what do u think?.........

[cybernurse81]

i was at work recently and we were all rushed off our feet, i was in charge of the shift and busy dealing with relatives a junior nurse answered the phone and took details of a patient that had come into A+E department with abdominal pain. when i had finished in the qiuet room with these relatives i came out to discover the the patient with abdominal pain was at the nurses station waiting to be allocated a bed, the nurse from A+E was with her. i showed her, a bed and required some analgesia, she appeared to be in alot of pain, and very tearful asking for her mum to be present, she seemed frightened and a little young for her age, which i found out (after settling the patient) was 16 (just) and she had be admitted to adult surgery. I questioned the nurse on why she had bought her up her, and she replied "they don't have many beds left on peads, and i know she is only just 16, but she is sexually active, and we thought she would be better up here" i was speechless, it turns out the young girl in question turned out to be really hard work, demanding her mum be present all the time, she was frightened by the old dear who kept urinating on the floor next to her, and the little old lady who was across from her who turned slightly crazy during the night, fell really ill, and deteriorated very quickly before this young girls eyes. It was difficult and it took 3 days before she was transfered to peads where mums are allowed to be around most of the time. What do u all think to this, it still puzzles me! cheers x

[GingerSue]

it must have been frightening for the young girl

to be around the older ones and their circumstances and behaviour

maybe peds had a different atmosphere for her

[jmgrn65, RN]

what does her being sexually active have anything to do with it? why would that make her more comfortable around adults? Here if we have anyone under 18 they must be in a private room and then of course the parent can stay with them all the time.

[cybernurse81]

i agree, but in the hospital i work at in england we have very few private rooms, on my ward we have 36 beds, 4 being private, and they are filled with MRSA, or the big one over here at the moment is C-diff,

[JennieO]

I worked peds 15 years ago and I had a nurse manager say it was okay for a 15 year olds bf to sleep in the bed with her on the pediatric ward since she was pregnant anyway. We also had to be careful about answering her personal calls, since the NM's husband and BF were both named "Bob."