bad scan experience

[cathy]

hi susan

came away from the ultra sound scan , angry , worried and frustrated. Sonographer , an orinetal lady , had an accent I just couldn't
understand and spoke too fast . She got shirty when I pointed out that I just could not understand what she was telling me. The other lady assisting her was no help whatsoever. refused to write down what she'd seen or to spell it out so I could write it down and report back to Masoud who was waiting at home with the younger ones. all i managed to decipher was something to do with fluid filled loops which the first time she'd said it got me confused with polyps.
going to ring the hospital tomorrow to complain. guess i'll have to wait til I see the consultant.
would have been better if she'd said nothing - I certainly wasn't expecting or pressing her to but once said you want to know what was said.

Ever experienced anything like this from medical staff.

cathy

[sam]

Sorry to hear about your experience Cathy. Certainly not the sort of treatment you need when you're already worried about the results of the scan.

I'm being presumptious to assume this i an NHS hospital? If it is and if you want your complaint to be dealt with quickly and effectively, you should complain via PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service). There should be an office within the hospital, but you can find out more information on their website @ www.pals.nhs.uk/

Hope you get it sorted out. And hope the results are better than the service.

[cathy]

thanks Sam. Yes it is an NHS hospital. The patient is my son , aged 12 , who has an undiagnosed bowel condition which we first brought to the doctors attention back in April. Steriods were immediately prescribed before any tests had been done and I read on the packet that the foam steriods were not to be used by children. We then got a second opinion from a paedatrician who said probably just a virus. When problem didn't clear , we saw another consultant who did blood tests and sent us for ultra sound. Read in my medical book that ultra sound not suitable for intestines. So very confused. Looks like we'll have to wait till endoscopy for more news. my husband has ulcerative colitis , a simple fact I struggled to convey to the sonographer in response to her question about family history.

[suze]

hiya --- what a pickle, Cathy, and sorry to hear it .. did Sabeel feel upset too?

I thought that usually ultrasound staff are not even supposed to say anything about what they do or don't see, cos the doctor ordering the enquiry is supposed to get the results and then be in a disucssion to discuss it all with you ... that might be why she got a bit stressy when you pressed her?

I agree it sounds odd to have an ultrasound for bowel, according to my mate the CT scanner bloke, ultrasounds are great for fixed organs like kidneys and uterus, but not so good for bowels which, by their very nature are not a predictable shape, cos they are on the move all the time!

Must admit, so far I've never had anything to complain about, but Sam's advice sounds good ...

as a general rule I always have a note-maker with me when I see a consultant, etc .. you think you understand it at the time, then within hours it is blurry and you forget bits ... it also forces you to be sure you hav really got all the details clear, and to ask for clarification if yout dont get it!
(that was a bit of advice our Principal gave me when I started out on this cancer trail .. and she was absolutlye right!)

all the best to you all.