musings about a recent trip to the dr

A couple of days ago, I went to the pediatric clinic because Maitlyn hurt her foot in a "playground incident". (That's the wording that was on the slip.) She's fine, but I just wanted to ponder a couple of things about my experience.

#1--There was a television in the waiting room. The show that was on was probably fine for an older elementary child, but was not appropriate for my younger children. I'm not saying it had foul language or nudity or anything like that. The subject matter was just too mature for them to understand. Additionally, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends NO television at all for children under 2 years of age and a 2 hour limit for those older than 2. So, why would they have a TV in their waiting room? Doesn't that go against the recommendations of their own professional association?

#2--Picture this with me. I have 3 children. The oldest one has a hurt foot. She cannot put weight on the foot, so she is hopping everywhere. She is holding onto me for balance. She's only 5, so she is not particularly good at hopping for long distances or even standing on one foot for an extended period of time. I also have a rather active 3 year old who likes to run circles around me where ever I go. Her movements are hard to predict and she "cuts me off" many times a day. Then I have a baby in a car seat. Have you ever carried one of these things? First of all, they are heavy. Second of all, carrying a car seat is a completely unnatural movement. It is very awkward.

So, when we are called back to the examining room, I am carrying a baby in a car seat, trying to corral an active 3 year old who is running circles around me AND supporting a 5 year old who is hopping on 1 foot. Things are a little dicey. It strikes me as odd that the nurse (or anyone else for that matter) did not offer to help us get to our room, or even get through the door for that matter. I clearly needed help. Someone could have carried Amelia in her car seat or helped Maitlyn to hop to the scale and then the examining room. After thinking about it, I wondered, is there some sort of liability issue here? Are the nurses and other staff prohibited from carrying a baby to a room or touching a hurt child to help her hop along? I don't know. If liability is not the issue, then is it just that the nurse did not care that we needed help? Isn't a big part of the medical field helping people? Anyway, we made it through. No one helped. Only once did someone even hold the door for us--and that was just part of the standard procedure of being escorted from the waiting room to the scale. It was interesting.