This is why I won't go to the ER unless I am really dying, gee, by then It might be too late.?

Question

OK, has anyone out there been treated like crap in an Emergency room? I have. I overheard a nurse say "let's fast track her" once. Why, well I suppose it was because I visited their little ER room too many times in too short a time. I was never once rude, didn't want drugs, just some damn answers. I get refered to my familly Dr. who can only do so much, she refers me to an ortho. I get in to see him after 6 weeks. I suppose something is better than nothing. Doctor's and Nurses, If you are burned out in your profession please do something else until you remember why you chose it in the first place. Sorry, I don't feel so hot right now.

Answer 1

in part i must take their side. but then i have worked with several ER staffs as an EMT-B and i must say there are a few that are very rude. the ER room is for exactly that EMERGENCIES if what you want is advice I would not recommend the ER room. Instead go to www.webmd.com or another site like that.

Answer 2

An emergency room is just that, for emergencies. The job of the doctor, nurses and everyone else working in an emergency room is to evaluate, treat and stabilize the patient. Then the patient is either released with further instructions, admitted to the hospital or transferred to another facility so the next patient can be treated.

People such as you who use the emergency rooms as their personal medical clinic cause more work the staff and take up space and time from someone who really needs emergency care.

No wonder you are treated rudely. Quit being selfish and wait the six weeks to see the other doctor. If your little problem is so urgent your family doctor would have referred you to someone sooner.

Answer 3

Agent Red Head.
I am an ER RN, and I will give you the full skinny on what has and does happen in the ER. Some of this might sound a little brash but understand it is just how it is.

First lets address the "fast track". Basically fast track is not a BAD thing. It is basically a way that the ER separates the clinical visits from those who actually are in a severe condition. We put colds, tummy aches, teeth, broken bones, headaches, etc in the "fast track". Now, this has nothing to do with anything, just that the complaint is a more clinical problem and not a critical problem. Clinics are made for that stuff, the ER isnt, but has had to adapt since so many people use it as their doctors office. there had to be a way to separate critical patients since they are more in an emergency then someone with say a hurt back. Also, many times "fast track" will mean you will be seen faster and out of there faster.

As for the ER referring you to your Dr. that is because there is only so much an ER can do. Understand that the Emergency Room is just that, for EMERGENCIES. People call 911 to get into an ambulance and be rushed to the hospital because they have a headache or throwing up. Ok, now this means that the people in the waiting room are now shoved down a notch on the waiting list because of this. Of course, we triage to get the sickest ones back first, but sometimes things happen. Now, the other thing is the national wait time for the average ER is 6-8 hours, and this is even before you are in the back to see the doctor. Do you know how many people get upset at the triage RN (since they are the one right there) because their stomach ache hasnt been seen yet. Or even better, because someone who had been there less time is going in before them, though not realizing that person going in before them might be having a heart attack. The person with a heart attack is what the ER was made for, the person with a chronic back ache it isnt.

Another example is you come to the ER because you broke your leg. It is a simple fracture. Do you think we cast it? Nope! You get an Xray and it is splinted for setting purposes only and then you are referred to follow up with your ortho doc (or we recommend one). I actually had a guy yell and scream at me on the phone because I told him the truth. His wife had a cast, she got into the bath with it (why I dont know) and the cast was ruined. The patient was from out of town and said they needed a new cast. I told them we dont do that, we would splint it and Xray it. He yelled at me more saying I was trying to get more money from him since all that had already been done and just to put a cast on it. I explained that 1) we have no idea what we are dealing with, this is why we need xrays. We wouldnt want to splint it wrong because of no xrays and the persons leg doesnt heal right. 2) we dont cast, we only splint. this is why there are ortho docs. The ER is only temporary treatment. As you can see the RN getting and dealing with the bashing here also. Ok, now lets say you come into the ER and say the break is compound (meaning it protrudes through the skin), this is a true emergency (unlike the simple break) and you will immediate go to see a doctor instead of waiting in the waiting room, and we will stabilize and ship you to a surgery.

Again, Understand, the ER is not a clinic. It is not a place to get complete treatment. If you are expecting that, then you were mistaken. In fact Dr's by law can not write subscriptions for certain meds from the ER and can not write for other meds in a continuous dosage. It is all done as acute care, not chronic. Only your family doc can handle chronic problems, which is what your problem sounds like.

As for the nurses, think about this... you go to school for 4 years, have to be licensed, then have to be insured (because nurses do get sued ALOT), while the entire time you are under the scrutiny of the patients, the family, the doctors, the managers, and the hospitals. All this for 15% of what a doctor makes, yet you have all the responsibilities. Here where I am, a doctor makes 150 dollars an hour, a nurse with 6 years of experience in critical care and ER will make 22 dollars an hour (if they are lucky). The reason why there is a nursing shortage is because of all these factors, and more. It isnt worth it, but of course no one knows that when going to school. Now, personally the ER is the only thing that keeps me in this profession, if it wasnt for me working in the ER I would have gone to work at the nearest McDonalds, but I am now looking into continuing my education since I can not take the "crap" we have to go through. Also think about this, if you wanted to, you could make a complaint to the board of nursing for your state on a nurse. You have no idea the hell they put you through for an unvalidated complaint, and yet an RN will still from that unvalidated complaint get their license suspended. This means you dont work. The education is worthless now, since you cant do anything with it. For doctors it is ALOT different. A doctor gets a bonafide validated complaint against them, it is reviewed and discussed and in the end the doctor is penalized with a fine. Thats it.

So be a little more considerate to the RNs, and also understand that you are in the ER basically for the wrongs reasons. If you have pain like that, go to a clinic (most hospitals have them). The ER is for EMERGENCIES and critical patients

Answer 4

What is your problem? I will offer my advice if you want it. I work in a hospital and sympathize with your plight. I also feel sorry for the harried ER folks on some nights when it seems that half the city's sick, lame, and crazy are all coming in at the same time while the staff is struggling to save the heart attack or stroke or GI bleed victim in the back room. Sometimes it is really hard to sort out the people who really need help from those who do routinely abuse the system (and they are legion!).
Getting in to see a good doctor in a timely manner can be a real dilemma. You can contact me, and tell me your symptoms and I will do my best to advise you on how to deal with it until you can see a doctor. I am a pharmacist. Good luck, and sorry you were poorly treated.

Answer 5

First of all, the ER is for emergencies, you know, things like heart attacs, strokes, gi bleeding, people who stop breathing, You are not a freaking emergency and you are another one of the idiots who use the ER as a doctors office. There are people who are in desperate need of emergency help and you are not one of them and frankly as an RN, I can tell you we are sick of the hypochondriacs who abuse the system. Let me guess, you probably have no insurance and are expecting someone else to pay your bill. Do you understand when you walk in to the ER you are already looking at about at least $500 dollars.
Get a life! Its not about being burned out, its about people like you who need psychiatric help rather than an emergency room.

Answer 6

You are put into fast track according to the severity of your injury or illness. If its not life threatening and can be taken care of rather quickly and easily this is where you go. Its not b/c you have visited the ER too many times. But you have to realize that working in an ER is very stressful work. And that sometimes the compilation of all that stress can come off as being rude. Not that it is intentional.

Answer 7

That depends if it is an EMERGENCY or not. Your EMERGENCY might not be one to the medical field. Too often our EMERGENCY sytem is abused by people who think they are having an EMRERGENCY when in fact they have a boo-boo or just the common cold. You would be suprised at what ER's see that are supposed to be EMERGENCIES. Education is the only way to fix this and it is probably not going to happen in our country anytime soon. But yes some ER professionals need to think about why they are in this line of work in the first place.

Answer 8

I hate emergency rooms. Every time I go to the ER they make me wait around forever...just to get back to see the doctor. And when I do go back to see the doctor, it takes forever for him/her to come in to see me...and when he/she sees me, I am barely listened to, checked over quickly, left to wait some more, told that there isn't much that can be done for me, and rushed out of there quickly. I was recently there for rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, light-headedness, almost near passing out....and when I told the doctor all this, all he said was "well we can't find anything wrong now...it was probably just palpitations...you can go home now." It's like no one takes you seriously in an ER.

Answer 9

im sorry you are sick but i hate ers for the reasons you put down and also haye yhe long wait to see a dr.

Answer 10

if you can't get answers from you doctor or orthopedist, what makes you think the ER will have answers for you?