Kids in the ER
Unless you go to a children's hospital or a hospital with a pediatric emergency room, you will likely feel out of place in the ER with your child. Adultsize beds, no kid-friendly decorations, and personnel who might not feel comfortable caring for kids can make a trip to the emergency room difficult and stressful for parents of young children.
Although parents may think that the doctors, nurses, and other people working in the ER have specific training in taking care of pediatric patients, that is unfortunately not always true. That can lead to your child being misdiagnosed, overtreated, or having too many unnecessary tests done.
To help avoid these types of problems, try to call your pediatrician before you head to the ER, unless it is a true emergency. Once you arrive you might also ask what type of pediatric training and experience the ER staff has, ask them to call your pediatrician to review the diagnosis and treatment plan, or ask for a transfer to a facility that has board-certified emergency medicine physicians or pediatric specialists.
How do you know if the hospital staff seeing your child has pediatric experience?
The easiest way is to just ask questions about their training or how often they have seen a child with the same symptoms or diagnosis as your child. If a procedure is going to be done on your child, you might also ask about the experience level of the person doing it.
For nonemergency situations, remember that you are almost always better off going to see your own pediatrician than going to an emergency room.
