Keep your sick kid over there!

[deannanb]

I'm at the peds office for shots only and sicko kid is being allowed to run all over the waiting room and is in some kids face (not my kid). Stupid parents

[kozachka]

Not nice... Our ped in CA had separate waiting areas for sick and healthy kids.

[lorinick]

Not nice... Our ped in CA had separate waiting areas for sick and healthy kids.

same here in NJ.

[jerigirl]

Ours does to. We were just there today on the "sick" side. :(

[egoldber]

My ped has that too. I love that.

[elektra]

We have the sick and well sides too but the well side is usually more packed and it never fails that there are kids with hacking coughs and sneezes on the well side too.
I think parents are just in denial that their kids are really sick or are at least "well enough" to be on the well side. Either that or they are just not considerate of others. I hate the waiting room part of the dr.'s office!

[malphy]

My ped has 2 waiting areas as well. Last time I was there w/sick dd this woman let her children do whatever they want, incluind moving furniture and blocking the exit/entrance to the exam rooms. I couldn't believe how she let the behave.

I figured her punishment would be that her kids would get sick. Considering that she let her dd come into the sick area and take all the crayons and chairs.

I was just shocked.

[elliput]

I think parents are just in denial that their kids are really sick or are at least "well enough" to be on the well side. Either that or they are just not considerate of others.

My guess is that they are not aware enough to read the signs. My old Ped's office would switch the sides depending on the time of year. In winter, the larger waiting area would be the sick side, and in summer, it would be the smaller side. I doubt many people took the time to notice that the signs were changed as to which side was which.

[egoldber]

In fairness, a hacking cough could easily be allergies or asthma, so nothing contagious there.

[shawnandangel]

I love my Ped's office. The sick side is an open air room. The well side is an enclosed room. It's pretty small and you would bet I would say something if there was someone hacking everywhere! Like "The sick side is over there, this is the well side." Yeah, know it sounds not very nice but sorry, don't want to deal with a sick baby.

Anyways, what I really love about my Ped's office is she has a newborn room! It's way off seperate from the sick and well child rooms wooohoooo

[lilycat88]

Our ped makes every effort to schedule well appointments in the mornings and sick appointments in the afternoon. I'm a fan of that.

[randomkid]

Our ped makes every effort to schedule well appointments in the mornings and sick appointments in the afternoon. I'm a fan of that.

:yeahthat: My ped has specific times for well visits and sick visits, although they often overlap. They also have separate waiting areas, but the office is small, so really it's just a well side and a sick side in the same room. I do get aggravated when sick kids come over to the well side. However, when DD is sick, I tend to stand in the middle of the sick side and hold her. I don't let her sit in the chairs or play with the toys. I figure she is already sick, I don't need her getting something else. Then, if she does touch anything, I wash her hands as soon as we get to the exam room.

[Melanie]

Our ped used to have a very separate well and sick side, I really liked that. However, to be honest, whenever my kids were there for something like a cold we'd wait outside in the hallway on a bench, I was too in fear someone in the sick side might have some kind of stomach virus!

Now they just have a partioned area with doors adjacent to the regular room. We've not gone too often but it seems awkward and difficult for people to keep the sick kids in there, and they still have to walk by all of the well toys (i.e. touch them). Dd kept wanting to go in there to get out one of the sick toys last time. I suppose it's better than nothing.

And on a related note, a mom brought her very very sick toddler to Dd's dance class today! I couldn't believe it! The child's sibling was in the class, but this baby was soooo sick and the mom was going on and on about how sick the child was. "Hello, stay HOME! It's a dance class, not SATs." I scrubbed Dd down afterwards in case the sibling was carrying it, too.

[jenmcadams]

Our ped is pretty adamant about not having a separate sick and well side...they don't think they work and people are always mis-classifyin themselves. We never wait more than 5 minutes out in the lobby though...they get everyone back to rooms pretty quickly (and the wait in the rooms is rarely long). This Ped's office is highly sought after...all of the docs and PAs are amazing and it's really well run (e.g. no waiting times). Our old ped in FL, had a separate baby/newborn room which was ok, but every once in a while someone would be in there with an older sibling who was obviously not feeling well.

[DrSally]

We don't have sick and well sides either. The office said they had so many complaints about "cross-overs" that they just made it one room. I wish we had fast waiting times, but it's often/usually about 15-20 min. It's hard to keep DS from running around and touching things during that time.

[JTsMom]

When DS was a newborn, it was critical that he not get sick b/c of his heart. I had him at the ped for a well check, and a little girl was hacking all over the place and came and sat right next to us (the waiting room was totally empty- she just wanted to see the baby). Her mom told me, "she's not contagious anymore." Uh, yeah, thanks, I don't think I want to roll those dice.

I waited in the hall from there on out.

[infomama]

When DS was a newborn, it was critical that he not get sick b/c of his heart. I had him at the ped for a well check, and a little girl was hacking all over the place and came and sat right next to us (the waiting room was totally empty- she just wanted to see the baby). Her mom told me, "she's not contagious anymore." Uh, yeah, thanks, I don't think I want to roll those dice.

I waited in the hall from there on out.

I'm with ya... would have started walking away when she started walking towards us.