Lessons learned, and lessons remembered, during a medical emergency last week...

I was told once, by a doctor, that if an ER is truly needed, not to walk in, or the wait will be forever.  Instead, take an ambulance, as those patients get taken right in and accessed immediately.  Of course I totally disregarded that sound advice the one and only time I had to go to the ER (3 years ago).

It's true. 

Unfortunately, it also perpetuates the problem.  In my dozen years in EMS before choosing to move my medical career forward, I would guess that 90 percent of the people on my ambulance had no business being there... but knew they would be seen earlier if they were.  We were a thousand dollar taxi service.

And again under the law, fire departments and ambulance services cannot refuse to transport anyone except under very specific guidelines.

Audrey

Just like most things there are people that abuse the system.  Given what I know now I would have taken an ambulance for my emergency 3 years ago and screwed the cost to be seen.

You of all people should have taken an ambulance. I'm still smh over you being in this condition and having to wait 8.5 hours.  I cannot get past that!

This does happen sometimes but in our ER if a patient is not sick enough and can wait in the waiting room they get taken out to triage. And that is the way it should be. Just another way that people abuse our healthcare here. Sore throats, small lacerations and colds are not a reason to take an ambulance to the hospital. Btw...if you do that you are tying up an ambulance and 2 paramedics from someone else with a more serious need for them. And on yet another tangent...It is estimated that it costs $500 to just get past the registration phase of your ER visit so if you decide to leave without being seen that still gets billed to your healthcare provider.

Thank you Audrey for pointing out the true issue with emergency department wait times. I work in a major trauma centre and so many times people don't understand that they need to go to a more appropriate place to deal with minor illnesses. I have lost count on how many people have come in for tick removal! Seriously? A walk-in clinic or your family doctor would be a better option or for goodness sake this is one time tha****ching youtube on tick removal would work. Yes there is always a risk of Lime disease but unless you have the tell tale bulls eye ra**** is unlikely you will get Lime disease.

I've also noticed that the ones that come with the most minor issues are the biggest pain in the ass that you can imagine. They are rude and demanding and totally irrational.

If you are in the waiting room for a long time it's because behind the closed doors are patients that have a more serious condition.

Trust me, we hate wait times as much as anybody. We don't think its fun to make people wait even when they are a PITA. We want you gone even more that you want to be.

Look at the options...(Partially  tongue in cheek...trying to think of other options)

1)Don't go to the ER for anything that can wait. (this will reduce the burden on over taxed system) Bad side of this is it requires accurate self diagnosis. Face it, even I am not right all of the time, neither is anyone else. That is why we need a hospital with medical tests and procedures to verify labs and x rays. 

2)Die before you go(this doesn't have much life expectancy as a side, so it will not matter how long it takes)

3)Do minor procedures like I and D's at home with soaks of epsom salts and bleach water...this works well even if no antibiotics on early found wounds, splinters, abcesses that have exudate will clean out nicely with 2x a day treaments., especially feet...but not highly recommended due to pain and necessity of self diagnosis.    

 4)Change hospitals...if this is an option, since new health insurance requirements and lower pay to facilities several are closing.     

5) Make the cost of preventable deaths so high, that care and triage will be accurate and quick. I have never been one to sue, but no one should have to suffer thru Gross Neglect in an ER for more than a few hours....even in the busiest of them! Assults in ER should be another event that should never occur as well.  

  6) Regular media coverage of wait times should be the norm...with both bad and good  wait times addressed in general news, much like the restraunt scores that are posted at intervals in some cities.

  as in,...Consumer reporting...has it been tried anywhere? Does anyone have a consumer reporter/station willing to start this and try it...?  maybe,  track it for 6 months and see what happens to the wait times.?

Thank you for posting Audrey.  I am a person who would sit and wait in pain, thinking that any abdominal pain is RNY related.  I never thought about appendix, so it is wonderful that you are okay, and I will take your advice to heart.

I am glad you posted this and you are okay. So many of us blame our surgery for any type of illness. 

Bottom line, I want/need to know when is a pain ER worthy?  Do I call my surgeon's service and let her determine if I should go to the ER?  I don't want to cry wolf.  I'm the type that sits at home thinking my problem will resolve itself, now I don't know if this will be the right thing to do.  My RNY is in 2.5 weeks.  After reading Audrey's post, for the first time, I'm getting anxious.

I'm glad that you are okay,  that's so scary.  

I've found myself in the ER a lot over the past 5 years.  The only time it was for something a little bit frivolous was when I had a UTI one week after giving birth.  It was so painful that I was crying and writhing in pain.  I had been to see the NP at my doctors office the day before and she'd given me antibiotics which did nothing for me.  

My urine looked like yellow milk.  The ER doc said it was the worst UTI she'd ever seen.