Comments on: Hospital For Sick Children, A Mother’s Complaint

By: D

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:31:08 +0000

From reading all of the above posts, here are a few obvious ideas:
1) Go to your family doctor, rather than the emergency room unless your child is seriously ill. Usually a fever in a toddler or child is not a reason to go to the emergency room

2) There are nice people and not so nice people everywhere – and that includes SickKids. Some have better bed-side manner than others. In US hospitals, there is more ‘customer service’ because you’re paying hundreds of dollars, up front, just to go sit in the emergency room. That is a deterrent for families with mildly ill children from going to the emergency room. In Canada, that deterrent doesn’t exist and the ERs are backlogged with semi-urgent or non-urgent complaints. US hospitals would be glad to see these children with mild illnesses because the parents (or their private insurance) pay $300 just to walk in the door. Maybe there should be a small user fee – even $10 to go the emergency room – that may make some choose a walk-in clinic rather than the ER.

3) Remember that everyone that works in a hospital are people too, just like you. They’re not automatons with an absence feelings. Patients (or their parents) that get into a frenzy because of waiting increase the anxiety of everyone involved. Treating the nurses, doctors, RTs and phlebotomists with respect is just the right thing to do. You would expect no less if you were in their position. Remember: Do unto others….. it starts with you. Besides, you need to be a good role model of behaviour for your child.

4) You are free, at any time, to get up and leave, and sign out of any hospital at any time.

By: Pixie

Pixie — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:03:17 +0000

I had a terrible experience at Sick Kid’s hospital just yesterday. My daughter had been referred to the Anxiety Clinic at Sick Kids by her pediatrician. It took 6 months to get the appointment. We prepped our girl as well as we could for the evaluation and a few days before the appointment the doctor (Dr. Samirah Al-Ghamdi a fellow) canceled without explanation. This came after weeks of the doctor not responding to simple requests for information and confirmation regarding the appointment. After the initial appointment was canceled my husband and I followed up with voicemails (5 in total) and received no response. We simply wanted information regarding when we could expect another appointment to be scheduled. We finally asked the intake coordinator to help us track her down. The intake coordinator apologized profusely for Dr. Al-Ghamdi’s failure to respond. The next day we received a call from the doctor re-scheduling the appointment for Dec 2, 2011. We prepped our little girl the night before. She has a tremendous fear of hospitals and was frightened that something was wrong with her “mentally.” We coached her through her anxiety telling her that hospitals are good places and that she would not be be hurt in anyway. We told her we were going as a family to get help with the anxious feelings she was experiencing. We arrived the next morning at the Anxiety Clinic and were subsequently harassed for not registering our daughter properly at the intake desk. Perhaps we should have been aware of this, but we genuinely were not aware that we needed to bring a health card and to register her for what we thought was a meeting. We did not realize she was a patient.We were also not given the appropriate information in advance to prepare us for this appointment which easily could have avoided the confusion that ensued. We were questioned by the receptionist and she gave us her card and said we could call our daughters health card number in after the appointment. Dr Al-Ghamdi came into the reception area and instantly disapproved that we had not registered our daughter. She directed us to her office and barely introduced herself. She immediately interrogated my husband and I about why we didn’t bring our daughter’s health card. She scolded us and then started an argument with my husband stating that she told him to bring the health card. This all occurred in front of my 9 year old daughter who was there for an anxiety assessment. We left the doctor’s office, my husband in a rage and myself in tears. My little girl was in shock. I asked for a supervisor immediately. The supervisor came into the room and we told him our story. He was surprised and instantly went into damage control mode and began offering to pay our parking, offered my daughter stickers, toys, presents. It was bizarre. Nice way to introduce your anxious child to the world of anxiety treatment at the world’s leading children’s hospital. We are still reeling from our experience- we are not sure how to proceed. We are pretty shaken up. It was interesting to see how the hospital staff put administrative protocol as a priority over a child’s treatment for mental well being. Needless to say we will seek other institutions to help our daughter. Dr. Al-Ghamdi was rude, arrogant and completely insensitive to her patient’s needs. My daughter’s fear and suspicion of hospitals has not been dissuaded. Her condition has not been diagnosed and she left the hospital feeling more anxious than ever. We will not be back and I caution anyone who attempts to get responsible treatment from the Anxiety Clinic at Sick Kids Hospital. What an embarrassment.

By: maria

maria — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:34:47 +0000

my child wnet there and he was treated badly. so I wll never give my support to these people either.

By: Josh Hellin

Josh Hellin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:29:29 +0000

WHy do you complan abotu the goverment spending ? If you all want to make money then you should have gone into private practice ! Get the hell out of the public system if all you cares about is money !

By: Harvinder

Harvinder — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:27:25 +0000

Yeah , you are right , Sick Kids only helps the really ill kids , but some of the kids get sent there because they are not stable or they really need to see a professional. A “world class hospital” doesn’t tell the parent of the child that “they are not sick enough to see us ” this is not india , this is canada , so please.

By: Jamil

Jamil — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:24:32 +0000

I have not gone to or had a freind/family there who have been to Sick Kids but I alway had a feeling that they were not this great facilty they always cliam to be. I don’t like how they are always shoving pictures and vidoes of ill children in our faces to donate money. I mean yeah , I feel bad for them but I really don’t give a hoot about them. I heard that the Sick Kids in England was running a fraud charity , and it was the Dean of the hospital running it !My god , and they claim to be world class leaders in childrens health !Is that the behaviour of a world class hospiital ?Having the Dean run a sham charity ? What is it called , oh LYING!

By: Gregorev

Gregorev — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:19:17 +0000

Worst fucking hospital in Canada . I can’t belive that Candians are acatully proud of this run-down thrid world country type hospital! My own doctor who is in private practice does better work than them. I cannot stand this one doctors at sick kids , some indian woman who was nice at first but she became very rude and arrogant with us. She acted like she knew everything and that she was only smart one there amongst us. Well , now my kid needs one of those speical breathing tanks for him , how do you like that now ?

By: Sonia Guclh

Sonia Guclh — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:14:35 +0000

who cares ? really I never understood why “sick kids” has been so greatly praised. They behave like the doctors in the usa , there are better hosptials and clinc that do better treatment than them.

By: Perez Salavdor

Perez Salavdor — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:12:51 +0000

I don’t like this hosptial. It the attitude of the people working there that bothers me. It should be renamed “The Hospital for the Rich White Sicks Kids ” , cause that the only kids they give a damn about ! Doesn’t matter if they are not as sick as the other non-whites kids , they still get treated and looked at first!

By: Stephanie Smith

Stephanie Smith — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:08:53 +0000

Ditto , worst hospital ever. Staff and doctors there are such a**holes! Rude and egostiscal! Fine , I get it , you guys are doctors , went to university , have a fancy degree but it’s not like they went to Harvard or anything !If you want to behave snobbish and arrogant , then have something impressive about you ! You guys are just one of the millions , and millions and millions of doctors around the world. Just because you guy work at a “top” hospital doesn’t give you the right to talk down on the parents or the patients themselves!