Question...

[JazzysMom]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>nlwlrandall</b></i>

Okay, but then how do you keep yourselves safe and protected when going to CF clinics? I know you can't put yourself or your children in a plastic bubble, but what kind of measures and precautions do the clinics take to control the environment; and what do you yourselves do to limit contamination?</end quote></div>

Every clinic is different. Some will provide beepers to page you when the doctor is ready so you can wonder about instead of waiting inside the clinic, some put you in seperate rooms as soon as you enter the clinic. Some have you mask up etc and sadly some still use a common waiting area & even playrooms/toys.

IF whatever clinic you use doesnt follow safety guidelines that you feel comfortable with then its up to you to say "Hey I dont like this so I will be (insert area), come get me so we dont have to sit with the others).

CFF (cf foundation) requires the accredited centers to use certain protocals, but that isnt always enough to assure it happens.

 

[JazzysMom]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>nlwlrandall</b></i>

Okay, but then how do you keep yourselves safe and protected when going to CF clinics? I know you can't put yourself or your children in a plastic bubble, but what kind of measures and precautions do the clinics take to control the environment; and what do you yourselves do to limit contamination?</end quote></div>

Every clinic is different. Some will provide beepers to page you when the doctor is ready so you can wonder about instead of waiting inside the clinic, some put you in seperate rooms as soon as you enter the clinic. Some have you mask up etc and sadly some still use a common waiting area & even playrooms/toys.

IF whatever clinic you use doesnt follow safety guidelines that you feel comfortable with then its up to you to say "Hey I dont like this so I will be (insert area), come get me so we dont have to sit with the others).

CFF (cf foundation) requires the accredited centers to use certain protocals, but that isnt always enough to assure it happens.

 

[JazzysMom]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>nlwlrandall</b></i>

Okay, but then how do you keep yourselves safe and protected when going to CF clinics? I know you can't put yourself or your children in a plastic bubble, but what kind of measures and precautions do the clinics take to control the environment; and what do you yourselves do to limit contamination?</end quote></div>

Every clinic is different. Some will provide beepers to page you when the doctor is ready so you can wonder about instead of waiting inside the clinic, some put you in seperate rooms as soon as you enter the clinic. Some have you mask up etc and sadly some still use a common waiting area & even playrooms/toys.

IF whatever clinic you use doesnt follow safety guidelines that you feel comfortable with then its up to you to say "Hey I dont like this so I will be (insert area), come get me so we dont have to sit with the others).

CFF (cf foundation) requires the accredited centers to use certain protocals, but that isnt always enough to assure it happens.

 

[JazzysMom]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>nlwlrandall</b></i>

Okay, but then how do you keep yourselves safe and protected when going to CF clinics? I know you can't put yourself or your children in a plastic bubble, but what kind of measures and precautions do the clinics take to control the environment; and what do you yourselves do to limit contamination?</end quote>

Every clinic is different. Some will provide beepers to page you when the doctor is ready so you can wonder about instead of waiting inside the clinic, some put you in seperate rooms as soon as you enter the clinic. Some have you mask up etc and sadly some still use a common waiting area & even playrooms/toys.

IF whatever clinic you use doesnt follow safety guidelines that you feel comfortable with then its up to you to say "Hey I dont like this so I will be (insert area), come get me so we dont have to sit with the others).

CFF (cf foundation) requires the accredited centers to use certain protocals, but that isnt always enough to assure it happens.

 

[JazzysMom]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>nlwlrandall</b></i>

Okay, but then how do you keep yourselves safe and protected when going to CF clinics? I know you can't put yourself or your children in a plastic bubble, but what kind of measures and precautions do the clinics take to control the environment; and what do you yourselves do to limit contamination?</end quote>

Every clinic is different. Some will provide beepers to page you when the doctor is ready so you can wonder about instead of waiting inside the clinic, some put you in seperate rooms as soon as you enter the clinic. Some have you mask up etc and sadly some still use a common waiting area & even playrooms/toys.

IF whatever clinic you use doesnt follow safety guidelines that you feel comfortable with then its up to you to say "Hey I dont like this so I will be (insert area), come get me so we dont have to sit with the others).

CFF (cf foundation) requires the accredited centers to use certain protocals, but that isnt always enough to assure it happens.

 

[Alyssa]

I have experienced both a very large clinic and a smaller clinic and have seen some differences in protocol. You just have to check out what they are doing for yourself and then do more for yourself if necessary to make sure you feel comfortable.

As Melissa mentioned, at the larger clinic my daughter would always grab a mask and keep it on until we got in our own room. We were told that each room was wiped clean between each person seen. Patients with MRSA were scheduled at the end of the day as an added precaution and patients with B. Cepacia were treated on a entirely different day. We were also given pagers after we checked in so we were free to leave the common waiting room. They did take care to see that each pager got wiped clean again before being given out to another family. There were some commonly shared toys and joysticks for video games -- my kids were too old to even want these items, but had they been younger I would not have allowed them to use them unless I cleaned them off first or possibly not at all. Had it been an issue I would have probably just carried my own set of toys with us to keep them occupied.

We always take extra care to wash our hands while there or use hand sanitizer at different points throughout the visit, especially upon leaving the hospital and before eating anything. This is also just a good rule of thumb with trying to avoid any bugs weather or not you have CF -- just the common cold can be a pain in the neck for anyone.

I have found at the smaller clinic in North Dakota they did not seem to be "doing" as much as what I was used to in Seattle. At first I was taken aback by this, but then realized some of it -- different clinic days, pager stuff etc was just not necessary because they do not see the amount of people in a day that the Seattle clinic did. I was also told that <b>nobody here had ever </b>cultured B. Cepacia and no one was currently culturing any MRSA either. Also when I asked how many patients were scheduled that day, I was told including my son.....FIVE ! Hahahahah Five for the whole morning! That is incredibly different from Seattle -- they had several doctors all working clinic hours the entire day -- there were something like 20 individual rooms and most of them full, with people also in the waiting room -- so I'd say the chances of exposure go way down at a smaller clinic, where I'm pretty sure we only saw one other CF patient waiting to be seen at roughly the same time as us. And the waiting room was quite large so I felt fine about it.

 

[Alyssa]

I have experienced both a very large clinic and a smaller clinic and have seen some differences in protocol. You just have to check out what they are doing for yourself and then do more for yourself if necessary to make sure you feel comfortable.

As Melissa mentioned, at the larger clinic my daughter would always grab a mask and keep it on until we got in our own room. We were told that each room was wiped clean between each person seen. Patients with MRSA were scheduled at the end of the day as an added precaution and patients with B. Cepacia were treated on a entirely different day. We were also given pagers after we checked in so we were free to leave the common waiting room. They did take care to see that each pager got wiped clean again before being given out to another family. There were some commonly shared toys and joysticks for video games -- my kids were too old to even want these items, but had they been younger I would not have allowed them to use them unless I cleaned them off first or possibly not at all. Had it been an issue I would have probably just carried my own set of toys with us to keep them occupied.

We always take extra care to wash our hands while there or use hand sanitizer at different points throughout the visit, especially upon leaving the hospital and before eating anything. This is also just a good rule of thumb with trying to avoid any bugs weather or not you have CF -- just the common cold can be a pain in the neck for anyone.

I have found at the smaller clinic in North Dakota they did not seem to be "doing" as much as what I was used to in Seattle. At first I was taken aback by this, but then realized some of it -- different clinic days, pager stuff etc was just not necessary because they do not see the amount of people in a day that the Seattle clinic did. I was also told that <b>nobody here had ever </b>cultured B. Cepacia and no one was currently culturing any MRSA either. Also when I asked how many patients were scheduled that day, I was told including my son.....FIVE ! Hahahahah Five for the whole morning! That is incredibly different from Seattle -- they had several doctors all working clinic hours the entire day -- there were something like 20 individual rooms and most of them full, with people also in the waiting room -- so I'd say the chances of exposure go way down at a smaller clinic, where I'm pretty sure we only saw one other CF patient waiting to be seen at roughly the same time as us. And the waiting room was quite large so I felt fine about it.

 

[Alyssa]

I have experienced both a very large clinic and a smaller clinic and have seen some differences in protocol. You just have to check out what they are doing for yourself and then do more for yourself if necessary to make sure you feel comfortable.

As Melissa mentioned, at the larger clinic my daughter would always grab a mask and keep it on until we got in our own room. We were told that each room was wiped clean between each person seen. Patients with MRSA were scheduled at the end of the day as an added precaution and patients with B. Cepacia were treated on a entirely different day. We were also given pagers after we checked in so we were free to leave the common waiting room. They did take care to see that each pager got wiped clean again before being given out to another family. There were some commonly shared toys and joysticks for video games -- my kids were too old to even want these items, but had they been younger I would not have allowed them to use them unless I cleaned them off first or possibly not at all. Had it been an issue I would have probably just carried my own set of toys with us to keep them occupied.

We always take extra care to wash our hands while there or use hand sanitizer at different points throughout the visit, especially upon leaving the hospital and before eating anything. This is also just a good rule of thumb with trying to avoid any bugs weather or not you have CF -- just the common cold can be a pain in the neck for anyone.

I have found at the smaller clinic in North Dakota they did not seem to be "doing" as much as what I was used to in Seattle. At first I was taken aback by this, but then realized some of it -- different clinic days, pager stuff etc was just not necessary because they do not see the amount of people in a day that the Seattle clinic did. I was also told that <b>nobody here had ever </b>cultured B. Cepacia and no one was currently culturing any MRSA either. Also when I asked how many patients were scheduled that day, I was told including my son.....FIVE ! Hahahahah Five for the whole morning! That is incredibly different from Seattle -- they had several doctors all working clinic hours the entire day -- there were something like 20 individual rooms and most of them full, with people also in the waiting room -- so I'd say the chances of exposure go way down at a smaller clinic, where I'm pretty sure we only saw one other CF patient waiting to be seen at roughly the same time as us. And the waiting room was quite large so I felt fine about it.

 

[Alyssa]

I have experienced both a very large clinic and a smaller clinic and have seen some differences in protocol. You just have to check out what they are doing for yourself and then do more for yourself if necessary to make sure you feel comfortable.

As Melissa mentioned, at the larger clinic my daughter would always grab a mask and keep it on until we got in our own room. We were told that each room was wiped clean between each person seen. Patients with MRSA were scheduled at the end of the day as an added precaution and patients with B. Cepacia were treated on a entirely different day. We were also given pagers after we checked in so we were free to leave the common waiting room. They did take care to see that each pager got wiped clean again before being given out to another family. There were some commonly shared toys and joysticks for video games -- my kids were too old to even want these items, but had they been younger I would not have allowed them to use them unless I cleaned them off first or possibly not at all. Had it been an issue I would have probably just carried my own set of toys with us to keep them occupied.

We always take extra care to wash our hands while there or use hand sanitizer at different points throughout the visit, especially upon leaving the hospital and before eating anything. This is also just a good rule of thumb with trying to avoid any bugs weather or not you have CF -- just the common cold can be a pain in the neck for anyone.

I have found at the smaller clinic in North Dakota they did not seem to be "doing" as much as what I was used to in Seattle. At first I was taken aback by this, but then realized some of it -- different clinic days, pager stuff etc was just not necessary because they do not see the amount of people in a day that the Seattle clinic did. I was also told that <b>nobody here had ever </b>cultured B. Cepacia and no one was currently culturing any MRSA either. Also when I asked how many patients were scheduled that day, I was told including my son.....FIVE ! Hahahahah Five for the whole morning! That is incredibly different from Seattle -- they had several doctors all working clinic hours the entire day -- there were something like 20 individual rooms and most of them full, with people also in the waiting room -- so I'd say the chances of exposure go way down at a smaller clinic, where I'm pretty sure we only saw one other CF patient waiting to be seen at roughly the same time as us. And the waiting room was quite large so I felt fine about it.

 

[Alyssa]

I have experienced both a very large clinic and a smaller clinic and have seen some differences in protocol. You just have to check out what they are doing for yourself and then do more for yourself if necessary to make sure you feel comfortable.

As Melissa mentioned, at the larger clinic my daughter would always grab a mask and keep it on until we got in our own room. We were told that each room was wiped clean between each person seen. Patients with MRSA were scheduled at the end of the day as an added precaution and patients with B. Cepacia were treated on a entirely different day. We were also given pagers after we checked in so we were free to leave the common waiting room. They did take care to see that each pager got wiped clean again before being given out to another family. There were some commonly shared toys and joysticks for video games -- my kids were too old to even want these items, but had they been younger I would not have allowed them to use them unless I cleaned them off first or possibly not at all. Had it been an issue I would have probably just carried my own set of toys with us to keep them occupied.

We always take extra care to wash our hands while there or use hand sanitizer at different points throughout the visit, especially upon leaving the hospital and before eating anything. This is also just a good rule of thumb with trying to avoid any bugs weather or not you have CF -- just the common cold can be a pain in the neck for anyone.

I have found at the smaller clinic in North Dakota they did not seem to be "doing" as much as what I was used to in Seattle. At first I was taken aback by this, but then realized some of it -- different clinic days, pager stuff etc was just not necessary because they do not see the amount of people in a day that the Seattle clinic did. I was also told that <b>nobody here had ever </b>cultured B. Cepacia and no one was currently culturing any MRSA either. Also when I asked how many patients were scheduled that day, I was told including my son.....FIVE ! Hahahahah Five for the whole morning! That is incredibly different from Seattle -- they had several doctors all working clinic hours the entire day -- there were something like 20 individual rooms and most of them full, with people also in the waiting room -- so I'd say the chances of exposure go way down at a smaller clinic, where I'm pretty sure we only saw one other CF patient waiting to be seen at roughly the same time as us. And the waiting room was quite large so I felt fine about it.