To think drunk teen shouldn't be in paeds A&E?

[Us3r21422]

NC for this in case picked up by the likes the of Daily Fail etc.

Took DD to paeds A&E last night due to concerns about dehydration after 5 days of gastro bug and decreasing tolerance for fluids and no wet nappy for 12 hours. Luckily she is OK and we were allowed home after some anti sickness meant she could tolerate water, but the place was full of really sick babies and toddlers. Dr said 4 cases of D&V/dehydration, plus a query sepsis child, croup etc.

I heard someone approach the nurses station and say they were bringing a drunk 15 year old and his parents round from adult A&E, no particular reason given, so assume this was purely based on his age. He did say dad was struggling to manage said drunk teen.

At this point I knew we were going home, so no real skin in the game, but I thought to myself that if the teen was that drunk, was paeds A&E really the place to bring him when he would have received presumably the same medical care in adult A&E?

As I say, no big deal to me as we were leaving, but I'm not sure I'd have been happy with a drunk/loud/aggressive/silly teen in the cubicle next to us. More so for the other parents and children who were really very very poorly and had clearly been there a long time, were very tired, waiting for a bed on the ward etc.

So - aibu to think drunk teen probably should have stayed in adult A&E and that it's not really desirable for a 15 year old who's had a few too many to be in the same (very small) department as lots of really unwell younger children?

Thé 15yr old is a child so is seen by a specialist for children in the place adapted for kids.

As an A&E clinician I am more concerned by the extent of your knowledge about other patients. The breach of confidentiality in your original post is what concerns me the most.'

We only have OP word that she heard what she heard and didn't just catch a glimpse of a drunken teen then assumed all the rest or just made up the nurses disapproval of treating a 15 year old.

'YANBU, actually. For me part of the benefit of a kids A&E is they don’t have to be further distressed by the scary drunk/drug addled/dementia adults around them, this boy at 15 isn’t quite an adult but it doesn’t seem he was a good fit for the children’s department in that respect.

Well he wasn;t an adult, so that's okay then. There are some really self righteous posters on here! I can't imagine my 10 and 12 year old in this situation right now, but who the hell knows what the future might hold,,,

@Rollin
Quoting the OP here

Dr said 4 cases of D&V/dehydration, plus a query sepsis child, croup etc.

@ancientgran I agree the privacy allowed in A&E is awful and actually very challenging for staff. Next to a lack of communication, a lack of privacy/ lack of confidentiality is the main complaint we usually get.

He's not an adult though is he? Peads is EXACTLY where a 15 year old should be, regardless of the issue bringing him there

It’s not just about the age
the teen is still a child and in medical terms need treating as a child (paediatric) as things work differently in a child !!!!! They therefore need a paediatrician ..

Could be he needed an environment with the correct sized equipment i.e intubation tubing, suction tubing etc, also may have needed specialist paediatric staff, anaesthetist etc, paediatrics is totally different to.adults and he needed the correct care from appropriately trained staff

When my daughter was little she had been brought in very poorly (she was born at 25 weeks and has severe lung disease) and they brought in a drunk teen who's mum was loudly berating him and telling him he was disturbing the little girl who actually needs the fing doctors........ The mum was disturbing us wayyyyyyyy more than the vomiting teen 😂

Would have been better to put the teen in a room of his own instead of a 4 bed ward of desperately sick kids but I guess they figured he would be better observed in a room with nurses and doctors around at all times

This was me one Friday night in Paeds A&E with a drunk teen who had had their drink spiked 😣

I was mortified we were there taking a bed and felt awful for everyone else but the staff were lovely about it.

The teen brain is very immature and they are still kids at that age, but I appreciate when you have tiny children they seem like adults.

Guessing this was to do with safeguarding? He is still a minor, drunk or not.

In our local hospitals, in the a&e department, there is a separate room for teenagers to sit in at the side of us lot sat with the younger kids.

I find it deeply worrying that anyone would think that adult A&E would be a suitable place for a lone vulnerable child.

Where did you expect him to go? He’s still a child

A 15 year old needs to be in the paediatric department as medicine for youngsters is different from that for adults. However, if it was the case that his dad couldn't manage him because his behaviour was challenging I can imagine being very pissed off if he was in close proximity to my young child.

YABU because children’s A&E is for anyone who isn’t an adult, not just for toddlers. But that said I always feel really sorry for teenagers in the paediatric A&E waiting room, sitting there awkwardly among the murals of teddy bears and balloons 😂

If over the age of 16 and at college and has left school, is classed as an adult. Mental health is anyone over the age of 18.

he is 15 and therefore still classed as a child on both counts

As others have said, 15 is still a child, and needs paediatric not adult medicine/ A&E. There may be safeguarding issues as well, which are completely different in children & adolescents compared to adults.

Hope that’s not you in 15 years. Close friend had to make a really difficult call a week or so ago with her 16 yo who had drunk too much at a party she was scared of going to. She was very very unwell and they sat with her for 5 or 6 hours (through the night) before taking her to A&E - where she was admitted. She will never do it again, is beyond mortified and the parents only did it when they pretty much couldn’t wake her up…..it’s probably best you don’t judge.

I am glad my sick physically unwell 16y child was in the paeds dept. She weighed 33kg, was not remotely intimidating, was anxious and scared and needed me there. And was a ‘young’ 16y old. The idea of her being alone on an adults ward makes me feel sick.

Ironically she was as quiet as a mouse and watched shows on her iPad with headphones. Her sleep was completely disturbed by toddlers crying, one dad barking on his phone, and two ridiculous mothers allowing their kids to watch TV shows at top volume with zero care for others. She was no trouble to anyone.

Precious parents of young kids have no understanding of teens.

I would say as a whole, this country does not treat teens well. The NHS doesn’t know what to do with them, and people have such low expectations of them. Teens can be delightful, polite and interesting if you give them a chance. Maybe not when drunk though ;-)

In essence YANBU but at 15 they are still a child & as such need children’s section of hospital & child specialist doctors. Children are not allowed on adult wards because they are children not adults, the are vulnerable & being alone with unfamiliar adults could put them at risk of all sorts of inappropriate contact be it physical or verbal.
Whether they are drunk & acting like a little twerp or not they still have to be safeguarded.
The hospital will have ways & means of dealing with them.
If they had to pumped said child’s stomach that child learnt a valuable lesson.
Sounds like the family could do with support & understanding rather than judgment.

He’s 15. He belongs in paediatrics. What do you propose they should have done with him instead?

Bear in mind that, despite being potentially adult sized, paediatricians are the appropriate medics for a person of that age.

PaperFun

Totally agree with your post. It has been our experience the many times we’ve been on paeds. They’ve had to move my Dd at times due to what you’ve just described.

To the poster who would get annoyed at a teen acting out.I think acting out for all ages is a daily occurrence on paeds. It contains sick, suffering and often upset children so is to be expected. Most paeds are feeding anorexics 6 times a day and deal with many teens who don’t want to be there.A drunk teen is likely to be a mouse in comparison to an ED patient being restrained for a tube feed after facing off a plate of pasta for half an hour. A think a bit of empathy wouldn’t go amiss. We’ve often had to sit through toddlers throwing hissy fits over the wrong juice or toy being presented. I’ve always encouraged my daughter to remember that other patients will be feeling like crap the same as her. It would be nice if parents the other end of the age spectrum did the same.

A sensible, insightful and empathic response. I hope your teen is doing okay

If he wasn’t drunk, would you have even blinked? No.

Unfortunately I've had to be in paediatric A&E a few times with my daughter mental health / addiction issues ..I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy ...all the staff were absolutely amazing ...so kind to me as well ....the compassion of other parents as well as the tears start to flow at the awful situation..

*The hospital will have ways & means of dealing with them.

If they had to pumped said child’s stomach that child learnt a valuable lesson*

medics do not, and should not, “pump a child’s stomach” to teach that child any sort of lesson.

In any case stomach wash out for alcohol intoxication is contra indicated. Wash out generally is more risk than benefit, so is no longer done, let alone as some sort of lesson to a child.