Everything That You Need To Be Prepared For If You Have To Take A Sick Child To The Hospital

We say god forbid, but here are the mundane things that a parent should know about if they ever need to take a sick child to the hospital or ER.

‘Being prepared…’ I think most of first time parents like me will relate to this phrase.

Having worked in the IT industry for more than a decade this phrase comes so naturally to us in our professional life. I wish we all would think in similar ways when it comes to being prepared in our personal lives.

While taking your child to ER the first and only thought in your mind is to get the medical help and attention for the child ASAP. We often do not consider the fact that sometimes we will end up spending hours in the ER room before the ER doctors can come to a conclusion of admitting your child to the hospital and assigning her a room.

Below are few things which come handy while waiting for the initial diagnosis

1. Clean feeding bottles – 5/6

2. Instant feeding option like Pediasure

3. Child’s favorite biscuits/snacks

   

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4. Extra pair of clothes for the child

5. Diapers – 5/6

6. Thermometer

7. Child’s comfort blanket or soft toy (something that the child usually takes while sleeping)

8. Pacifier (if a child uses one already)

9. Extra blanket to wrap the child in case they change her into a hospital gown

10. Cell phone charger

11. Insurance card

If admission is required

Once the initial diagnosis is done and if the child gets admitted to the room, request to get a room which is not being shared by another patient. Especially important if the root cause of the child’s sickness is still unknown.

Getting admitted to a room starts a series of multiple tests until the root cause is identified and a treatment plan is put in place. It is very important to have patience and support in this difficult time.

As most hospitals only allow one parent to stay at night it is best for partners to take turns to rest at home. At the end of the day as parents we need to be healthy and able to take care of the child in these stressful moments. Support from friends, colleagues and family plays an equal important role.

Know the urgent care facilities in your area

Coming back to my recent experience what I also realized that parents should be aware of urgent care facilities available in their area. These are centers where one can take a patient for first diagnosis especially if after regular pediatric hours.

One such example is AM/PM Pediatrics. I have not had the chance to use them yet but quoting it here because based on what I have read about them online this is one of the after-hours pediatric facility available for parents. Having a relationship with one of such facility can save you an ER trip.

Another thing which parents should be prepared about is which hospital ER to go to in case a need arises for the same. Both partners should have an agreed upon name in mind to avoid any unnecessary arguments on the day.

Factors to consider while making this choice

1. Is the hospital considered an in-network hospital by your medical insurance?

2. The distance of the hospital from your home

3. Is the hospital easily accessible by public transportation?

4. Finding out about the hospital’s patient transfer policy

5. Reading up online reviews about the hospital and it’s staff

6. Find out the hospital affiliations if situation to transfer your child to some other hospital arises

7. Find out hospitals to which your child’s regular pediatrician is affiliated to or works or visits in the week.

In case a transfer is necessary

When my daughter was admitted we were at a stage where the doctors were not able to detect the root cause for three days and it was at a point where we couldn’t bear to see her continue to struggle with high grade fever. We then decided to transfer her to another hospital.

This was the time when we realized that transfer of patient to another hospital is only possible amicably if the treating doctor himself decides to transfer acknowledging that current hospital cannot improve the patient’s condition further.

As a parent if you are not happy with the treatment your child is receiving then to transfer her you really have only two choices both of which are absurd:

• You can take discharge from the hospital against the doctor’s wishes by signing legal documents accepting the risk. I wonder what child services/judiciary would do if parents take this route and god forbid something happens to the child. As a result in my opinion this option is not even an option.
• You speak with the doctor to whom you want to transfer the child and make him agree to accept the transfer. You then work with insurance and the two hospitals administration departments (the one transferring and the one accepting the patient), child care services representatives to ensure all the required paper work and approvals are in place for the transfer. This is also not so much of an option because even if you manage to do all this, the insurance process to actually send an ambulance to transfer the patient may take up to 30 business days if it is not a life death situation.

Having gone through firsthand experience of option #2, I can vouch for how extremely difficult this task was especially at a time when all I wanted to do was to hold my baby and comfort her.

Disclaimer: I do not know how this really works in India, though I’m sure it might not be that different.

I must though say that in this process I was highly impressed with Boston Children’s Hospital and especially Dr. Stuart Bauer who without even knowing us returned my call the same day and even accepted to take my daughter as his patient.

Fortunately for us though on fourth day of our hospital stay the doctors were able to figure out the problem and the antibiotics started working and we did not have to go through the actual transfer.

It’s been four months since this incident and my daughter is doing better.

I hope this post gives all first time parents some pointers to prepare to tackle such incidents more effectively.

Image source: children’s doctor’s bag by pixabay.

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