You’re right. It is indeed a non-issue.
Yeah, sorry. That’s one of those first-world comforts I’m reluctant to give up: no strange kids or livestock in the same room with me while I’m being treated. Be it check-up, blood draw, piss test, or major surgery.
No doubt I’m losing out somehow, insulated in my glass tower away from the simple integrity of our tribal roots. Ah, well.
(… livestock?)
I used to work in a clinical lab. We’re the ones that got that tube of blood once she finished taking it. That would never in a million years have been allowed where I was. Company policy was no one under the age of 18 allowed in any area where samples were present, period. As has been mentioned, having anyone not directly involved in an area where samples were being taken is also illegal in the US thanks to HIPPA, though I note the OP lists an Australian location. I don’t know the regulations there.
It’s less about danger, either to the patient or child, though that is a non-zero risk, and more about making sure everyone is focused on their job so there are no mix-ups or contamination. You cannot imagine how much work goes into minimizing these risks. Having an uncontrolled element like a young kid around makes all that work useless. And if you have never worked in an environment like that, but just sort of “reckon” that it shouldn’t be a problem, you have no idea what you’re talking about, so please keep your uninformed opinions to yourself.
Well, yes actually. My kid had been trekking around India when he got a blast to his eye from some unknown substance during a street festival. Attending the local hospital (where, by the way, he got the best of care) was quite bemused to see a couple of cows wandering the corridors while patients sat and lay on gurneys waiting to be seen by the docs.
Haven’t seen that here in Australia. 
I love children and welcome them at almost any time, but this is not professional and it’s totally inappropriate. It’s not a matter of having to LOOK at a child, and I think it’s really silly to act like that’s the complaint. A little kid dancing around getting into the supplies while her parent is trying to do her job that involves poking people with sharp objects and handling their blood? Seriously? No way is that the same as having to see a child.
For me personally that parent would not want their child in the room because I have full blown panic attacks when it comes to needles. I would not want my own child to see me in that state, and for what I have to pay to see a doctor I think I should be afforded at least a hint of privacy anyway.
OK, I know they’re sacred and therefore allowed to go wherever they please, but I didn’t know they could, I dunno, really really ferreals roam where they pleased!
Oh, and evensven? Please tell me you’re just messing with us…
Not messing with anyone.Nobody got harmed. No bad sticks, no panic attacks, no broken glass. Nothing. Therefor, the only thing left to complain about is the fact that the child was actually there.
If you feel like you’ve sustained anything but the mildest level of annoyance because of the presence of a child, you have now entered the realm of the wimpiest people on earth. Buck up. The nurse is probably having a bad enough day anyway, the last thing she needs is some busybody making her life harder for absolutely no reason at all.
My reaction would probably have been mitigated by the scenario as a whole. It is unprofessional, and if the person drawing my blood thought it was just the cutest thing when the kid danced around and played then maybe I’d say something because this person would obviously not be understanding that this is not really the place for kids to be playing (safety issues, privacy, just basic courtesy).
However, if she seemed like this was not a norm (maybe she’s flustered, or says things like “honey Beth will be here to get you in 10 minutes” or something like that, or even says it straight out to you “I’m sorry, we’ve had a childcare emergency”) then I’d let it go. Of course I don’t want the person sticking me to be side tracked, but at that point I’d figure she is already having a worse day than I am and just roll with it.
You’re absolutely right even sven, I was mildly annoyed. And the nurse was probably having a bad day too, no doubt. :rolleyes:
But neither mitigate the fact that having a five-year old child in a medical consulting room watching blood being drawn is inappropriate, both for the patient and the child. I felt downright uncomfortable watching this kid watching ME, (and I’m generally extremely tolerant of kids) but I wonder how absolutely freaked out many of the other patients would have been as all the people in the waiting room were elderly.
There was NO REASON for the little girl to have been in that room at that time. I was first seen in an office adjoining the ‘blood room’ to fill out the paperwork etc, and she could have stayed there quite happily for the few minutes it took to complete the procedure.
:mad:
Well, no one was harmed this time and probably a mistake or accident is unlikely. But the reason for such rules is to minimize the likelihood of such a mistake or accident. (I noticed that when I go for blood draws, the phlebotomist asks me my name and birthdate before she starts, just to make sure that the label she’s putting on the sample corresponds to the person in front of her.)
But kids do it all the time in labs in Cameroon and those turn out – oh. Yeah.
If you have a personal problem with me unrelated to this thread, please take that to the appropriate place.
Kambuckta, your position sounds perfectly reasonable and reality based, unlike some of the wild speculation and faux-horror that followed.
I think it’s more that you sometimes say such bizarre things that people get a bit fed up.
even sven, making the massive jump from this:
to this:
is just asking for people to say WTF? You managed to not read what he wrote and to then insult him and others for agreeing that a child “dancing around the room, playing with the gear” is a bad idea in a blood lab. Don’t be surprised when people question your judgment and methodology of getting from A to B.
I didn’t say anything that other people didn’t say. although I’ll admit I was a bit more forceful with how I said it. More to the point, I didn’t say a single thing about Cameroon. If someone has a problem with something I say, respond to that. If someone has a problem with me as a poster, take it to the pit. But don’t bring unrelated stuff in just to make potshots at me.
Your background is context for what you wrote. I didn’t see the reference as insulting, just a joke based on your context, but I guess if you find it out of line, so be it.
Sorry, even sven. I didn’t mean it in a rude way, just in a sort of reference to how you’ve spent some time in developing countries and have brought it up in the past. I know you’ve brought up that people in the U.S. are a little anal/paranoid compared with some of the cultures you’ve spent time in, and I just wanted to point out that maybe sometimes our paranoia is a good thing…
Well, of course not. There isn’t room for them, what with all the kangaroos.
Well, to be fair, kids are really, really good at collecting pathologies.