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TIA Emergency Care

Posted By pyxiszh68

"TIA Emergency Care"

About: Kalgoorlie Health Campus / Emergency Department

(as a relative),

My parent suffered a transient ischemic attack (TIA) in the evening recently. It was somewhat severe, they had a right-sided weakness, incoherent and non-sensical speech, and confusion among other symptoms. I took them to Emergency and told them of my suspicions of a TIA, symptoms etc. and they were brought straight inside to a bed. By this point, some of their symptoms were starting to resolve but my parent still had some confusion, slowed processing of information and slowed response time.

The Doctor at the time, (RMo), came to see my parent and asked them what happened. The doctor did what seemed most appropriate, medically, for my parent's presentation but I felt the level of care was low.

When speaking to my parent, I felt the doctor was speaking in very lengthy sentences, I observed them not actually looking at my parent (but looking at their trolley of cannula equipment instead) whilst talking (which is hard enough to hear already with a mask on) and speaking to my parent as if they were stupid. I mean, if they've just had a mini stroke and has problems with speech and processing, give them a break! Use smaller sentences, have patience and give my parent some time to think. For example, when asking my parent what they do for work, my parent struggled to hear so asked the doctor to repeat the question and then couldn't remember what they do for work, so they looked to me to help. After I answered, the doctor asked me if it is normal for my parent not to know where they work. To which I responded no. It's not normal at all. How they are responding to everything is not usual for my parent. The delayed responses and everything at the moment is not normal for them.

Based on my recollection, no call bell was given, no water offered, no food offered (even after I asked as my parent had missed dinner due to the TIA and wasn't feeling well from it), I recall the doctor said to go get food from the vending machine. I felt like the doctor acted like it was such a hassle when we asked for a medical certificate, no communication about pain relief for an 8/10 pain headache, and no discussion of bloodwork results.

As I feel the medical system is already daunting to access, it was a disheartening experience to be made to feel like we were more of a hassle being there.

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Responses

Response from Peter Tredinnick, Executive Director, Regional Office, WACHS Goldfields nearly 2 years ago
We are preparing to make a change
Peter Tredinnick
Executive Director, Regional Office,
WACHS Goldfields

Executive Director WACHS Goldfields

Submitted on 25/05/2022 at 1:03 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 3:04 PM

picture of Peter Tredinnick

Dear pyxiszh68,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us with feedback that we can act upon to improve patient care here at the Kalgoorlie Health Campus. Firstly, I would like to say that I hope that your parent is recovering well and continuing to receive the care they need. I am heartened to hear from you that there were positive elements to your experience. You recognised that triage process was good and that the medical care was appropriate. However, there are clearly multiple areas that we can do better.

I agree that accessing health services is a daunting process and that compassionate and caring communication is as important as any other element of care. We will share your story with our clinical teams to remind them about how overwhelming attending our services can be. Additionally, as a result of your feedback, I will work with the medical workforce team to ensure more training on communication is included for our medical teams. Often patients presenting at the Emergency Department are classified as ‘nil by mouth’. This can be for several reasons, firstly if they have had any changes to the way they swallow some food may result in chocking or go into their lungs. Another reason is that they may be required to have procedures that require patients to have fasted beforehand. However, if either of these are the case it should be clearly communicated by the treating team. I will also ensure that the process for accessing food, such as sandwiches, when medially suitable, is included into their orientation, along with familiarisation to the physical environment, such as the patient call bells.

If you would like us to follow up specifically with the health professionals involved with your parent’s care or if you would like to discuss your concerns further, please don’t hesitate to contact Alicia Michalanney, who is the Director of the Kalgoorlie Health Campus on 9080 5817 or via email Alicia.Michalanney@health.wa.gov.au.

Kind regards

Peter Tredinnick
Regional Director
WACHS Goldfields

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