Rant (on Children's Hospital of Dallas)
E had a muscle biopsy yesterday. No results yet. Children's of Dallas continues to be the WORST hospital our family has encountered in the metroplex. The doctor asked that he be brought in on Sunday to be observed for 24 hours prior to surgery, and given his history of lung problems, I can accept that. Not that I was happy about it. But then W says that the hospital called her yesterday morning to ask why she hadn't checked E into day surgery yet.
Duh! He was already admitted the day before for observation.
This was actually problem #2. Problem #1 was the food on the floor (encrusted on the wall and floor, by all accounts) behind the parents' daybed. Even hearing about this second-hand made my skin crawl. In a fucking hospital, for chrissake!
Problem #3 sounds like a bad joke. I only wish it was... Here's my best reconstruction of how it went:
N1) Hello, Mrs. L. Is E ready to go down and get his tonsils out?
W) He's not here to have his tonsils out.
N1) Are you sure? That's what it says here...
W) I'm sure. It's a muscle biopsy.
N1) I'm supposed to prep him for a tonsillectomy.
W) [pressing the "call" button repeatedly] He's not here to have his tonsils out.
N2) [appearing at the door] Yes?
W) This dipshit wants to take E to have his tonsils out.
N1) Oh. I have the wrong room.
When E was taken to Children's before, with pneumonia when he was little, we had issues with staff competency back then. Yes, the hospital has changed some things for the better. The mealtimes are more flexible and parents can purchase "meal tickets" so they can have their food brought in with the patient's meal. Patients get three meals a day at whatever times (between 7am and 9pm) they are most comfortable with. Good and good.
Now they need to get their departments to actually communicate. There was a second procedure that they were supposed to have done while he was under for the biopsy. Something about electrodes and nerves (my brain pretty much shut off at this point, so I don't remember what it's called -- they tried it before with just a local anesthetic and he fought them too hard to complete the test), and yet again, they didn't get it done...
Why? Because that doctor doesn't do procedures before 11am. Wait a minute. You're a freaking surgeon, and you only attend the O.R. at certain times, and you had this on your schedule for how long before you noticed it was outside your O.R. hours? For the record, we've known about this for well over a month. I don't think the surgeon could have known any lesser amount of time, and I don't think I want that guy anywhere near my kid.
To be fair, the general surgeon who did the biopsy was great. The genius doctor who's in charge of the whole show is just that -- a genius doctor. We were warned not to expect an exquisite bedside manner. But the rest of it? I get the feeling that I, some poor schmuck computer programmer with absolutely no experience (and no college degree!) in hospital administration, could run the place better.
People don't take their kids there because it's the best place to go. People take their kids there because they have no other choice. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed with the level of service I've seen/heard of at that hospital. A lot of it is a simple lack of communication. Some of it is laziness. Neither of those things belong in the place where I take my children for critical medical care.
Yes, E is fine. Yes, as far as I know only the little part that they were supposed to take out got taken out. But yet again, they missed the window of opportunity when he was sedated to do a secondary procedure that needed to be done (he was also knocked out for a MRI earlier this year with similar results -- the secondary tests that were supposed to happen were not performed).
Yes, we let him milk it for the day off school today. I don't really blame him. He probably needs the time to de stress. After all, he (who doesn't like hospitals to begin with) has survived the third world hospital experience at Children's Hospital not just once, but twice now.
-J
Oh, and I found this earlier today. Not that we didn't already know this, too, but interesting because of who it's coming from...
Duh! He was already admitted the day before for observation.
This was actually problem #2. Problem #1 was the food on the floor (encrusted on the wall and floor, by all accounts) behind the parents' daybed. Even hearing about this second-hand made my skin crawl. In a fucking hospital, for chrissake!
Problem #3 sounds like a bad joke. I only wish it was... Here's my best reconstruction of how it went:
N1) Hello, Mrs. L. Is E ready to go down and get his tonsils out?
W) He's not here to have his tonsils out.
N1) Are you sure? That's what it says here...
W) I'm sure. It's a muscle biopsy.
N1) I'm supposed to prep him for a tonsillectomy.
W) [pressing the "call" button repeatedly] He's not here to have his tonsils out.
N2) [appearing at the door] Yes?
W) This dipshit wants to take E to have his tonsils out.
N1) Oh. I have the wrong room.
When E was taken to Children's before, with pneumonia when he was little, we had issues with staff competency back then. Yes, the hospital has changed some things for the better. The mealtimes are more flexible and parents can purchase "meal tickets" so they can have their food brought in with the patient's meal. Patients get three meals a day at whatever times (between 7am and 9pm) they are most comfortable with. Good and good.
Now they need to get their departments to actually communicate. There was a second procedure that they were supposed to have done while he was under for the biopsy. Something about electrodes and nerves (my brain pretty much shut off at this point, so I don't remember what it's called -- they tried it before with just a local anesthetic and he fought them too hard to complete the test), and yet again, they didn't get it done...
Why? Because that doctor doesn't do procedures before 11am. Wait a minute. You're a freaking surgeon, and you only attend the O.R. at certain times, and you had this on your schedule for how long before you noticed it was outside your O.R. hours? For the record, we've known about this for well over a month. I don't think the surgeon could have known any lesser amount of time, and I don't think I want that guy anywhere near my kid.
To be fair, the general surgeon who did the biopsy was great. The genius doctor who's in charge of the whole show is just that -- a genius doctor. We were warned not to expect an exquisite bedside manner. But the rest of it? I get the feeling that I, some poor schmuck computer programmer with absolutely no experience (and no college degree!) in hospital administration, could run the place better.
People don't take their kids there because it's the best place to go. People take their kids there because they have no other choice. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed with the level of service I've seen/heard of at that hospital. A lot of it is a simple lack of communication. Some of it is laziness. Neither of those things belong in the place where I take my children for critical medical care.
Yes, E is fine. Yes, as far as I know only the little part that they were supposed to take out got taken out. But yet again, they missed the window of opportunity when he was sedated to do a secondary procedure that needed to be done (he was also knocked out for a MRI earlier this year with similar results -- the secondary tests that were supposed to happen were not performed).
Yes, we let him milk it for the day off school today. I don't really blame him. He probably needs the time to de stress. After all, he (who doesn't like hospitals to begin with) has survived the third world hospital experience at Children's Hospital not just once, but twice now.
-J
Oh, and I found this earlier today. Not that we didn't already know this, too, but interesting because of who it's coming from...