Kristina Golub

Review of Pediatric Emergency Medicine A...

My 5 day old had to come in for high bilirubin. Th...

My 5 day old had to come in for high bilirubin. They did a fine job of seeing us promptly and even put us in a separate waiting area from the rest of those in the ER waiting room because she was so young. The intake doctor was very nice and upbeat which made this terrible and exhausting experience a little more pleasant. Baby had to get an IV which was traumatizing for all of us. 2 nurses poked my 5-day old 12 times and we finally asked the 2 non-IV nurses to stop. At that point they mentioned the IV nurse - we wished they would have gotten her from the very beginning. The IV nurse was professional and very experienced and was able to put an IV in a dehydrated 5-day old's vein in 2 tries.

They took us up to the in-patient room, and as we walked by the triage/ER nurses station, one mocked us and the other laughed. That felt unprofessional, that would never have happened at a top-notch medical facility focused on positive patient interactions (e.g., MD anderson). Once up in the in-patient room, they did blue light therapy with a blanket on her back and lights from above. It was not a fun experience for anyone but the nurses were AMAZING and so caring once we got to the in-patient room. One weird item is that the intake doctor told us the nurses at in-patient would available to feed and change the diaper and take care of the baby for the entire time we were in the hospital. However, once we got upstairs, the nurses told us that the intake Dr is mistaken, and that this is not possible as they do not (and never will) have enough nurses for this. So, after 2 days of labor, 3 days for hospital visit #1, 1 day at home, and now on hospital visit #2, we had to stay up and feed/change our newborn every 2 hours for an undetermined amount of time (it ended up being 14 hours). We were wrecked.

Unfortunately, I had a mental breakdown while I was there and I was confronted with the fact that, as an adult, I could not receive treatment while at a pediatric hospital. This is a huge issue - how am I, as the mother of a newborn, supposed to feed my infant every 2 hours, learn how to pump breastmilk, get enough sleep to be able to drive home safely, and get medical attention at a different facility? My brain explodes thinking about this experience that almost broke me. Anywho, I'm hoping this review makes it's way to administrative staff at CHOA so they can improve the patient's and the patient's caretakers experience.