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Emergency Department Ring for Service

Posted By forabetterservice

"Emergency Department Ring for Service"

About: Broome Health Campus / Emergency Department

(as a parent/guardian),

I brought my child in to the Emergency Department at Broome Hospital and was shocked that there was no triage nurse in attendance. Instead, I needed to use the bell. What bothered me most is the time it took for the nurse to present at the desk (around 3-4 minutes) to triage my child. Although my child's condition wasn't urgent, a number of presentations to ED usually are.

For a large hospital (regional one anyway) with an active emergency department, I believe not having a triage nurse available within a few seconds isn't safe. The fact that someone went to the effort to install a call bell in the first place would indicate to me that the nurse is often not at his/her post.

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Responses

Response from Wendy McKinley, Operations Manager, Broome Hospital 3 years ago
Wendy McKinley
Operations Manager,
Broome Hospital

Submitted on 26/01/2021 at 8:30 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 27/01/2021 at 9:49 AM

Dear forabetterservice,

Thank you for taking the time to let us know about your experience at Broome Hospital. Your feedback is valuable as it gives us the opportunity to address concerns and to improve our services.

I agree that the triage area should not be left unattended. There are occasions where nursing staff are called away to assist with an emergency, however, in that event, the ED Clerk should be in attendance, and they should be able to call for assistance if needed.

We had recognised that this was an issue recently and just within the last few weeks we introduced a change where medical records are delivered to ED, rather than being retrieved by the Clerk, so that we can ensure there is a continued presence in the triage area.

The call bell is there as a backup and we certainly should not be relying on it to get the attention of a triage nurse.

I will provide your feedback to the Coordinator of Nursing and Midwifery and the Administration Coordinator to ensure that the expectation is made clear to all staff and to check that the change to medical records has been embedded.

If you would like to speak with me further on this matter, I would be very happy to hear from you. I am contactable on 0417 987 724 or you can email me at wendy.mckinley@health.wa.gov.au.

Thank you, again.

Sincerely,

Wendy McKinley

Operations Manager

Broome Health Campus

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