Re: contagion in hospitals

[Guest guest]

, your account of your son's ordeal catching what the other child in his

hospital room had made me cringe. When 's been admitted to the hospital

it's always Children's Memorial Hospital, and they have an " Infectious

Diseases " floor. I HATE being on that floor, my skin crawls the whole time.

When she had pneumococcal meningitis, that floor was full and they put us on

the pulmo/respiratory floor -- the nurse who " greeted " us there was livid

about us, was hissing, " She shouldn't BE on this floor! " . Obviously she

didn't know 's kind of meningitis wasn't contagious. Another nurse

apologized for that behavior. As an immuno patient, can you ask to be on a

" safer " floor?? It still amazes me how careless health care professionals can

be about hand washing and other basic infection control measures.

(mom to , age 2, antibody def, IgA def, partial T-cell def (CD3 &

CD19) - not on IGIV yet)

[Guest guest]

,

Last year during one of Autumn's hospitalizations, a nurse brought her sick

child to work with her! This child was allowed to roam the floor at will,

coming in & out of patient's rooms, playing in the play room, etc. This

child was openly coughing, running a temp, and had a green runny nose.

Twice this child came into the room with us after she found out Autumn was

about her age & she thought she'd found a playmate! I called our nurse both

times & had her removed.

Our hospital doesn't allow children to be admitted anywhere except to the

pedi unit. So, if we are sick, that's where we go. I complained (loudly)

to our pediatrician when he came in that afternoon & he was livid. He

agreed that Autumn couldn't afford that exposure. She was already being

treated for a sinus infection & this one little girl could have kept us in

there longer--as it was, the hospitalization was a week long!

What made me even madder about it was that the hospital provides a day care

facility for its staff & companies who provide the " benefit " for their

employees. This day care is specifically for sick children & is staffed at

all hours of the day by an RN, in addition to other child care staff. This

nurse didn't have to bring her child upstairs with her & endanger all the

other patients on the floor. Needless to say, since I complained, I never

noticed the problem again.

Ray, mother to Tabitha (age 5), Autumn, age 3 (IgG def., asthma,

chronic sinusitis, and allergies), and Duncan Avery due 5/17/01

[Guest guest]

> As an immuno patient, can you ask to be on a

> " safer " floor??

Despite multiple hospitalizations for severe infection,

my son was not diagnosed until age 10... and has not

had an inpatient stay since six months after diagnosis.

It never occurred to them to NOT put him in with other

kids.

We have visiting nurses when it becomes absolutely

necessary and it has worked well for us. He's also

had lots of treatment at the ambulatory surgery

wing to avoid inpatient. The closest children's hospital

would put him on the infectious disease floor and our

local hospital is so small that peds is four rooms on the

regular floor.

Luckily, his doctor likes home health arrangements.

He's had two outpatient surgeries in the last two years,

one where they would have kept him over night if he

were " normal " , but they thought he would be better off

at home.

----------------------

Conatser

conatser@...

[Guest guest]

Now I know we are lucky at our hsopital. All the rooms for the children's

hospital are private with their own showers and bathrooms with a little

window seat that is actually a very uncomfortable bench for the parents to

sleep on. If need anything done where he has to be inpatient--like

his IVIG treatments o few years ago required--he was admitted to the

" sterile " floor--where the oncology, nuerology, and severe chronic respitory

patients are. If that floor gets filled up then it's to the orthepedic

floor or into the step-down ICU floor. Never would be put on the

fourth floor--the other illness floor. Just one more thing to count my

blessings about with the great hopsital and clinic we have here.

[Guest guest]

When we go to ER we always call our HEM who tells them we are on our

way-- when we arrive we are put in the isolation room. I make sure

they clean it all and I also spray alcohol on everything.

When had to get stitches a few weeks ago..I made them keep us away

from everyone and we were put in a room with a lady they thought had

pneumonia and they didn't know what type. I requested that we be

moved-- I explained how he stopped breathing with his last URI and I

wasn't going to take any chances. They moved us to the well baby room.

--

Peace Be With You!

~Pattie~ Mom to , 7; 4 3/4 (SDS,

hypogammaglobulinemia/CVID) and ph 3 1/2 (SDS)

" The friend who finds you when you might be lost is a very welcome

friend. " ~~Lessons from the Hundred-Acre Wood

[Guest guest]

When we go to ER we always call our HEM who tells them we are on our

way-- when we arrive we are put in the isolation room. I make sure

they clean it all and I also spray alcohol on everything.

When had to get stitches a few weeks ago..I made them keep us away

from everyone and we were put in a room with a lady they thought had

pneumonia and they didn't know what type. I requested that we be

moved-- I explained how he stopped breathing with his last URI and I

wasn't going to take any chances. They moved us to the well baby room.

--

Peace Be With You!

~Pattie~ Mom to , 7; 4 3/4 (SDS,

hypogammaglobulinemia/CVID) and ph 3 1/2 (SDS)

" The friend who finds you when you might be lost is a very welcome

friend. " ~~Lessons from the Hundred-Acre Wood