Thoughts about childcare during procedures

[Energizer Bunny]

I have been thinking of this for a long time now. Some of you may actually have some sort of system set up in your hospitals since you are in bigger cities, etc. What would you think of this idea or does your hosptial already have something similar?

When going for a procedure (ex. my u/s with my third child) I sometimes have to drag the other two kiddos with me. This can become very inconvenient for everyone involved, including whoever is actually doing the test or procedure. I think that volunteers could be utilized in this instance and they could set up a playroom of sorts for children to go to for the duration of whatever I am having done, whether is be a blood draw or an x-ray or an MRI. What do you think?

[Saved_by_Grace]

I understand completely Kim. I have 3 kids too and dh works some odd hours sometimes so there are times when I have to take them all with me. I was just wondering though a lot of Gyms have childcare onsite to where you can pay like a couple of bucks ( I don't know how much it is) but anyway a small fee to leave your kids with someone qualified to watch them while you workout. Why couldn't that work in other areas such as large hospitals?? Also community colleges have early childhood development programs, as part of the students training they could rotate at so called clinicals such as nurses do in their training by volunteering at hospital daycares. Maybe that's way too easy but it's just a thought that I had. I know there are liability issues so please don't anyone get mad. I know the idea is a stretch but a girl can dream , right? lol

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

My local hospital has bored volunteers that seem to have nothing to do. Picture three elderly women sitting at the desk twiddling their thumbs most of the day. Even if one of these volunteers could go with the patient during their test (how long does it take to draw blood anyways?) just to keep an eye on the little ones so they aren't grabbing anything they shouldn't be.

Why don't you ask those bored elderly women about sitting for you?

I can imagine that these "elderly" women were raised at a time when hands got smacked that were "grabbing what they shouldn't" and that any child over the age of 3 that couldn't stay still long enough for Mommy to get a blood draw done (after all how long does it take???) would probably get a swat or two on the fanny. I know that my niece was taught to behave, during my chemo. And me/my sister knew that there would be heck to pay if we misbehaved in place as dangerous as a hospital.

If you think we are sarcastic, wait till one of those "volunteers" tell you what they think of children that cannot/will not behave in the hospital (I've heard them, believe me). It's not pretty and can get downright insulting.

If you think that it is that important (since "we are all nurses and know the need'), YOU START an agency to do that. There is no reason that you can't. After all, you know of this great problem, who better to deal with fixing it?

[Energizer Bunny]

I still don't understand why people seem to be getting nasty about this issue. All I am doing is asking simple, innocent questions. If you don't have children, firstly, it is hard to understand. Secondly, I have stated that I have tried to find childcare and that most of my reasoning is to make things easier on staff at the hospital. I am not saying that I am taking the kids there to play while I visit friends or while I myself am in the hospital. I asked an innocent question and if I misperceived the sarcasm, I am sorry, but why not try to have a little compassion for those of us trying to make things easier on YOU!!!

Deb...no, no hard feelings of course.

[Energizer Bunny]

And another question....just what would you suggest I do in my situation (or someone like me) that knows no one and has no backup family? At a moment's notice, what would I do? Right now, we are at the point that dh is trying to move his schedule around constantly so that we can take kids to appointments and we can get to ours. It will be a different story in the fall when the kids are in campus childcare but I still am unable to leave them there longer than a half hour before or after my first and last classes, so I will have to then skip class to go to an appointment if I don't want to take them with me.

[Energizer Bunny]

I understand completely Kim. I have 3 kids too and dh works some odd hours sometimes so there are times when I have to take them all with me. I was just wondering though a lot of Gyms have childcare onsite to where you can pay like a couple of bucks ( I don't know how much it is) but anyway a small fee to leave your kids with someone qualified to watch them while you workout. Why couldn't that work in other areas such as large hospitals?? Also community colleges have early childhood development programs, as part of the students training they could rotate at so called clinicals such as nurses do in their training by volunteering at hospital daycares. Maybe that's way too easy but it's just a thought that I had. I know there are liability issues so please don't anyone get mad. I know the idea is a stretch but a girl can dream , right? lol

Hmmm...wondering.....why would it be okay for a gym and not for the hospital? Honestly, I would be willing to pay for the childcare too as long as it was reasonable. It would actually be a good business venture for someone to set something up that lived right next to a hospital and do childcare during appointments, procedures, visiting hours, etc. Too bad I don't live near ours.

[IMustBeCrazy]

Ignore the trolls, CNM. Remember our 'therapeutic communication' assignments? Seems some have forgotten about theirs.

Peace.

[MaryPush]

Rude? Sarcastic? Nasty? Methinks someone is pretty thin-skinned....

[Nurse Ratched, RN]

I would like to remind everyone that written communication has the drawback of not seeing one's non-verbal communication. If those who posted what are perceived as "rude, unsympathetic" comments are saying that is *not* how they intended them, please take them at their word.

As for the original poster's question, while it might be nice, I don't see a hospital ever providing that type of service due to liability issues. If someone comes in for a scope and it goes badly, for example, what does the facility do with the child? I remember being in situations at my last facility where a single mother would try and keep her child in the hospital with her while she was in for an admission. There HAS to be another way.

[SmilingBluEyes]

We had a situation like that. Lady went into ER with vague complaints of

"abdominal pain". Well, she had in tow her 18 mo old toddler and no one else. You can guess the rest; she had an ectopic pregnancy brewing and had to have emergency surgery and what of the todder? Can you believe,the house supervisor sent her up to US to watch? I told the charge nurse, REFUSE! If something happens, we are liable! But she did it, took the child into our waiting room and played with her. Chips were down and there was NO one to watch the baby; ER was packed and goodness knows, "you can't put that responsiblity on security or ER nurses"....but it was ok to do it to US on OB. I did write an occurence report on this, outlining my protest and specifically why.

When the patient came to our floor post-op, all we could do was stick the child in mom's room with her, cartoons on, while we waited an hour and half for a neighbor to come and pick up the poor confused and scared child. Mom, obviously, was indisposed. Yes, it would have been nice if the lady had a backup for a situation like this, but they don't always.

And ,it was not that I did not feel for that mom and her situation. I did. It is because of things like this, I see CNM's point of view SO clearly. There SHOULD be a way, a back-up, for a situation like this. It was a really bad thing, taking a nurse from her assignment on the floor to watch this child and if anything had gone wrong then what? Who would be held liable? WE know the answer to that......

The mom was in a tight spot and so were we. I could not tell my charge nurse what she had to do, so I just wrote it up and made the manager aware. No absolute promises were made it would not happen again (it's such a rare event).

So, like I said, I can see where CNM is coming from. But the hospitals are not likely to accomodate, sadly. It's a bad deal all around when kids come to the hospital with sick or injured parents and no one to care for them. Bad for all involved.

[lisamc1RN, LPN]

I apologize if my words seemed rude. I truly didn't intend them to be. I still think that it wouldn't work in a hospital setting. I like the idea of a daycare that deals with parents who go to the hospital though. A daycare that is willing to take drop-ins from the hospital and was close by sounds like a wonderful idea! A good question to answer, though, would be, what if the procedure turns into something that is a bigger deal? I suppose that could be covered at the daycare...if x happens, then call y person to pick up children, or something along those lines. :) It is a workable situation, I think. The difficult part might be convincing someone to take on such a project. It might be very difficult to decide how many people to staff for the day. There are laws about worker/child ratios that would have to be met. It's not undoable, and someone with their thinking cap on could come up with some reasonable solutions, I'm sure. If I knew I was going to be going in for many procedures, I would stop by and look the daycare over and might take advantage of such a place when I couldn't find a sitter. :)

[SmilingBluEyes]

Lisa, see my above post to see "what if" and how badly we dealt with it. This is a hotbutton topic for me, obviously. (grin)

[lisamc1RN, LPN]

I just read it! Thank goodness that doesn't happen often! What a horrible situation to be in, for all involved! Sounds like you made the best of it, but it was a risky position to be in! I totally understand this being a hotbutton topic! *hugs*

Lisa, see my above post to see "what if" and how badly we dealt with it. This is a hotbutton topic for me, obviously. (grin)