Driscoll Children’s Hospital Begins Triage
Updated: Oct 2, 2009 03:19 PM
http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11249302
CORPUS CHRISTI - Driscoll Children’s Hospital started a process called triage to help ease overcrowding in the emergency room.
Since this summer, the number of children diagnosed with swine flu started to increase and so did the wait time in the emergency room.
Some parents have been waiting up to 10 hours to see a doctor. However, the triage plan should help with that.
Now, patients will be screened as soon as they walk through the doors. From there, they’ll be sent to the auditorium and then they’ll go to another area to be treated, depending on the seriousness of their illness.
The plan is to make sure the sickest children get cared for as soon as possible.
“By doing this it’s almost like an assembly line kind of approach to get all the patients in and out as fast as we can,” Driscoll Children’s Hospital Doctor Karl Serrao said.
Kentucky student “critical” with H1N1
A Kentucky high school student is in the hospital, in critical condition, sick with the H1N1 virus. Health officials say the virus is hitting several counties hard.
Video: Teenager critical with H1N1 virus
Posted: 6:14 PM Oct 2, 2009
Reporter: Phil Pendleton
Email Address: phil.pendleton@wkyt.com
A common fixture throughout Williamsburg this week is a milk jug asking for donations. The reason, a 14-year old high school student is very ill. “I can just tell you, we had a student with confirmed H1N1. Currently, she is listed in critical but stable condition, showing signs of improvement,” says Whitley Co. Schools Deputy Superintendent Scott Paul.
The teen became sick last week and is among the many with confirmed cases of the H1N1 Flu in Whitley County, where schools have been closed.
And doctors’ offices have been full. “We’ve been seeing all ages, from birth to 21,” said Dr. Kathy Omer of Corbin Pediatrics. Doctor Omer says Corbin Pediatriacs is averaging 150 patients a day. She says many of the children are testing positive for H1N1. “Body aches, fevers, severe cough, vomiting,” she said of the common symptoms.
Doctor Omer says most cases aren’t any more serious than the typical seasonal flu and can be treated easily at home. But the 14-year old Whitley County freshman required a trip to the East Tennessee Hospital in Knoxville. “Obviously they are very concerned. But they are hopeful that everything will be ok. But we’re trying to show as much support as we can,” said Paul.
School officials say they do not know if the young lady had a preexisting condition that could have made her case of H1N1 more serious.
http://www.wkyt.com/news/headlines/63322847.html