"My child's treatment at the hospital"

My child attended at the Fiona Stanley A&E Dept recently one evening with an asthmatic type response to a viral infection.

Myself and my spouse were very concerned about our child's condition as they were becoming upset and labouring to breathe.

The A&E was well signposted and easy to find with parking at the front door of the A&E. the A&E departments were separated for children and adults. 

Good parking and separating patients by their age shows that someone has actually thought about patient care first and budgets second which was a pleasant surprise. 

The reception area was clean and nicely decorated. The nurse who was on reception saw my child immediately, assessed them in minutes and took them straight through to the A&E department. I believe that having a nurse on reception who can immediately triage patients, particularly children is an excellent aspect of patient care.

I was left at reception to complete the clerking while my child commenced their treatment. I felt this was common sense.

Once within A&E my child was treated by several nurses and doctors, all with excellent inter-personal skills and bedside manner. While every staff member was excellent the female doctor who initially treated my child was particularly good at putting my child at ease in an unfamiliar environment.

The A&E itself was clean in my opinion, with what appeared to be excellent facilities.

My child was treated with oral steroids and their puffer using a documented protocol which was effective and they were moved to short stay for further observations.

The short stay room was again, clean and modern in my opinion and we were shown how to work the TV and offered food. The staff were attentive and the level of care was excellent with regular checks on my child.

I had cause to use the vending machine in the adult A&E and I felt it was like A&E’s anywhere on a weeknight. I noticed that there were several security staff in the area which is an effective and reassuring measure.

Eventually, about midnight, myself and my spouse decided my child was well enough to take home. The Doctor suggested they would prefer to continue observations but as we have often managed similar situations at home we were satisfied our child was well enough to manage at home and we self-discharged against medical advice. While we did not follow the medical advice we very much appreciated the concern shown by medical staff and the efforts they went to. We had a sensible conversation about the situation with the Doctor, Michael, and he explained his position well.

When we left we were given a document which provides clear advice on how many puffs of inhaler to administer in various situations which we have adopted to improve our management of our child's condition. The document is an excellent idea to provide clear information and giving care in sometimes worrying situations.

My child was fine overnight and has continued to recover.

I have decided to let you know about our experience at the hospital as it is our first time at a hospital in WA. It was a positive experience in difficult circumstances and would like to pass on our thanks to the management and staff at the hospital.