Re: ER waiting

[Guest guest]

And I was feeing guilty when I take my dad into ER.

I bring his ins cards, already copied & enlarged. And a sheet that shows

his name, bday, SSN, and mine; meds by dose: doc, phone # and fax #, and

which condition they're treating; drug allergies; any surgeries he had that

I can remember and appx dates. The back lays out the dosages. So, I can

say he has morning * mid-day, needs only night set.

Attached to that is my POA and his health care directive. I usually rattle

off symptoms to the triage nurse in some sorta order.

I guess if you have to hang out in ER, it pays to be organized. At least

those way over worked, overstressed abused people don't start out too mad.

The only thing I drive them crazy for is " toasted blankets " . Of course, if

they let me follow them to the oven, THAT wont' be a problem.

I have utter respect & sympathy for ER workers. Makes me wonder why they

are there, but they CHOOSE it (hair standing on end). Wow. That takes a

special kind of person. It is not THIS person, for sure.

It does kinda hurts my feelings when they yell at ME. If it looks like

CHF, and his cardiologist says it is, don't act like I'm a nutcase. Sheesh.

I don't wanna be there, either. So, I just focus on the ones who've chosen

that as a way to be fulfilled. And thanks

Thanks,

Vitalady, Inc. T

www.vitalady.com

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ER waiting

>

> As a current ED nurse (Just got home as a matter of fact), let me tell

> ya why you and others have to wait so long for a bed, and why you pay

> such a high price for health care.

> First let me say this. My ED is the busiest (or second busiest,

> accordin' to what year it is) ED in the state of Alabama. With the new

> system we nurses developed average wait times, after triage are around

> 10 mins. That's wait time in a chair, before being seen. Once in a room,

> and being assesed, lab work etc.. etc... causes a wait.... Now, on to my

> day.

> 2:45pm: Clock in and head to get report from first shift nurse that had

> my rooms.

> 2:46pm: Obese, dirty female, 50, in wheel chair in the middle of the

> hall yelling " I want a f-ing shot, my f-ing foot hurts!! " to the top of

> her lungs, crying and shaking the arms of her w/c. I stop to ask her

> what's wrong with her foot since no one else is in sight. " I stepped on

> a nail " she said " When " I replied " 7AM this morning. " " Have you been up

> here all day. " " Hell naw you dumb ass, I just got here, now get me

> somethin' for my f-ing foot " I explain that she'll have to wait till the

> doctor writes an order and her nurse will bring her something. She

> coughs up a big mouth of green/yellow phlegm and spits it on me.

> 2:56pm: To the men's locker room to change t-shirts, and wash my

> stethescope.

> 3:50pm: 36 y/o male. Chief Complaint: Toothache. Me: " How long's it been

> hurting? " Him: " Oh hell I don't know about six months. " He was waiting

> for me to be at work, I'm sure. Me: " Did ya go to your dentist? " Him:

> " Shit naw I aint got no insurance or no money. " (of course his

> undergraduate degree must be in English) Of course. Everyone know's

> emergency care is free care.

> 6:10pm: On the way to the the nurses station outta trauma room 1 to have

> the secretary call for the chopper for x-port of the 6 year old I'm

> coding in the room, I get stopped by a 20 somethin' female complaining

> of a pimple on her chest (Don't feel too sorry for her it's been there

> for over two years), she grabs my arm and she say's " Look I've been

> waiting for over 10 minutes I got shit to do. " I say, " So did the mother

> of the 6 year old that's dying in that room, now please let go of my

> arm. " I try to push past her and she pulls me back and say's, " Can I

> just make an appointment and come back tomorrow? " Instead of trying to

> explain the concept of how an emergency department works I just say

> " Sure, what time ya wanna come in? " I'm off tomorrow, I don't give a shit.

> 8:25pm: Seven people, all from the same family, complaining of " nothing,

> we just wanna be checked cause of the wreck we had. " When was the wreck,

> I ask, the spokesperson for the family explains that she doesn't

> remember, exactly.. but it had to have been around January or February.

> 9:10pm: After patching up the second shotting victim of the night I head

> to the lounge for a much needed and deserved diet dr. pepper only to

> find a patient in the lounge smoking. I explain that a) he can't be

> there and that smoking is not allowed inside the hospital.. He coughs

> and attempts to breath thru his tracheostomy and curses me as he leaves

> the lounge, portable oxygen tank in tow.

> 9:40pm: A pack of cigarettes fall out of the pocket of the man that is

> trying to get me to give him 30 lorcet 10's cause he can't afford to get

> 'em filled. ......

> 10:15pm: 64 y/o male complains of an addiction, won't say what kind of

> addiction... Finally, he breaks down crying and explains that he is

> addicted to sex. Sad. Truly Sad. I won't explain to ya what he did to

> amuse himself as he waited to be treated.

>

> I won't bore ya with anymore of the night... It got better and it got

> worse.....

> So, when ya have a real emergency, just remember not everyone in the ED,

> even those seemingly in pain, are having a true emergency.

> Randy

>

> cindy rickel wrote:

>

> Dear Tigger,

> I have been on both sides of the ER fence so to speak. I once went in and

was in so much pain from a gallbladder attack, that I sat writhing in my

chair for three hours. By the time they saw me, my attack was almost over. I

also was an ER nurse for many years. It was not by our choice that people

had to wait. Believe me, we wanted to turn people in and out of there as

quickly as possible. Sometimes we would be so swamped with life-threatening

emergencies like heart attacks, codes, trauma victims, that our beds would

be over flowing. Compile that with lack of nursing staff due to the nursing

shortage, and you have a tailor-made wait. Not to mention the fact that we,

as medical people have to cover our butts with lab and x-ray tests to keep

from getting sued frivolously. For every procedure, lab test, x-ray, count

on waiting an hour (once you are inside on a cart) for each one. No one

likes to visit the ER, especially when they are hurting, but please don't

shoot the messenge

> rs. Your

> situation is typical all over the country.

> Cindy

>

> tigger57ri wrote:

> O.k. guys, I took your advice and called my surgeon (against my

>

>

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