The information book - Paediatric Integrated Cancer Service

Quick Help
If you are concerned about your child at any time please ring the Nurse
Co‐ordinator during hours or the Paediatric Registrar after hours – see the Hot
Numbers card in The Information Book. If the CNC or doctor thinks your child
should come to the Emergency Department, they will coordinate this. It is a
good idea to bring with you a small bag of essentials in case your child needs
to be admitted. Refer to Section 3, LIVING WITH CANCER, If Your Child Is Sick
which talks about the times when you might need to make unplanned visits to
the hospital. Also look at the Quick Help guide in The Information Book.
Emergency department
The Emergency Department is on level 2. When people come to the
Emergency Department, the ‘triage’ nurse briefly sees each patient and
decides the order of priority for medical assessment. This triage is so that
the sickest patients get prompt and necessary medical treatment. In general,
children with cancer are given some priority but on occasions you may
have a wait, depending on how ill your child is and how many other people
require urgent care.
Outpatients at the Children’s Cancer
Centre (Monash Children’s)
After your child is discharged from the hospital – no longer an inpatient –
your child will be seen regularly as an outpatient. Your child’s hospital doctor
will see your child in the Children’s Cancer Centre, on level 2 of the main
building.
Before seeing the doctor as an outpatient, your child will almost always require
a blood test. The finger-prick blood test may be done by the District Nurse at
home, at the pathology centre / hospital or at MMC just past the CCC main
entrance. If the blood test is done at MMC, your child needs to be there at
least one hour before the outpatient appointment time. This is to ensure that
the blood test results are ready in time for your appointment. This blood test
is done in the Outpatient Pathology Department on the 2nd level, open from
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday.
Your child’s hospital – Monash Children’s Sec.2.2:9
Updated March 2011