25 Minutes! In an ER!

[green55]

So in the ER, we triage patients. If we're full in the back and you are not in immediate life and death situation, you stay up front.

Well, this woman brought her daughter in for an ear ache. I was walking past the room (I forget what I was doing) when I hear this:

"We waited 25 minutes! Thank god it wasn't something serious! Imagine if we were dying. It would take 25 minutes before they could see us!"

I looked on a computer screen and she had been waiting about 25 minutes after triage (unsure of how long before triage).

Yes, you waited 25 minutes because your daughter wasn't in any danger of dying right then and there. If you were in danger, we would have moved you back to a hall cart at least.

Oh, by the way, some people wait hours to get into an ER.

[Engmfj]

I waited 3 or 4 hours last time I was in an ER - my shoulder had dislocated and popped itself back into place, but it was still rather painful. But with my injury being far from lifethreatening, I gladly waited while the people who were worse off came in before me. I had anticipated a wait (it was a Friday evening), so hubby and I brought coins for the vending machines and some extra money for a magazine or something from the small store downstairs.

But I have seen some of the snowflakes argue that their kid's cold or minor fever was far more important than a bunch of seriously injured people being brought in by ambulance from an accident .. sigh ..

[Catwoman2965]

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.

[taxguykarl]

"We waited 25 minutes! Thank god it wasn't something serious! Imagine if we were dying. It would take 25 minutes before they could see us!"

Wow, that soon. Quicker than I 've been seen.

[Aethian]

Lets see last time I was in the ER was from the assault in Jan, that was about a 15 min wait. Before that was my heart attack and that was real fast, before then was my arm and I think they only moved me to a room cause I was dripping. And then before that....hrm oh the twins...had to sit awhile there which didn't help.

But during all of those I got to hear people complain that I went first and they had gotten there first.

[mathnerd]

The last time I was in the ER with one of my kids an entitled mother list it on the staff because my kid was taken back right away. Her kid was bouncing off the walks, and obviously not in a life or death situation. My kid was admitted and spent two weeks there and had to undergo a major, multi-discipline surgical procedure. Who's kid was more in need of urgent medical attention?

[42_42_42]

We don't go into the ER unless it's a true emergency. Some people treat the ER like it's their regular doctor's office. If it weren't for the latter, those of us who treat it properly wouldn't have as long of a wait. Would also help if there were more urgent care centers open 24 hrs about to take the non-emergent cases. That's one thing I loved about the ER at the hospital of the university I went to: one triage for both the ER and a 24 hr urgent care. Depending on your case, you either got sent back directly to a bed in the ER or over to a different waiting room for the urgent care. As a result, the triage room was never full, ER beds never got used for non-emergent cases, and even on the urgent care side, things moved fairly swiftly. Honestly wish all hospitals used this model.

[PandaHat]

Hmm yeah someone doesn't understand the concept of triage.

[Amina516]

My mother called me today to tell me how excited she was that her and my father were in and out of the ER in less than an hour. She said she didnt even have time to eat the cheese and crackers, granola bars and 3 bottles of water she brought with her just in case there was a wait. (She's an overpreparer, can you tell?)

25 mins sounds pretty damn good to me.


Had a mother get upset the other day b/c they had waited an hour to be seen. Her daughter had a fever and NEEDED TO BE SEEN NOWWW!! When she was asked how long her daughter had a fever the answer was something in the ballpark of like 18 hours. When asked when the last time she had had any medications to help control the fever, the answer was never. So youre concerned so much about the fever you don't give her anything for it all day but 18 hours later its a damn emergency.

Kid was given tylenol, looked over quickly and sent home.

[Mishi]

I was so happy when we were once seen and finished within 45 minutes - I'm used to several hour waits in ER. I waited 7-8 hours once because I was told to bring one of the munchkins back to the hospital if she had a fever instead of going to our doctor. 25 minutes is amazingly quick for something that isn't life-threatening!

[Ophbalance]

Oy... pediatric ER's are just so not fun. Especially when you have to take all the kids in and only one really needs to be seen :P. Not that any of that is the staff or hospital's fault, mind, simply the consequence of having too many kids. Of the times we've had to take kids by ambulance (and we're somewhere around 4 trips in the last 6 years... daggum low O2 counts), the wait has been non-existent for those cases.

[Engmfj]

one triage for both the ER and a 24 hr urgent care. Depending on your case, you either got sent back directly to a bed in the ER or over to a different waiting room for the urgent care. As a result, the triage room was never full, ER beds never got used for non-emergent cases, and even on the urgent care side, things moved fairly swiftly.

It works pretty much the same way around here, in all hospitals. Except you have to call in first, and then they'll decide whether you should go in or not. Or if they'll come to you instead, f.ex. if it's really contagious or something like that. They'll often tell you approx. how long the wait is, so you can time your arrival and don't have to sit around for too long.

Somehow, the waiting room always seems full of kids who play, run, laugh and scream - pretty annoying when you're sick or hurting and need a bit of peace and quiet - who apparently have fevers and, according to the mothers, are much more important than anyone else. One mother even complained that a guy with an obviously badly broken foot/ancle came before her kid, who wasn't feeling sick at all (according to the kid himself) ..

[bhskittykatt]

Sheesh, 25 minutes is nothing! When I was 10 I fractured my wrist and it was like a 45 minute wait.

When I was in my car accident last April, the ER wasn't busy and so we got a room pretty quick but it took a while for the doc to get to us. I had overheard in the waiting room someone had brought in a friend who was vomiting blood. When Hubs was getting antsy and impatient, I told him that the person who was vomiting blood was probably higher on their priority list and that he needed to shut up and sit tight.

[Sandman]

Last time I was in the ER was with my wife.. on Valentine's Day of all days. She was pregnant with our daughter and she started having really bad back pain and having shortness of breath (really bad signs). We walked in and she was taken straight back to a bed bypassing a lot of people.

After being there about 10 hours they couldn't find anything.

Fast forward two months later and when they were examining the placenta after our daughter was born.. they found a part where it detached (but healed over). I asked the doctor if it could come from that and they said that it might have come from that, but other than that it was a very uneventful pregnancy.

[bbbr]

2 years ago i sent my left index finger into a band saw working on a project for my nephews. Went to the hospital since the local Urgent Care was closed for evening and began the process of getting my finger put back together. After checking in and the usual triage visit (flexed my knuckle and showed off the tendon running in its' groove for the Nurse saying "cool huh?" when she asked if the finger still worked) I relaxed in the waiting room with a clean dishcloth clamped over it to control the bleeding. Got into the back in about an hour and was stitched up 45 minutes later along with a fresh Tetanus shot in the arm.

A 25 minute wait would've been amazing.