Parents and newborns at triage
I’m a parent, I’ve been one a couple times over now! And, I can appreciate it’s not always easy being a parent.
Some parents bring their kids into emergency for such minor reasons though, its hard not to raise your eyebrows and think “errr…. and why are you here!?”
Some classic examples are:
- “he has a rash!” (cannot find with magnifying glass)
- “he threw up!” (once, thirty minutes ago…)
- “she’s so upset, see?” (baby smiles)
Today I saw a baby in a similar situation (and I understand, babies are really tough to assess sometimes, so don’t take my flippant attitude the wrong way!) and grandma was doing everything short of throwing the baby to show me it was unwell! She exclaims to me as I enter the room (gripping baby for dear life) “he’s just not himself, this is so out of character… and I MEAN IT!” (baby alert, interactive, smiling…..) <sigh!>
Anyway… I shouldn’t complain – newborns are tough…. good luck parents!
