Welcome to the Children’s Observation and Assessment Unit (COAU)
Why you have been asked to come to the Children’s Observation and Assessment Unit
Your child has been referred to the unit by a health care professional for a second opinion and/or for a period of observation by a hospital doctor. This could be a paediatric (children’s) doctor or a surgical doctor depending on the problem.
On arrival you will be greeted at the reception desk, where your child will be admitted and all their personal details checked.
You will be seated in the waiting area or a cubicle depending on the needs of your child.
Following a decision to admit your child to the children’s ward for further treatment and investigations.
The nurse coordinator will liaise with the ward coordinator to arrange transfer. Your child will be allocated a bed space or a cubicle depending on the needs of your child.
You are welcome to stay with your child throughout their admission and 1 parent/carer can be resident overnight.
Following a decision for your child to be discharged home, the doctor will provide you with a discharge summary of your child’s admission, this will be a summary of their presenting complaint, the examination, diagnosis and any medication required to take home.
If your child requires follow-up this will be requested on your discharge letter. They will give a copy to yourself, and a copy will be sent to your child’s GP.
If medication is required, the doctors and nurses will prepare this or arrange for you to collect at the hospital pharmacy. Once your child has been discharged, you may be offered open contact. This can be used if you are concerned about your child’s condition once you are at home.
The details and contact numbers will be given on discharge.
Your child will be triaged by a trained Paediatric (children’s) nurse, they will take a brief history, observations which will include measuring temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation levels and blood pressure. They will weigh and measure your child’s height. This triage is a process that quickly assesses and prioritises children to determine when they are seen, it ensures children that need urgent, or emergency care are seen by a doctor first.
Investigations such as collection of urine will be commenced, fluid challenges and medication will be administered if required.
Following this your child will be seen by a junior doctor or an Advanced Paediatric Clinical Practitioner who will take a full history and undertake a full examination. Following this assessment a plan will be made, further tests may be requested, and a period of observation planned. Your child may be reviewed by a senior doctor following this initial plan and observation period.
Specialities teams are not based on the unit, this includes surgical, urology, orthopaedics, max fax and ENT, they work throughout the hospital and cover all areas. Following triage, the nurse coordinator will inform the relevant team of your
arrival to the ward and will liaise with them throughout your stay. They will keep you up to date of timescales and any expected delays.
The assessment and observation process can take some time and, depending on what investigations need to be done and how long we decide we need to observe your child, this can be anything from 2-6 hours, but we will inform you of this. Occasionally it can be longer.
During your stay we provide breakfast of cereal and toast, lunch/tea of sandwiches/crisps/yoghurt/fruit.
We will provide drinks to all patients including juice and milk, we encourage parents to bring their own baby milk as we have limited varieties. We have a cold drinks station for all parent/carers to use.
There is a shop and restaurant for families to buy food and drink, we ask if hot drinks are brought onto the unit, they have a lid for health and safety to prevent any spillage/burns.
Following your child’s examination, investigations and observation period a decision will be made for your child to be admitted to the children’s ward or discharged home.
Polish
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Punjabi
ਜੇਤੁਸ ੀਂਇਸ ਦਸਤਾਵੇਜ਼ ਨ ੂੰ ਕਿਸੇਕਵਿਲਕਿਿ ਫਾਰਮੈਟ ਜਾੀਂ ਭਾਸਾ ਕਵਿੱਚ ਲੋੜ ਦੀਂ ੇਹੋ, ਤਾੀਂ ਕਿਰਿਾ ਿਰਿੇਸੂੰਿਰਿ ਿਰੋ
Urdu
اگر آپ کو اس دستاویز کی ایک متبادل شکل ) فارمیٹ( یا زبان میں ضرورت ہے تو براہ مہربانی رابطہ کریں
Bengali
আপনি যনি এই প্রচারপত্রটি অিয ক াি আ ারর বা অিয ভাষায় চাি, তাহরেকযাগারযাগ ররবি
Romanian
Dacă aveţi nevoie de acest document într-un format sau limbă alternativă, vă rugăm să contactaţi
Lithuanian
Norint gauti šį dokumentą kitu formatu ar kita kalba, prašome susisiekti su
mumis
Please note the Children’s Observation and Assessment Unit and the Inpatient Ward are learning environments for student nurses. Students are supervised. If, however, you do not wish to have a student involved in your child’s care please inform the nurse in charge.
Your feedback is important to us. We need to know whether there are any improvements we can make to our service. Please ask a member of our team for a feedback form before you leave - thank you.
