If you were working triage and saw that the chief complaint for a 3 y.o. was "sternal retractions" AND you could hear the child wheezing 2 feet from the triage desk, would you just put his triage slip in the back of your stack and make him "wait his turn"?
Honest to God, this happened to me last night! I came home from work, looked at my 3y.o. on the couch and his entire chest wall was just sinking in with every breath. So, off we went to the ER. I signed him in and let the triage nurse finish w/the patient already in triage. She then proceeded to look at my triage slip and call the name on the top of her stack. I did speak up and tell her that she needed to assess my son now. She then looked at the lady's name who she had called as if she were asking for permission!
It's a good thing I was pushy, too. His O2 sat wouldn't come above 91 in triage and dropped to 86 while we were waiting on the RT to bring a Duoneb down.
It's not like we're a HUGE town, either. We're good sized; big enough to have 2 ER's and one urgent care clinic but not to the point where the ER is filled to capacity on a regular basis. There were only 4 or 5 people in the waiting room last night.
Everyone has to have a first day in triage. Kind of like when you are starting an IV and the pt wants to know if you're any good. When I am helping nursing students I say "this is her first one!" I mean, honestly, someone has to go first, right?? Anyway, who know what is going on with other pts or what was documented as the other pt's complaint. We don't get any pts with medical knowledge so if I saw something like sternal retractions it would make me roll my eyes. I probably wouldn't take it seriously because when our pts attempt to use medical terminology they are always waaaay off base. Some people can be very dramatic without just cause. Next time, just say diff breathing or something. Usually having a parent announce loudly, "My baby is blue and not breathing!" works too. Of course I prefer it when they don't wait until the child is blue.....
ThrowEdNurse, BSN, RN
298 Posts
Everyone has to have a first day in triage. Kind of like when you are starting an IV and the pt wants to know if you're any good. When I am helping nursing students I say "this is her first one!" I mean, honestly, someone has to go first, right?? Anyway, who know what is going on with other pts or what was documented as the other pt's complaint. We don't get any pts with medical knowledge so if I saw something like sternal retractions it would make me roll my eyes. I probably wouldn't take it seriously because when our pts attempt to use medical terminology they are always waaaay off base. Some people can be very dramatic without just cause. Next time, just say diff breathing or something. Usually having a parent announce loudly, "My baby is blue and not breathing!" works too. Of course I prefer it when they don't wait until the child is blue.....