Poll: how old are your kids and how many times have they been to the ER in their life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5:0
7:1

My observation is that some people go to the emergency room for everything. We have some friends whose kids (ages 5 and 3) have each been to the emergency room at least 8 times. These kids don't have chronic health issues or underlying conditions. They just think that a fever that lasts more than a day or two or a cough that persists more than a week deserves an emergency room visit. To me, that's a "call the nurse hotline, or worst case go to urgent care" situation. Usually we contact the nurse hotline through our pediatrician and get some good advice for treatment plus reassurance about what actually requires an ER visit, and it's fine.

My feeling is that the ER should be for: unexplained lethargy, trouble breathing (always), sudden injury (anything that makes you worry about a concussion or broken bone), or the weird kid incidents like an item lodged in an ear or nose, assuming you can't get into a pediatrician which these days you can't.

We don't go to the ER for cold symptoms, even bad ones, and we don't even go for flu/RSV type illness unless something escalates (like breathing issues). Most of the time, I think kids are best served by staying home, resting, and being cared for by a family member, not sitting in a hospital all night.

Same. My mom's group is notorious for this. "Oh no- I think my 4 year old might have RSV- time to head to ER!" It is such a waste of ER resources. I just don't get what people think the ER is going to do for their child *unless the child has breathing problems or it's life threatening*. I wish the ER could triage people like this to an urgent care instead.

PP here and thank you for validating. I was actually feeling really judgmental about my comment because I am judging my friends for how often they go. But yes, this is why it bothers me -- they are using up resources that really should be reserved for actual life threatening emergencies just because they are overzealous about health issues with their kids. To me it feels entitled, like "Well of course MY child should be seen immediately and receive ER care for whatever we want." I feel like some of this when you are a first time parent and are unsure where the line is makes some sense, but when experienced parents with multiple kids are heading to the ER "just in case" I get annoyed. ERs are constantly overcrowded and this is why. It's time to learn some basics about what symptoms require emergency care, and also to do some research on alternative options like urgent care or nurse hotlines.

Well, just so you know, 95% of people in the ER aren’t having a medical emergency. It is mostly filled with homeless/displaced people using it as a pseudo shelter or people seeking opioids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5:0
7:1

My observation is that some people go to the emergency room for everything. We have some friends whose kids (ages 5 and 3) have each been to the emergency room at least 8 times. These kids don't have chronic health issues or underlying conditions. They just think that a fever that lasts more than a day or two or a cough that persists more than a week deserves an emergency room visit. To me, that's a "call the nurse hotline, or worst case go to urgent care" situation. Usually we contact the nurse hotline through our pediatrician and get some good advice for treatment plus reassurance about what actually requires an ER visit, and it's fine.

My feeling is that the ER should be for: unexplained lethargy, trouble breathing (always), sudden injury (anything that makes you worry about a concussion or broken bone), or the weird kid incidents like an item lodged in an ear or nose, assuming you can't get into a pediatrician which these days you can't.

We don't go to the ER for cold symptoms, even bad ones, and we don't even go for flu/RSV type illness unless something escalates (like breathing issues). Most of the time, I think kids are best served by staying home, resting, and being cared for by a family member, not sitting in a hospital all night.

Same. My mom's group is notorious for this. "Oh no- I think my 4 year old might have RSV- time to head to ER!" It is such a waste of ER resources. I just don't get what people think the ER is going to do for their child *unless the child has breathing problems or it's life threatening*. I wish the ER could triage people like this to an urgent care instead.

PP here and thank you for validating. I was actually feeling really judgmental about my comment because I am judging my friends for how often they go. But yes, this is why it bothers me -- they are using up resources that really should be reserved for actual life threatening emergencies just because they are overzealous about health issues with their kids. To me it feels entitled, like "Well of course MY child should be seen immediately and receive ER care for whatever we want." I feel like some of this when you are a first time parent and are unsure where the line is makes some sense, but when experienced parents with multiple kids are heading to the ER "just in case" I get annoyed. ERs are constantly overcrowded and this is why. It's time to learn some basics about what symptoms require emergency care, and also to do some research on alternative options like urgent care or nurse hotlines.

Well, just so you know, 95% of people in the ER aren’t having a medical emergency. It is mostly filled with homeless/displaced people using it as a pseudo shelter or people seeking opioids.

Based on my visit a few months ago (with a kid we thought might have a broken bone), no.

[Anonymous]

2: 1 Eye infection
1: 0

I assume we have a long road ahead though.

[Anonymous]

8: 2 - osteomyelitis at 11 months, got bleach in eyes at daycare at age 1
6: 0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:8: 2 - osteomyelitis at 11 months, got bleach in eyes at daycare at age 1
6: 0

Omg what is the story behind that??

[Anonymous]

28 year old: never
25 year old: once, as an adult (was a passenger in a car that was in a crash)
22 year old: never

[Anonymous]

7yo: once, for a kidney infection that we initially thought might be appendicitis
2yo: twice...once for anaphylaxis, 2nd time for complications due to RSV

[Anonymous]

Ages 11 and 8. Probably 3 times each for stitches.

[Anonymous]

8: once, spiked a fever as a newborn
6: 0

We usually go to urgent care for sports injuries

[Anonymous]

12: 0
8: 1

Our urgent care stats were similar up until about 2 years ago. We have been more times than i can count bc they ONLY get very sick or have a problem when the ped is closed

[Anonymous]

6: 0
3: 1 (electrocution, we were admitted but he’s ok)

[Anonymous]

8 year old boy--0
5 year old girl--2x (once at age 6 months when she vomiting repeatedly and was acting really lethargic/having trouble holding her head up and staying awake. Turned out to just be a stomach virus, luckily.; once at age 3 when she ran into the corner of a table and had a pretty bad cut on her forehead that needed stitches and when we called her Dr. they said to go to the ER instead of urgent care since she was so young--I guess some urgent cares don't really deal w/ pediatric patients?)

[Anonymous]

11yo DD: 1x for a scalp lac that needed staples
8yo DS: 3x, febrile seizure, stitches in lip, scalp lac that got glued together

[Anonymous]

6 year old — 3 times, but all sent there by pediatrician. One super high fever (106.5 I think) and one very low temp in the same illness, for 2 separate visits. And one dislocated elbow.

[Anonymous]

23 and 21 and neither have ever gone to the ER.