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When there are stories about people calling 911 because the cashier at McDonalds didn't have any McNuggents, checking out a true emergency is probably a good thing. Pediatricians should probably create a list of websites for parents to check up on such things, include WebMD.
With the cost of an ER visit plus the time spent in the "ER timewarp", any sensible parent should investigate other options before going to the ER. Besides, the ER should be really only for real emergencies. Otherwise, med-express in family doc off hours.
I don't know about this. I feel that parents are playing a dangerous game with their child's health. What you read on the internet is not always correct. When a child comes down with an illness, its more than just a pain here, color of what comes out, or what the child is complaining about. Doctors still need blood test, cultures xrays and other test to determine a child's illness and the internet cannot tell you that. I though I was having a gallbladder problem last month, but after going to the doctor and a visit to the ER it was determined I had pneumonia. But when I looked on the internet, all symptoms indicated gallbladder.
Internet is one place to find answers, if ever you go to emergency they don't talk to you much. In the old days (when health care was affordable) you could call your doctor's number and someone would get back to you, more often it was the doctor's nurse that would call and go over your concerns about the illness, not just say go for the most expensive treatment because that saves me from getting sued. We didn't run down there to pay the basic 800/hr rate for the usual 4 hours waiting ($3,000) and getting treated like an unwelcome refuge--that's not right.
There's a great deal of false medical information on the internet. Not to mention that symptoms can mimic many other illnesses. Best to have a medical expert diagnose the problem.
Yeah! Think for yourself, but not TOO hard.
Get a brain people, most illness does not need anything from a Dr.
Well, once the insurance business is cleared up to see an emergency doctor and clinic, they can move it that direction. If, however, there is no insurance available, then 'on line' is the only place to go.
Wikipedia being one of the top consulted sites is scary. I frequently look up medical information online - we've had several auto-immune issues in the past few years, and as is typical, many mis-diagnoses along the way to a true diagnosis. But I consult sites like www.mayoclinic.com and http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/, or disease-specific sites such as www.cancer.org for a recent melanoma diagnosis. There's too much misinformation, or anecdotal information, on lots of other sites, including Wikipedia. In an emergency situation, the best resource for me has been the nurseline provided by my health insurance carrier. Twice, after speaking to a nurse about conditions, we decided to wait rather than visiting the ER in the middle of the night, and it was the correct choice (for example, helping us to determine that my husband's pain was likely gall bladder rather than heart attack). Other times the nurse has recommended going to the ER. Unfortunately this service isn't universally available.....
There is NO excuse for this....you people need to get your kid to the ER ASAP. Seriously, I've actually seen people asking "My son broke his finger five days ago, does he need a doctor?" on YahooAnswers.
HOW CAN A PARENT BE THIS STUPID? Here's to hoping that all the parents like THAT one on YA get reported to CPS for child neglect.
A child with a broken bone definitely needs urgent medical attention. But not everything is so black and white. What about the child with a cough and a fever? Or the child who takes a hard fall, but gets back up and starts playing? With something like that, it's a lot harder to decide whether a visit to the ER is really warranted. Sound advice from a reputable website can help a parent avoid the cost of an ER visit and waiting for hours with their child in a waiting room full of sick, contagious people for what may have been a minor problem that would have resolved itself.
What they should do is just call 911 and ask what to do..not go on the internet.
Not true. That overloads the 911 dispatching system with nonemergencies, and dispatchers are only trained to give advice in the case of true medical emergencies. Their training generally does not extend to giving advice regarding the many illnesses children can pick up which seem serious to worried parents, but actually aren't. Talk you through CPR or childbirth, yes. Tell you when your child's cough or tummyache are bad enough to go to the ER, no.
Many doctors have after-hours numbers where they can be contacted, and give these to their patients either directly or through their answering services. That would be the best advice to seek, if a parent feels the need to talk directly with a health care provider. If they are not too busy, ER nurses can also be a good source of advice via a phone call, before bringing a child in. But good advice can also be found on reputable websites.
Well then, they need to keep their doctor's number up on the fridge, along with the emergency numbers.
But the facts are, I've seen a lot of cases where the parent wasted time on the internet, and the kid got worse.
Good advice cannot be found on websites, because many people, after reading the "symptoms" get paranoid, and all freaked out, and then when they rush out to the doctor......it was minor...better to get to the doctor, who KNOWS, BEFORE you go panicking and searching online.
Agreed, emergency phone #'s need to be in a handy spot.
And yes, you can get lousy advice on the web, but there are reputable sites that give good information. Yes, there are some hypochondriacs that will panic, but they're likely to head for the ER no matter what advice they're given or who gives it. But that's the fault of the person, not the advice. For most illnesses and injuries, time is not so much of the essence that a few minutes of research will not make a difference.
Absolutely agree that if you're fairly sure your child is in any danger, get to the ER. And the parents of the child with the broken finger should be prosecuted - improper healing could affect the use of that hand the rest of the child's life. But I broke some fingers once, playing baseball, and didn't go to the ER until the next day, because nothing looked broken. My parents weren't neglectful - it just looked like my hand was bruised, and I could move my fingers fine.
The problem with getting to the doctor first is that kids never seem to spike a fever until about 8:00 on a Friday evening, when doctor's offices are closed. That's when parents need some advice about whether to bring in a child who might be fine with fluids and Motrin, or who might need to be seen quickly. And weekends are prime time for injuries because of sports - is that twisted ankle broken, or will ice and rest be fine until Monday when the doctor's office opens?
If you think your child is sick enough to warrant going to the E.R., you should probably go.
I'm not talking about using the E.R. as a doctor's office for children with colds.
We used to use the encyclopedias for that. Now the internet makes it easier to access even more information. You just have to sort through both good and bad, reliable and not a whole lot more. Internet research is often the first step these days no matter what you are doing.