another after hours question

kat.in.the.hat

if you've called (especially if you've gotten a nurse and not your pedi) have you ever felt the answer they gave you was just a CYA answer?

CareBear01

I am sure they have to be careful what they tell you only having symptoms described to them.  There is probably a bit of over caution so they don't get hosed if you left out an important detail that they could have seen and your LO gets sicker. 

lilycat

Maybe? I usually get a doc to call back. If I'm calling after hours, it is usually one step before I break out the cell phone number for my doc. In other words, it is serious enough to me.

Another good resource is the Methodist Emergency Care next to Chik-fil-a on 59 and Kirby. They're pretty quick -- they don't have all the child-specific training like TCH, but there isn't a wait.

When I couldn't stomach another visit to TCH last year, we had our little one's fever and congestion checked out there. It was perfect for the circumstances. (And TCH isn't far if you change your mind.) 

M&M614

Not in our instances, but they were definitely things thatt needed to be checked out.  We were referred to go to the ER or come in first thing in the morning.

kreeper611

kat.in.the.hat:

if you've called (especially if you've gotten a nurse and not your pedi) have you ever felt the answer they gave you was just a CYA answer?

YES!  One weekend we noticed that Cooper was doing this strange breathing thing - he would cough, gasp and stop breathing for a few seconds before starting up again.  The only reason we noticed is because he was sleeping on DHs chest.  Our practice has a weekend location and I called them and the nurse told me to take him to the ER.  I felt like she jumped right to that and I felt like she did so because they were closing in 15-20 min and she was just getting me off of her hands.  I freaked out and we did go to the ER but we sat in the parking lot, calmed down and called the after hours back.  We spoke with a different nurse who took her time and told us that we should watch him, but we didn't need to take him to the ER.  There were other things she told us to watch out for, but in the end the other nurse was just CYA and caused us to completely freak out.

rayskit10

I think it's pretty tricky to give a real diagnosis over the phone. Basically, as I understand it, they have a check list where you answer the symptoms and they tell you what comes up. Example: Truitt had a nasty looking rash that came up over night. I described it to the nurse on the phone but what "crusty" or "wet" means to me vs a nurse on the phone can be 2 completely different things. When we got to the end of the questions, she was like "take him to the ER immediately." When we got there, it ended up just being infected eczema. I asked the doctor and he said there are some serious conditions that result in a rash and the way I described it to the nurse made her concerned enough not being able to see it...

Honestly, if you are feeling insecure about your pedi's office and the advice you rcvd, leave. You're never going to feel 100% about them again and no matter what all of our experiences have been, you wouldn't be asking these questions if you felt the right thing happened. 

stayathomedaddy

A few times when Isaac was younger we called the after hours line and talked to the nurse and she basically told us that, while they couldn't diagnose him, their best guess was X. All she could do (since she hadn't gone to med school) was look up what medication would/wouldn't impact my wife's milk supply if she took it.

I don't feel like it was CYA, I just think they were being completely honest with me.

somethingchangd

Yep.  I don't even bother calling our after hours number anymore.  Every.single.time they've told me "well, if you're concerned you should take him to the ER" and every.single.time my mommy instincts said it wasn't necessary.  I think if I was talking to my pedi it would be a different situation - I wouldn't expect a diagnosis, but I don't think she'd send me to the ER every time.  I feel like our after hours line (staffed by a pool of nurses) is a joke.

kat.in.the.hat

I was just really frustrated because I was trying to avoid a trip to the ER on a Saturday night and felt that I got a textbook answer rather than her actually listening to what I was telling her was going on with Eliza Jane.

She spent more time trying to get me to answer the question "what would you have done if you hadn't called us" than listening to me explain her symptoms.