Really frustrated with peds office -- advice

Annie

Sun, Aug 09 2009, 8:59 pm

So, I took my 7 yr old in on Thursday morning to sick call b/c he'd been complaining about his throat for a couple of days and he woke up with a fever and cough (the one he always gets when he has some sort of infection). So, the doctor checked him out and his lungs were clear and his ears were clear and he did a throat culture. The rapid test came back clear so he said "okay, he doesn't have strep." So, I figured virus, and I'll watch him and see how he's doing. Also, I know that they usually culture them overnight, so I figured by Friday at 12 when we hadn't heard, he for sure had a virus. So, on shabbos, when he seemed to be feeling better, I let him play outside and get shvitzy and hang out with the neighbor's kids.

This morning, dh gets a phone call from one of the doctor's on call and says "oh, your son has strep, I'll fax in an antibiotic."

So, it now takes them THREE days to return results? Why did we not get a phone call on Friday or Shabbos?

I guess, if he does have strep (even though he really seemed a lot better today) then I'm glad to know, but SO frustrated that I didn't know until today. If it'd been a school week, I'd have had to keep him out of school tomorrow and today.

Who do I complain to? Neither doctor was my regular pediatrician, just doctor's in the practice, but they're usually responsible . . .

Thoughts?

bubby

Mon, Aug 10 2009, 8:44 am

I think you should say something to the doctor. It was probably an error by a receptionist or something for not phoning the results through, but a potentially dangerous one (untreated strep can have very serious consequences), & they could be liable if it happens again. Not to mention the fact that your DS had to wait 3 days to get started on meds that work within 24 hours! shock

Next time, can you call them? If they are sloppy about notifying parents you may just have to be persistent. Hope DS is feeling better.

Annie

Mon, Aug 10 2009, 3:10 pm

Thanks. B'H he's already feeling better. I will call the nurse later this afternoon. Usually they tell me "if you don't hear from us, it's good news" so I don't usually call them. I just needed to get it off my chest, b/c as someone mentioned, he would've been feeling better in 24 hours, and not been contagious.

Thanks.

rydys

Mon, Sep 07 2009, 3:48 pm

Sounds like a conscientious doctor to me!

When doing an overnight throat culture, sometimes it can take up to 5 days for the strep to grow. Just because it is negative 24 hours later does not mean it is really negative. Lots of doctors throw out the cultures after 24 hours, the good ones keep it for up to 5 days. It sounds like your son's was one of the slow growing ones.

If the rapid was negative, you did not do anything wrong by letting him play with friends. Strep is usually a mild disease, not as big of a deal as the frum community seems to make it out to be.

Annie

Mon, Sep 07 2009, 8:34 pm

I guess I never "closed" the event mentioned in this thread, I vented, he got better and I forgot about it. The last time I was at the doctor's office, I casually asked the nurse how long they run the strep cultures. She said they run a rapid, then an overnight, and if it's still negative, they put it in for 48 hours. She said usually if it's negative on the overnight it won't become positive on the 48 hr, but sometimes it does. So, that's what happened. I just didn't even know that was a possibility, but now I know.

abismommy

Mon, Sep 07 2009, 9:15 pm

I also had a positive response once for two of my kids after the 3rd day (not yet 48 hours, but more than 36) and I was shocked, but the nurse told me that sometimes when the rapid is negative but the 24-hour culture looks questionable or the child had symptoms of strep they leave it for 3-4 days because something often shows up. I thought that was responsible and good practice, rather than throw out the culture after 24 hours and have me come back the 3rd day because the sore throat/fever wasn't going away.