Parent of a patient on the "other" side

Published Jan 8, 2017

3,308 Posts

Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

My son was admitted to the PICU this weekend with severe DKA and high WBC. (BG 950+, pH 6.8 and WBC >40).

ED was great, PICU, not so much. I am embarrassed that this is the hospital I work for. I would NEVER treat a patient or family the way we were treated. I am so very grateful for the care my child received-he is alive. I am appalled at the way we were treated: not one person introduced themself, I had no idea who the attending physician was. I think this is last place on earth with a double room. Had to share it with another child that was on contact/droplet precautions. How is that even safe????? Took them 4 hours to get my poor child some Jello. He hadn't eaten in 3 days. There was no bathroom that I could use. I ended up going to the floor I worked on to use it. Was not offered a blanket, a glass of water. Nothing. So discouraged.

He is now on a ped med/surg floor and we feel much more welcome. It is hard enough to go through a critical illness with your own child, and to add insult to injury, being made to feel like crap made me want to cry.

Just wanted to vent a little and remind everyone, that just because the parent of a child you are caring for is a nurse, does not mean they are not scared, and don't assume they know what you are doing/talking about. Hug your babies tonight :)