Chinanews.com, Beijing, December 12 (Shao Meng, Zhang Yuhui) The pediatric outpatient and emergency department is still at the peak of treatment. Chinanews.com recently visited and found that many children and parents in the pediatric departments of many children's hospitals and general hospitals in Beijing were still waiting for treatment until the early hours of the morning. Similarly, in late November, hospitals in Gansu, Jilin, Tianjin and other places issued announcements saying that the number of pediatric visits had risen, and the pressure on pediatric outpatient and emergency visits was high. At the same time, the triage effect of community hospitals has begun to appear.
In response to the heavy tasks of pediatric diagnosis and treatment services in some places, on December 12, the National Health Commission issued a notice requiring maternal and child health care institutions at all levels to extend outpatient hours, increase the number of outpatient clinics, open additional consultation rooms and diagnosis and treatment areas, and open night and weekend outpatient clinics according to the needs of children's medical services, so as to meet the needs of children for medical treatment to the greatest extent.
At 11:28 on November 22, in the outpatient building of Beijing Children's Hospital, the peripheral blood collection was called No. 20. Photo by Shao Meng
await
At 11:28 on the evening of November 22, the outpatient building of Beijing Children's Hospital was brightly lit, and the triage desk of the internal medicine night clinic on the fourth floor was full of parents calling and consulting. A staff member on duty told Chinanews.com that at that time, it had been hung up to No. 00, and on the electronic horizontal screen above, the progress of the treatment was fixed within No. 1200. "There are 970 doctors sitting in the consultation, and it is a matter of time to see whether they can see it." She said.
In the infusion center on the second floor, the row of chairs was full of people, and the sound of coughing and crying could be heard from time to time. Parents without seats set up folding chairs in the hallway, and children are placed in trolleys or wheelchairs. Someone spread a mat in the corner and sat on the floor with the child in his arms. On the walls, on the columns, the hooks are staggered – this is where parents use to hang the IV bags. Some parents simply stood all the time, holding their children in one hand and holding the infusion bag high in the other.
At 22:20, the blood collection room at the end of the second floor, the number has been lined up to 2870. At the same time, Ms. Wang, who had arrived from Shunyi District, 50 kilometers away, had just taken her one-and-a-half-year-old son to receive an infusion, after waiting for nearly five hours.
"It takes time to draw blood and other results, it takes time to see a doctor, it takes time to queue up for infusions and medicines, and it takes time." Within 5 hours, Ms. Wang's family had already experienced many waits, and the next day, she needed to re-register and bring her children to queue up for infusions after work.
In the outpatient building of Beijing Children's Hospital, parents put hooks on the walls to hang infusion bags. Photo by Shao Meng
repeatedly
Ms. Wang told Chinanews.com that as early as October, her son had been infected with Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and on November 10, the child began to have a fever and cough, with a maximum fever of 11 °C, and he did not get better after taking the medicine for 25 days.
Not far from Ms. Wang, an elderly man sat in a chair, humming a lullaby and holding his granddaughter and rocking gently. The girl's face was a little red, she coughed twice from time to time, and quietly waited for the examination report with her grandmother. Last week, she had 3 infusions here, but the cough and fever came and went. The old man said that the child had bronchitis caused by a bacterial infection, and the children around him also had influenza A or mycoplasma pneumonia.
"It's turned pneumonia." At 22:30, the girl's mother hurried over with the CT report, and ran to the pharmacy to prescribe medicine after a sentence. The old man took the report and held it up in front of him to examine it carefully. After a while, the mother came back with a bag of medicine, instructed "three meals a day, don't leave it behind", picked up the girl and disappeared into the outpatient building.
Chinanews interviewed a number of parents of the children and found that there were many infections including influenza A, respiratory syncytial virus infection, bacterial infection, and mycoplasma pneumonia.
The "interweaving" of various respiratory pathogens is one of the characteristics of this round of infection. The Comprehensive Group of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council issued a document on November 11 pointing out that this winter and next spring may face a superimposed epidemic of various respiratory diseases such as new coronavirus, influenza and Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. All localities are required to coordinate the deployment of medical resources according to specific conditions, and strengthen the production and supply guarantee of relevant treatment drugs.
On the evening of November 11, the triage desk of the outpatient building of Beijing Children's Hospital and the internal medicine clinic was crowded. Photo by Zhang Yuhui
footrace
At 23:15 p.m., the outpatient building gradually fell silent. Two nurses came to the second floor and asked, "Are there any parents on the fourth floor?" "On the fourth floor, the night clinic has stopped on-site registration, and parents who come to the clinic are advised to go to the big night clinic of the emergency center.
At 0:00 a.m., a crowd of people poured into the overnight internal medicine clinic of the emergency center. Here, medical staff continue to race against time to ensure the care of the child. Amid the cacophony of voices, a nurse on duty patiently guided parents who were in a hurry to see a doctor, while shaking her head to keep herself awake. As for the registration, "Wait, there are more than two hundred and fifty numbers ahead, so you can see it before seven o'clock in the morning." ”
Chinanews.com noticed that the sign at the door reminds parents that they can "check before diagnosis and then see a doctor", that is, preliminarily improve the blood routine before diagnosis, and parents who want to carry out influenza A and B virus antigen detection and Mycoplasma pneumoniae nucleic acid testing in advance can open a laboratory test in advance, and the results of respiratory pathogen detection will be available in 2-3 hours, and the results of Mycoplasma pneumoniae nucleic acid testing will be available at about 12 noon on the same day.
Chinanews has learned that in order to simplify the process and shorten the waiting time, the pediatric departments of many hospitals, including Beijing Children's Hospital, have implemented the measure of "laboratory testing before diagnosis and treatment", and can prescribe blood routine and other testing items before treatment. One parent also said that if there is a routine blood test order within 3 days, there is no need to queue up again for testing.
On the evening of November 11, the emergency center of Beijing Children's Hospital. Photo by Shao Meng
shunt
In addition to the pediatrics department of the tertiary hospital, the diversion effect of primary medical and health service institutions has initially appeared. Chinanews has noticed that many places have recently announced information on primary medical institutions that can provide pediatric diagnosis and treatment services, and many community health service centers can also provide medical services such as blood routine, imaging, infusion, and nebulization. However, some parents have reported that whether they can be infused and whether they can get children's medicine need specific consultation.
At the Yuetan Community Health Service Center in Xicheng District, a general practitioner told Chinanews.com that the hospital has a special pediatric outpatient clinic, which can be hung during the day, but for the time being, it can only do routine blood and mycoplasma testing, and cannot do etiological testing for influenza. The staff of the hospital said that after consulting the doctor, they can prescribe medicine and infusion if necessary.
A security guard said that the number of patients who have come to the clinic has increased significantly recently, and it is necessary to come to the queue about an hour in advance, "at 7 in the morning and at 12 at noon". There is only one pediatrician in the hospital, and 50 numbers are hung up every day.
The pediatric clinic of the Yuetan Community Health Service Center. Photo by Zhang Yuhui
For some parents, a children's hospital is not the first choice. Ms. Wang said that she was worried about cross-infection, and before coming to Beijing Children's Hospital for medical treatment, she had taken her child to the county hospital near her home for examination and prescription, and until the situation did not improve, she chose to come here for a systematic examination to find out the specific cause. However, a parent also told Chinanews that on the day her child had symptoms of cold and fever, she took her child here directly to hang up emergency infusion.
A doctor from the pediatric inpatient department of a tertiary hospital told Chinanews that since the end of September, the pediatric outpatient and inpatient departments of the hospital have been getting busier and busier, and now the source of the disease is also very mixed.
The National Health Commission reminded at the press conference on November 11 that large hospitals are densely populated, the waiting time is long, the risk of cross-infection is high, and if there are children at home with mild symptoms, it is recommended to go to primary medical and health institutions or general hospitals for pediatric treatment.
On December 12, the National Health Commission issued the "Notice on Guiding Maternal and Child Health Care Institutions to Do a Good Job in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Children's Respiratory Diseases", saying that it will guide maternal and child health institutions at all levels to further improve the diagnosis and treatment services for children's respiratory diseases by increasing the supply of pediatric medical services in maternal and child health care institutions and optimizing the allocation of regional pediatric medical resources. (ENDS)