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Often parents whose child has a serious illness may have had little experience with hospitals, except at the time of their child’s birth. Hospitals are institutions with a culture all their own, so it can be very helpful to learn more about how the hospital and the BMT unit function, who does what, and how parents can serve as their child’s best advocate during the BMT journey. |
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What to Expect
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BMTs for children are done in specialized transplant centers within specialty hospitals, either a children’s hospital and/or an academic medical center that serves patients of all ages. The BMT itself is done as an inpatient proceudre, while the transplant preparation and post-BMT care after discharge from the hosptial ,are usually done on an outpatient basis.
For most Washington state children, BMT will done at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center (CHRMC) ,which is part of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) . Some of your child's outpatient care may be done at SCCA clinics as well as at CHRMC.
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Communication
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Assuring that patients, their families, and healthcare providers can communicate with each other is not only a principle of good medical care, but also a legal right in the United States. Every patient and his/her family has the right to receive communication about their own health and healthcare in terms that they can understand.
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Hospital Bills
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Hospital bills present another major challenge for patient families, even for those lucky to have good health insurance. Because BMT is a lengthy and technically complex procedure involving a large number of health care personnel, services, medications, and supplies, there will be a large number of bills, coming from many different providers and facilities. One of the most important things that you can do to manage the business side of your child's BMT is to organize and manage all of the bills. See also our webpages on Paying for Transplant for more tips on this topic.
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In the Hospital 