I had a patient who had chronic pain. He was given fentanyl patches for pain. The instructions were apply a new patch every 24 hours to the skin. He nodded and smiled, thus concluding his appointment.
About 2 days later, the same gentleman returns with weakness and delirium and in fact, had over 6 patches over his body. Now do you wonder why the instructions include a “remove old patch before applying new one” clause?
