which is why she was admitted to begin with. This is unacceptable and both of us are stressed out and unsure. Her family physician has been trying to coordinate things on her behalf but I definitely feel this should have been handled much better. It definitely was not in the best interest of my mother as the patient or myself as her caregiver. We were definitely not properly prepared to address these issues when we were discharged.