Ordering eye drops for someone in a nursing home

Before ordering eye drops for someone in a nursing home, call the facility. Many nursing homes manage residents’ medicines themselves, including over-the-counter drops, and may need a doctor’s order before staff can give them. Once the nurse says yes, address the package with the resident’s full name, the facility name, the street address and the room number, and tell staff it’s coming.

Step one: ask the nurse or the facility’s pharmacy contact

Nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities and many assisted living communities keep a record of every medicine a resident uses, and nurses or medication aides give those medicines on a schedule. An eye drop that arrives in the mail and sits on a nightstand doesn’t fit that system. Facilities differ, so a short phone call answers the questions that matter:

• Can family members supply over-the-counter eye drops, or does everything come through the facility’s pharmacy?
• Does the resident’s doctor need to write an order before staff can use it?
• Who should the package be addressed to, and does it go to the front desk, the nurses’ station or the mailroom?
• Is the resident allowed to keep and use drops on their own, or will staff give them?
• Will the facility’s pharmacist want to review it alongside the resident’s other eye medicines?

Ask for the name of the nurse you spoke with, and write down what they said. If the answer is that drops must come through the facility’s own pharmacy, ordering online won’t help, and that’s worth knowing before you spend anything.

How to address the package

Facility mail goes through a front desk or a mailroom before it reaches a resident, so the address needs to make sorting easy. At checkout, use this pattern:

• Name: the resident’s full legal name, as the facility knows it, not a nickname.
• Company or address line 1: the facility’s name.
• Address line 1 or 2: the street address, then “Room” and the room number, or the wing and room.
• City, state and ZIP for the facility, exactly as the facility gives it.
• Phone: your number, so you’re the one contacted if there’s a delivery question.

Quell ships only to US addresses, and every package needs a complete street address. Getting the shipping address right covers the fields in more detail. Your email goes on the order, so the confirmation and shipping messages come to you, not to the resident.

Ordering as a family member

You don’t need an account; guest checkout works, and you must be 18 or older to buy. Shipping is $10.00 per order and free at 3 or more bottles. No delivery date is promised, so order well before the resident’s current bottle runs out, particularly around the holidays when facility mailrooms get busy. Quell isn’t a subscription. You’ll get one reminder email about reordering, and nothing is charged again unless you place a new order. Ordering eye drops for someone else has more on buying for another adult.

What staff should know about this drop

Whoever handles the drops will read the label, but a few points are worth passing on when you call:

• The label’s caution: Caution should be used in those with egg or bird allergies — For use in the eyes only. If the resident has ever reacted to eggs or birds, tell the nurse before the bottle arrives, since the formula includes emu oil.
• The directions: Apply 1 drop 3 times per day in each eye.
• How it looks. The eye drops have a naturally milky-brown appearance. This is normal and does not indicate a problem with the product. Staff who expect a clear drop may otherwise think something’s wrong.
• Storage: Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). A sunny windowsill or a bedside spot near a radiator can run hotter than that.
• The label’s handling rule: Do not touch tip of bottle to any surface to avoid contamination.

Quell’s label doesn’t give directions for use alongside other eye drops or ointments. Residents often have several eye medicines, so the timing and order belong to the resident’s doctor, the facility nurse or the consulting pharmacist. The same goes for anyone who wears contact lenses, which the label doesn’t cover.

Labeling the bottle for a shared environment

In a facility, medicines get mixed up easily, and bottles look alike. If staff allow it, write the resident’s name on the outer carton, not on the bottle tip or cap. The facility may add its own label. Keep the carton, since the Drug Facts panel is printed on it and staff may want to refer to it. Residents who share a room should never share a bottle.

When it arrives

Call the facility a day or two after tracking shows the package delivered, and confirm it reached the right person. If it went to the mailroom, it may take time to be sorted. Ask staff to check that the tamper seal is intact. If the package arrives damaged, the wrong item comes, or the seal is broken, the order is replaced; contact Quell at 615.465.6041, M–F 9AM–5PM CST. Unopened bottles can be refunded within 30 days of delivery without being sent back.

Watching for changes

Residents don’t always mention discomfort, so family visits are a good time to notice it. If the resident complains of eye pain, has trouble seeing, or their eyes look more irritated, tell the nurse. The label sets the limit clearly: Stop use and ask a doctor if you feel eye pain or changes in your vision, if irritation or redness continues, or if the condition worsens or persists for 72 hours.. Eye drops for older adults has more on helping someone use drops comfortably.