"Emergency department missed diagnosis"

My adult child presented to the RPH emergency Department the other night following a 10 day history of an upper respiratory tract infection as they were finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. My child was triaged to a Covid-19 waiting area.

I live in QLD, and my child communicated their fear over the phone that they were getting worse yet they felt nobody would come near them - this went on for approx 4 hours and my child rang me at 0400 QLD time, very afraid, worried and exhausted.

I am a senior ICU/ED nurse in QLD and I called the ED department nursing shift co-ordinator to express my concerns as my child sounded very sick and I was extremely concerned about their symptoms. I recall the shift co-ordinator informed me that my child’s observations were normal and all my child wanted was an inhaler (which my child would have to wait as they needed a doctor for the script and they were busy). My child was so exhausted that they self discharged as there was no end in sight as to when they would be treated and so would rather be resting at home.

My child has since been diagnosed with a mycoplasma pneumonia by their GP, this was completely missed by the staff of the Royal Perth ED. I question how my child’s observations were normal when they were having consistent coughing fits and I could hear my child’s increased WOB and elevated RR – I believe it was not normal.

I understand the busy nature of the ED but it seems to me a few red flags were missed here. In my opinion, there was no way that my child’s RR was normal- I would like to see the chart - I suspect it’s the classic '18'. Also, when a family member calls and uses language like, I am calling as I am extremely concerned about my child, I believe they should be listened to - not fobbed off. In hindsight, I should have escalated it further, but that’s pretty hard to do from a bedroom in QLD.