Whys is it if someone goes to the ER for chest pain that it still takes the 2 hours to get you seen?

Question

I went to the ER coughing up blood and having chest pains and all the did was give me antibotics and sent me home, Does anyone else understand it.

Answer 1

Well, it doesn't surprise me to see this happen. They seem to only keep you if it looks like you may die. Maybe it has something to do with overcrowding I wish I knew. I believe more people should complain to the hospital where treatment seems poor. The word needs to get out because I too find this unacceptable. My last ER visit was a poor experience too. See your doctor right away or if your symptoms don't improve I would go back to the ER and demand further treatment. I hope you start feeling better. Coughing up blood is a serious matter.

Answer 2

As stated by another answer, when you were seen by the triage nurse, she determined that you did not have the risk factors present for having a cardiac condition. This is based on information you provided. Coughing up blood is the clue - this means you have been coughing so hard, you have broken tiny vessels in your airway. This can give you the chest pain. These symptoms then put you lower on the need to be seen emergently list. It doesn't mean you were not ill but people having heart attacks, strokes, major illness all need to be seen before you. Thus, the 2 hour wait. ER's are not a first come, first serve. They are the most seriously ill are seen first and then the rest are seen in the order that they arrived. There could also have been many people ahead of you who were also waiting to be seen. Unless you know the inner workings of an ER, there is a protocol on how people are seen and who can wait and who cannot.

Answer 3

As a nurse that has worked in the ER, the first thing we do when someone has "chest pain" is triage them, meaning checking vital signs going through a series of questions and then determining if it is true cardiac chest pain or other. Other things that cause chest pain is esophageal reflux, muscular pain, pleuritic pain, gall bladder disease and a host of other illnesses. When checking vital signs we are also checking an oxygenation level. If your oxygen level is 90 or better than it isnt an emergency. When you have bronchitis or any kind of cough there are tiny capillaries that are easily damaged and release blood into you sputum. It is very alarming to look at but a little blood can look like alot when it is mixed in your sputum. I hope you feel better soon.

Answer 4

This comes directly out of my experience as your funeral guy.

If you want quick service in the E-R for chest pain here is what you do. When they ask you what your pain is on the scale of 1 to ten. Say nine or ten and it has never hurt so bad. Say you have sweating and tingling in your arms and fingers. This could save your life

But if you want to really be good about it use your computer.
Go to WEB MD look up the symptoms of a heart attack.
repeat exactly.

This always works. Say your having full chest spasms.
Secret: They do not know if your lungs or heart cause this either or both!

There is no simple medical answer for this.

This is not dishonest.
As Your Funeral Guy and with my experience in code blue, this can save your life in our current medical system.

Medical PROFESSIONALS will not like this answer.
But you may avoid death.

Answer 5

emergency rooms are always backed up! Just have to wait, at least you are in the right place, if things get worse. go see your own doctor next day.

Answer 6

they take the worst first. but with what you said i would of thought that is pretty bad myself. if it dont get better go to a hospital or dr again. good luck

Answer 7

Probably because they dont classify it as an 'immediate' emergency. Doesnt make much sense to me though. You could've died while waiting those 2 hrs.

Answer 8

No, but if you go in an ambulance they usually take you right away. What were you diagnosed with?