"My baby's high temperature"

My baby had a temperature of 39.2 recently. They were vomiting anything we gave them (including Panadol) immediately after having it. We tried to control the temperature with Panadol and when we could finally get the Panadol to stay down, my baby’s temperature did go down and we put them to sleep.

They woke around just before midnight with a temp of 39.4, again gave Panadol & again they threw it up. We stripped them off, used wet cloths to try to cool them down and then we got some Panadol to stay down but 45 minutes later, my baby’s temp was still way up.

We decided to go to the Kalgoorlie emergency department just for some guidance on what to do.

I found the initial triage nurse was lovely and when they took my baby’s temp, it had by this point come down. I told them that we kept getting different readings with our thermometer and I felt they were lovely. I recall they told us it's always best with young babies to come in, even if it's just to get a treatment plan for the next day or so.

We then went back into the waiting room where I believe we waited nearly 3 hours (I recall there was only us and one other person in the waiting room). Now I understand they might have been busy, but it seemed to me another baby came in and went straight through. Again I do understand that maybe that baby showed worse symptoms than ours, but once they had left, I felt we waited another hour with a baby who was sick and extremely tired as it was after midnight.

When we finally went through, another staff member triaged us again and I felt was very blunt and made us feel as if we were wasting their time. At one point I said to them that we were giving my baby Panadol and it seemed to eventually control the temperature however it takes a few goes because my baby was throwing up a lot too. I asked if it was the right thing to do, to give them more Panadol after they threw it up and I recall the staff member said they’d probably switch to Nurofen at that point but that's just them, without even looking up from their paperwork. I said that normally I would, but I thought that Nurofen didn't help control a temperature, that's why I did Panadol again. It seemed to me the staff member just ignored me, then went off to see the other clinician and put us in a room.

The other clinician walks in asking the usual questions. I explained what was happening. I said my baby’s had a temp of 39.4, I recall the clinician stopped me and said did I measure that did I? Of course I did. I'm not an idiot.

I recall the clinician asked of any other symptoms; runny nose? Diarrhoea? I said yes, my baby has a runny nose and they've had diarrhoea a couple of times today. I believe the clinician said that well that really depends on what I class as diarrhoea, I felt condescendingly.

After checking my baby’s ears & throat, I recall the clinician asked so all I see is a runny nose? It seemed to me as if we made this all up. I recall the clinician then chuckled about making us try to collect a urine sample before we could leave.

We did this within a few minutes of them leaving the room so I pushed the staff assist call button and the same staff member from before came charging in and I believe was saying right, which one of you pushed the emergency button? I said that I did not push the emergency, but I did push the staff assist. I recall the staff member seemingly charged over to the buttons to see the staff assist flashing and left without saying a word.

They came back and as I understand it, said the urine is all clear and there is nothing wrong with my baby and I felt they pushed us out the door whilst I was trying to ask if we should carry on Panadol or what we should do. I believe I never really got any answers except to give my baby panadol if I thought they need it.

I felt I should have never gone in because on top of a sick baby we also had an extremely tired baby and my spouse and I both left feeling like we had our tails between our legs as if we'd done something wrong.

I understand Kalgoorlie ED is a tough place to work, and I understand some of the frustrations they deal with daily (I volunteered with the ambulance for a few years) but I don't think it is fair to seemingly paint us all with the same brush, as I felt was done. I feel we are innocent first-time parents with a young baby. As I understand it, the advice has always been to go get them checked out if we are unsure and I am a ‘you don't go to ED unless you're dying’ kind of person. I felt very ashamed, and I swore to my spouse when we left that I will not go back there unless it is my absolute last resort.

To top it off, my child's temp was back at 39.4 the next morning and throughout the day after until I finally got an emergency appointment with our GP who I found was much more helpful and generous with their advice.