"Exceptional Service in the Emergency Department TTH"

My little child struggles with asthma from time to time. Most often it is bought on by a throat infection or cold. Being a registered nurse myself, I won't waste the Emergency Deartment's time if it is something that I can treat myself and my next step if needed is seeing the GP.

We are generally blessed when my child is sick, they’re a trouper, sleeps through and rarely wakes. Though sometimes things get bad and it doesn't matter how much of a medical back ground you have, when you are presented with an inconsolable sick child, you always feel so helpless. Well I do anyway. After a very long night, I made a GP appointment at 5am for 11am through the wonders of an app that is linked to my GP clinic. I kept tossing around the idea that we needed to go to ED but tried to manage the symptoms myself.

By 7am, I knew there was no way we would make it to 11am. The breathing was worse and the ventolin wasn't doing anything. I watched my child struggling to breathe, watched their skin suck through into the spaces between the ribs along with other signs that I knew meant it was time to go to ED.

It doesn't stop me worrying though, that maybe I am just being a precious parent. Am I reading too much into it? Am I doing the right thing? Maybe I could manage a bit longer? There is nothing better than arriving at the ED triage desk and having the nurse tell you that you made the right decision. What a wonderful team we had!! From the triage nurse who, once she got our history, had us taken straight through to a bed, to the rest of the team. We barely got my child in bed and they were treated. We saw 2 doctors and 3 nurses in less than 5 minutes and one doctor came to check on my child’s progress every 10 minutes through the initial phase of the treatment.

Everyone was amazing. We felt so comfortable with the treatment, the team left us with no questions to ask, they covered everything so concisely. We even learnt a new plan for managing the asthma at home in an emergency.

The team were exceptional. I am proud to say I work for this same hospital and am proud to tell my story of our experience from the other side.