TOPIC:

wrote:

Long waits in ED are sadly universal and always been prevalent within my ED working experience....so many contributing factors....staff shortage, staff fatigue, frequent flyers and a high number of  non ED presentations clogging the ED.....increase in Mental Health related presentations due to lack of funding resulting in reduced community support / services available and over worked/ under staffed Mental Health Crisis teams resulting in patients slipping through the cracks. 

Spent many an ED  shift dealing with a resus....or many a resus, as well as some aggressive, agitated drug fuelled punter causing mayhem....or an overdose, self harm individual as well as everyday folk with their week or  month old issues, seeking a resolvement then and there.

Be interested to know how many of those Ambulance presentations are actual ED presentations, in my experience many folk think arriving in an ambulance fast tracks them....simply doesnt.....also whose to say the Triage staff are experienced at this role....making poor triage calls.....with plenty of experienced folk leaving due to monetary, fatigue, simply had a guts full reasons, the staff replacing them aren't as experienced, merely management filling a number quota, irrespective of skill mix

So many contributing factors to why such sad events happen....terrible for the individual and family, but how many successful resuscitations make front page news?....you aren't going to save all, but pretty sure more patients are saved then lost in many an ED around the world....nothing new sadly......too many chiefs and not enough Indians in the health sector....too many layers of middle management getting well paid for doing fark all......nothing has changed in the 30 years of my working in the health sector....Aust, UK, U.S. or NZ....

Think Grump had hit the nail on the head with his post.....

It’s great to have all that perspective Freezin but I’m sure even you agree there is no excuse not to take  the girls temperature and pulse and check it at certain intervals. None of which happened in this case. Other retired nurses have phoned into radio and said this is the most basic procedure that any child presented to an ED department should receive, no excuses. Had it of happened it probably would have saved this little girls life. 

I’ve been lucky I haven’t had need to visit an ED for anything life threatening or for anyone close to me but I do recall having my pulse and temperature taken through the window when I first arrive. I guess that is the triage nurse in that instance. 

I really feel for this family, being Indian immigrants they possibly felt they needed to be polite and wait like they were told to do. I believe it wasn’t until another patient approached the ED and insist this girl needs emergency treatment. Then they acted but unfortunately the little girls body was shutting down and it was too little too late.

DD I am not excusing the plight of the girl or family but pointing out that perhaps, just perhaps if the weren't overworked with people who really did not need to be there then ......... .

I understand that Grump but the triage doesn't move I would have thought. He or she isn't out the back treating people. The triage nurse at the front desk job is to be the first point to assess the scale of urgency.

Heard someone on radio say this girl was assessed as a 4. I'm not sure what that means, maybe Freezin can explain, but I'm going to have a guess and say 1 is critical, 2 is serious, 3 is immediate, 4 is non urgent, perhaps? But she was assessed as non urgent WITHOUT anyone taking her temperature and pulse.

DD,  yeah mate the Triage assessment codes work from 1 - 5,   with  1  being immediate medical assistance, 2 - 10 minute wait, 3 - 30 minute wait, 4  - 60 min wait and 5 for how ever long it takes...

Yep recording patients  temp, pulse, oxygen saturation are basic assessment requirements....especially in paediatric patients....though kids can be smiling, running around with a temp of 38.5 plus, where an adult would look and feel like shite.....obviously can't comment on what the Triage nurse did or didn't do...poor show if not done....kids can deteriorate very fast though, so doesn't surprise me if the kid went downhill from zero to hundred in that 2 hour time span.....which obviously happened to this child.....
 

When Cook said something like the health system is in exciting times, thats when i said you gotta go you lazy prick.

wrote:

DD,  yeah mate the Triage assessment codes work from 1 - 5,   with  1  being immediate medical assistance, 2 - 10 minute wait, 3 - 30 minute wait, 4  - 60 min wait and 5 for how ever long it takes...

Yep recording patients  temp, pulse, oxygen saturation are basic assessment requirements....especially in paediatric patients....though kids can be smiling, running around with a temp of 38.5 plus, where an adult would look and feel like shite.....obviously can't comment on what the Triage nurse did or didn't do...poor show if not done....kids can deteriorate very fast though, so doesn't surprise me if the kid went downhill from zero to hundred in that 2 hour time span.....which obviously happened to this child.....


 

Here is a detailed report on what happened Freezin. One can only assume the nurses on roster that night were under the pump and mistakes were made. Both have been given leave and removed from their posts.

www.perthnow.com.au/news/wa/explosive-re...tails-ng-b881874662z

 

wrote:

When Cook said something like the health system is in exciting times, thats when i said you gotta go you lazy prick.

Those comments were unforgivable Winger and showed a complete lack of compassion and empathy and signifies a minister who is out of touch. But hey he has the backing of the Labor Party filth so that’s all that matters.

Gee not a good read at all, I wonder if the senior  Dr the family approached during their wait was stood down too for ignoring the parents concerns?....probably not, considering the review panel was a medical one....if the child presented as described, then all clinical staff n sundry who "assessed" the child should be stood down.....but looks like a certain few will be thrown under the bus.....people wait in ED to see the Dr not the nurse, every patient is seen by the nurse within 10 minutes of arriving....

Yes I get it the Triage is crucial in dictating when a patient gets to see the Dr, but too often the nursing staff are the patients easy vent for frustration at waiting....if the kid is as sick as that report says, then they should of been in resus pronto, floppy is a sure sign of deterioration in a child, so either the nursing staff are severely incompetent, under trained, out of their depth, or the whole story ain't being told here.....

This is going to open a flood of concerned parents presenting to ED, demanding their child be seen here and now,  hope the powers above provide the staff, experienced staff, not just staff, to cater for these changes.....hopefully the managers are looked at too in concerns to safe staffing.....probably not, too easy to let the coal face worker take the bullet...

Nearly 1500 have signed the petition seeking Cook's resignation. Here's the link for anyone who's interested.

www.change.org/p/premier-of-western-aust...t-29129523-en-au%3A0

Take a stick of dynomite to get him out.