What parents should keep in mind before going to the ER with a sick child

As Quebec’s Health Minister urges nurses to come back to work to answer thousands of 811 calls and help with our overcrowded emergency rooms – it’s important we all do our part. We spoke with Dr. Christopher Labos,  cardiologist and epidemiologist, for some tips on what parents should do before heading to the ER with sick children.

We know that it’s hard to get a quick appointment to see a doctor and that many turn to 811 before going to the emergency room. But now even that system can’t keep up with the demand. So what are some things that parents should look out for before they decide to go to the ER with sick kids?

It’s very hard for most people to know, are you sick enough to go to the emergency room or not? If your child or you are struggling to breathe, if you need oxygen, that’s probably the most important factor that’s going to determine whether you need to go to the emergency room or not. But the reality is, if there’s a doubt in your mind, it’s always better to play it safe. The worst that’s going to happen is they’re going to send you home. It’s just that now the wait to see the doctor for that first assessment is just getting longer and longer.

Quebec has set up some clinics to respond to the high demand of multiple viruses circulating right now – Health Minister Dubé is calling on nurses to come help – but saying things will get worse before they get better – so do you think these measures will be enough?

They’re going to help a little bit. The more opportunities or the more outlets you have for people to seek medical care, the better off they’re going to be. Most people who go to the emergency room don’t necessarily need to be hospitalized. What they need is a rapid assessment. So if you have an alternative for them, if you can have them see a doctor or nurse in a relatively short period of time, that might be enough, for at least that section of the population that’s showing up to the emergency room and is sick but doesn’t necessarily need to be hospitalized, doesn’t need oxygen, really just needs, for example, a chest X-ray and antibiotics. If you can have a way to get them seen quickly than that will at least decompress the emergency rooms a little bit.

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What more can we all do – to help protect our children – as we enter the busy holiday season and the weather gets even colder?
Honestly, the same rules that have applied before still apply now. Get your vaccine, so get your COVID booster shot, get your flu shot, and make sure your young kids get their flu shot too, because now at least the flu shot is available to everyone and is free. So get your vaccines and be careful. If you’re sick, stay home. And, if you’re going to go out into a public space, I would wear a mask. We know that masks work. We know that masks help. Wearing a mask in a public indoor settings is going to make it less likely that you’re sick and if we have less sick people, we’ll have less people in the emergency room, that’s just the basic math of the situation.