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25 Minutes! In an ER!

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  • #31
    I have only needed to go to the ER twice. Once I had Pneumonia and my father took me at 1am in the morning. Waited about 45 mins but was treated well. The 2nd time, I happened to fall from 20 feet up onto a cement floor, got in in about 2 mins and luckily found out that the worst I had was bruises.
    "Employees can make or break any business, so treat them with respect. Job satisfaction has little to do with money. Discover what it has to do with and make sure they get it."

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    • #32
      Well if people weren't clogging up the ER with nonsense like earache *everyone* would be seen sooner - but hey that's too much like personal responsbility...
      A PSA, if I may, as well as another.

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      • #33
        Quoth Sapphire Silk View Post
        I'm always very careful about abdominal pain complaints. If I have to keep them in the waiting room, I watch them carefully and get them back as soon as I can. Most forms of belly pain and/or N/V/D are just a simple stomach flu (gastroenteritis) and self resolve.

        But you never know if you are dealing with an appendix or bad gallbladder, obstructed bowel or perfed bowel.
        Yeah, after that little scare back in May, I'm gonna take any abdominal pain I experience a lot more seriously from now on.

        Although I don't have to worry about any gallbladder problems any more, since they removed mine, the other things you mentioned could still act up and cause me problems. Especially with the bowel, where I now have Crohn's.

        I could see myself turn into a hypochondriac over simple stomach aches.

        Quoth crazylegs
        Well if people weren't clogging up the ER with nonsense like earache *everyone* would be seen sooner - but hey that's too much like personal responsbility...
        For some people, like myself, earaches usually end up meaning ear infections, thus necessitating that trip to the hospital. At least, if the doctor's office is closed, that is.

        Only once did I ever have an earache that wasn't the result of an infection.
        my favourite author is neil gaiman. - me
        it is? I don't like potatoes much. - the chatbot I was talking to

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        • #34
          My mom got her gall bladder removed about 25 years ago. This summer she was admitted to the hospital through the ER for what ended up being a week-long stay due to severe abdominal pain. Turns out the bile duct leading from her liver was constricted, reducing its diameter to about 1/3 of normal. They were able to open it up wider (but not back to normal) and stent it, but now she has to eat an extremely low-fat diet. Considering she's already on a low-sodium diet due to hypertension, this has really forced her to eat in a whole new way. It's not so bad at home, she's just having to return to cooking things from scratch like she did when I was a kid instead of relying on convenience foods and packaged foods (there's 8 people that live at my parent's home--my sister, her 5 kids, plus my parents--who my mom cooks for every day). Eating out at restaurants has been the biggest problem. She ends up eating a lot of salad and steamed veggies and baked potatoes.
          Don't wanna; not gonna.

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          • #35
            Quoth Miss Maple Leaf View Post
            For some people, like myself, earaches usually end up meaning ear infections, thus necessitating that trip to the hospital. At least, if the doctor's office is closed, that is.

            Only once did I ever have an earache that wasn't the result of an infection.
            That's unusual. I've yet to see someone who's dialled 999 for a 1hr history of earache (which is the longest hx I've had so far) will have a confirmed ear infection.
            A PSA, if I may, as well as another.

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            • #36
              Quoth crazylegs View Post
              That's unusual. I've yet to see someone who's dialled 999 for a 1hr history of earache (which is the longest hx I've had so far) will have a confirmed ear infection.
              Really? I guess I'm just odd then.
              my favourite author is neil gaiman. - me
              it is? I don't like potatoes much. - the chatbot I was talking to

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              • #37
                I once got very very sick an had to go to the emergency room, I was about 15. My parents took me there and you know that it was serious because my parents have taken me to the hospital only oncei n my life and this was it. Anyway, I was throwing up every 15 min. I have dark olive colored skin but that day I was white as a sheet and my stomach felt like...like it was being ripped out, inch by inch. I really thought I was dying that day. I think I was going into shock because I kept blacking out from the pain. Anyway, I had to wait about an hour to see a dr, who said I just had period pains and to take pain killers next time. (Which by the way, worked like a charm). I guess maybe because I had no insurance they put me at the end of the line and I was trying so hard not to throw up in fornt of everyone in the waiting becausei t was embarassing. Oh well, at least it wasn't the worst time I had to wait: 6 hours, at a free clinic, never again.
                Can't reason with the unreasonable.
                The only thing worse than not getting hired is getting hired.

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                • #38
                  We took my little brother to the ER at 9:30 pm one time because he tripped and whacked his head on a rock in the yard, when he was sent out to put his bike away properly and not leave it in the middle of the driveway, had a heavily bleeding upper forehead gash that was almost cross-shaped from the impact. He was about seven? And he sat with a dishtowel pressed to his head and was running around and playing with the toys and stuff for about an hour and a half.. apparently the check-in nurse had misunderstood my mom, because a nurse came by rather snottily and said "Ma'am your son is certainly not behaving as though he has a headache, you may want to head home as the estimated wait is another three to four hours" and my mom said "Headache? I didn't say the problem was a headache.." and she called my brother over and had him pull his rag away, where as soon as the pressure was relieved he got a good gush of blood down his face.. The nurse grimaced, apologized, and went back to the check-in desk, and my brother was seen half an hour later..
                  "If looks could really kill, my occupation would be staring" Brand New - I Will Play My Game Beneath The Spin Light

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                  • #39
                    I've only had to go to the ER once, about 15 years ago when our cat (indoor/outdoor at the time) bit me (I was asleep and must have moved in a way that made him think "HAI THERE'S SOMETHING UNDER THERE I WANT'). Two moderate fang punctures on my ass, and one on my wrist; the latter was more worrisome, as my mom had also been bitten on the wrist (bookshelf fell on kitty while we were moving in) and almost lost the use of that hand. By the time I woke up enough to examine it closer than cleaning it, I had the red lines going up my arm. At the time both parents were away. Somehow I managed to haul my butt to the local ER, and was told they couldn't see me (I did mention it was an animal bite) and to come back Monday

                    Somehow it didn't get any worse although I felt like shit when I had two projects due in a few days When I was able to get an appointment with a doctor, turned out all I needed was a tetanus booster (I was feeling pretty much okay by that point and he didn't seem worried about me).

                    That hospital is strange anyway. They're very picky about what insurances they'll take, and if you're a cash patient that can't pay in full that day the billing dept releases the hounds immediately (if you can convince them to see you without paying first).
                    "I am quite confident that I do exist."
                    "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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                    • #40
                      Quoth Setsunaela View Post
                      The nurse grimaced, apologized, and went back to the check-in desk, and my brother was seen half an hour later..
                      I wonder if the nurse simply corrected the triage, or if she told off the check-in nurse? because that's quite a serious triage fail there... a head injury of unknown severity? should probably be seen fairly quickly. ( as shown by the fact that the kid clearly jumped significantly higher up the queue once the actual complaint was known.) Hell, why didn't the check-in nurse ask why an apparent headache was being brought to the ER? That would have cleared up the confusion in no time.

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                      • #41
                        Quoth Catwoman2965 View Post
                        I don't get that at all. The one time I had to go to the ER, my dr. was waiting for me (pancreatitis after a procedure). I came in on a busy friday, with my puke basin. Triage nurse took one look at me and said come wiht me. i don't know if it was beacsue my dr. was there, or she didn't want me grossing everyone else out by my puking in the waiting room. DIdn't matter; i got some drugs and got to sleep on a gurney in the hall until a room became available as all the rooms in the ER were full.
                        We triage people based on a multiple of factors. The more serious you look, the more likely you will get back there. Plus if it was basically a direct admit but they wanted lab work done to verify things, you could be a quicker in and up to a room as the admitting doctor was there.

                        (Quickest admit would be Doctor H transferring a patient from his ER who had admitting privileges at our hospital and was in fact the patient's PCP. We don't have hospitalists)

                        Also, my area has some kind of twisted competition between two systems going on. Meaning 1 system has a hospital somewhere then there will be another one being built soon. We have 3 level 1 trauma centers (1 for each system plus the teaching hospital), 2 helicopter systems, multiple level II trauma centers, geriatric hospitals, 2 children hospitals, 4 cath labs I know of, and basically 2 of any specialty out there. So because of our twisted situation, you usually get seen in an ER in less than 1 hour. Some of the trauma I centers do get backed up to three hours but the smaller ones that can handle 90% of your issue can see you within 30 minutes. Oh, and we have freestanding ERs that have the imagining and lab services attached coming soon to our area.

                        Not to say we don't get backed up. I was horribly backed up the other day with 10 people waiting to be triaged and more kept coming in plus we had squads in the back. That was when our wait time went to about 2 hours which is unheard of for us.
                        Last edited by green55; 09-09-2013, 04:16 PM.

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