Please do not shout at medical staff.
- If they don’t understand anything about sickle cell, shouting makes it harder for them to think therefore leading to you not getting the help you need.
- It is difficult to communicate clearly with the fear for your life and Crisis sets in.
- Try not to panic as this makes a crisis worse.
- Explain you have a blood condition that affect your haemoglobin use keywords like
- Vacular occlusion
- haemoglobin
- sequestration – a potentially life-threatening condition of the spleen and liver.
- Acute chest syndrome- infection of the lungs and asthma in sickle cell disease patients.
- Aplastic- the inability of stem cells to produce mature blood cells.
- Infarction- the obstruction of the blood supply causing necrosis (death of tissue)
- Inform the staff you are under a specialist, know the name of your specialist and contact number this saves time, helps them understand how you present to them.
- Inform them of or have a list of your medication.