Just one day after a Dorval mother spoke out about her daughter’s triage problems at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, the director of pediatric emergency services insists they’re looking into what went wrong while reminding parents to speak up if they feel their child’s health is in danger.
“It seems like we didn’t meet the parent’s expectations,” Dr. Harley Eisman said. “I’m glad that certainly the parents have highlighted that to us because we will certainly look into the case.”
Lianne Watt is convinced her daughter Olivia’s close call could have been avoided if her vital signs had been taken when she first walked into the ER last Friday. Instead, the family claims they were forced to wait hours before a nurse took the toddler’s vital signs and realized her oxygen saturation levels were below normal.
EXCLUSIVE: Montreal mother furious after daughter waits 3 hours in ER, struggling to breathe
“They did say that she was clearly triaged wrong with her situation it was definitely too long for her to be sitting here for three hours,” Watt said.
When families first show up at the Children’s ER, the pre-triage window is the first stop. That’s where a highly qualified nurse quickly assesses a patient’s priority on a scale of one to five, one being the most critical.
“Experienced nurses don’t need vitals to know if this is a case of distress and to ascertain a triage priority to them,” Eisman told Global News.
If the patient’s condition is classified as critical, they normally skip the formal triage process and head directly to the ER.
If it’s not life-threatening, the patient goes on to the registration desk before getting a complete assessment which includes taking most vital signs, depending on the patient’s symptoms.
“Sometimes we take heart rate sometimes we take a respiratory rate,” Eisman said. “But let’s say you’re coming in with an ankle sprain you may not need to get full vitals.”
The hospital follows the Canadian Paediatric E.D. Triage and Acuity Scale. While efforts are made to respect the recommended wait times, it’s not always possible.
“As best as possible, we try to honour that but one of the issues for an emergency department is when there’s a long queue and there’s many patients then sometimes the wait time does exceed what’s recommended,” Eisman said.
READ MORE: ER doctors say ‘super clinics’ could increase wait times
When the ER is packed and wait times exceed the established standards, the hospital sends messages through overhead announcements and digital screens, reminding parents to speak up if they feel their child’s health is deteriorating or in danger.
“We rely on parent’s good judgment because we can’t survey everybody in our waiting room,” Eisman said. “They need to come back and tell us if they feel something is wrong.”
In hindsight, Olivia’s mother wishes she had said something sooner and hopes other parents learn a lesson from her daughter’s health scare.
“Definitely, I would speak up more if it happened again, hopefully it doesn’t,” Watt said.
Comments