Make waiting room child-friendly
The traumatic sights and sounds of the ED are frightening for the pediatric patients and their families," stresses Mark S. Mannenbach,MD, section head of pediatric emergency services at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
Here are some ways to make your waiting room more child-friendly:
Segregate children from adults. In many EDs, there is no separate waiting area for children due to space constraints. "The downside of doing that is sometimes you have patients who are drunk and you want to keep them away from kids, which is difficult in the same big room," says Michael Altieri, MD, FAAP, FACEP, section chief for pediatric emergency medicine at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, VA.
At Fairfax, a feeling of separation was created by elevating one corner of the waiting room on a 15' by 20' platform. The area is clearly for children, with child-sized tables and chairs, fish tanks, and games. "The theory is that many times, there is an adult getting seen and a child is present, or vice versa, or a whole family is in a car accident," says Altieri. "We want parents to be able to watch the kids, but we also want kids segregated from adult population."
Keep waiting rooms clean. "If the waiting room is filthy, it will make a terrible first impression on a parent," says Altieri. "If a child is a floor crawler, they will be very unhappy if the floor isn't clean. Make sure there are no old coffee cups or trash that a child could get into. Granted, it can be difficult to keep the area clean, but from a parent's perspective, it's very important."
Instead of entertainment, focus on shorter waiting times. Parents care more about how long they wait than what videos are playing, says Mannenbach. "Appropriate flow of exam, testing, and discussion of results and discharge instructions should be emphasized first," he recommends.
Use waiting time to educate patients. Time spent waiting can serve a useful purpose. "While waiting, the use of injury and illness prevention materials by videotape could be employed either in the waiting room or the exam room itself," says Mannenbach.
"However, the use of videotapes in the exam room can be distracting for some patients/families," notes Mannenbach. "It could interfere with the passing on of information regarding the issue bringing the family to the ED, so I would recommend this with some reservation," he says.
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