Background
My experience has been with Children’s of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham. We have been there for several different procedures mostly the cardiac unit and ENT. The staff at Children’s do a wonderful job preparing the families, but this is my “boots on the ground” take. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have more questions.
Outpatient procedure
The day’s schedule is ranked based on age, the youngest case will be the first procedure and the oldest will be the last procedure. Also, there is no way to tell if the cases before your child will be more complicated than originally expected. Until the doctors get into the procedure, they only have a solution as best as the imaging provided. All this to say, be prepared to wait….a lot. Make sure to pack plenty of age appropriate activities to help entertain. Here is a run down of our last outpatient procedure, which was by far the most intense situation, so anything you experience will go smoother than this:
Timeline for Outpatient procedures
-7:00 am – Check-in (we were the third and last case of the day, so our check-in was later)
-7:30 am – Triaged into a room, this is usually a blood draw and the placing of an IV. These days probably a COVID test, too. Let the waiting begin.
-8:00 am – Multiple techs, doctors, and nurses start filing in and out asking all of their respective questions. It’s a blur and totally normal. When the Child Life Specialist shows up, make sure to ask them for any toys or supplies (crayons, stickers, etc.) you may have forgotten. They are wonderful at helping make the wait go faster and have amazing resources!
-1:00 pm – At this point, we knew something was up because we had been told that our turn would probably be around lunch. Turns out the first case slept through their alarm, but the second case was present so they swapped their positions. Unfortunately, the first case, now second case, ended up being way more complex, which translates to more wait time.
-3:00 pm – He finally went back for his heart catheter procedure. The nurses came in and gave him some Versed, we got to walk with him down the hall a little ways before he went back into a restricted area. The nurses will constantly give updates on the progress. But if it has been too long for your comfort, go ask the nurses at the desk and they will call back to get you an update.
-5:40 pm We were notified that he was out of the procedure and coming out of anesthesia in post op. Apparently, he woke up swinging, so we had to wait a little longer to see him.
-6:00 pm The outpatient wing was officially closed for the evening. The nurses finally brought us to him and since he had not been monitored long enough post-op, they were keeping him overnight. This will happen in other instances, as well, if your child can not maintain an oxygen saturation above 95. That happened to us, too.
Main Take-aways
- Be prepared to wait
- Pack lots of small age appropriate activities
- Pack for an extra night