let's talk ER waiting

[hulagirl87]

So I'm here now. I came in at 6am and there was nobody in the waiting room so they brought me right back to an exam room. Where I sat for the next hour and 15 minutes. Maybe a shift change? Then a nurse practitioner came in. They took blood and now it's been over 2 hours and still sitting here and haven't seen anyone. I just asked if I could have some water and they said no because I'm having a CT and need to have contrast. but I was never even updated with that. I know the ER is a waiting game. i just think when you come in mid day or evening, you have a longer wait time in the waiting room but get your tests done quicker. When you come in in the morning, you don't wait in the waiting room too long but wait forever in your room. Tell me your experience! I'm just here waiting!

 

[fla4fun]

I remember my dad’s oncologist sending us to the ER, but we weren’t sure what was going on. We sat in the waiting room forever, then they put us in a cubicle where we waited for hours. When my sister called the hospital to get an update, they told her he was at a different hospital. They kept asking me why he was there, and all I had was an illegible note from the doctor. They kept us waiting from 2pm to 2am before they did anything. I still believe that experience is why he passed away two days later, although I have no proof. It was awful.

OP, I hope your experience gets better fast!

 

[DLgal]

Par for the course. Unless you show up via ambulance or bleeding profusely, you're gonna wait around for EVERYTHING.

 

[OpieDoodle]

So a few things with hospital ER's. Most often they have a lot of rooms full. If you are in stable condition then you likely are a little lower on the priority list. For example when my husband came in by squad when he went through a glass window and severed an artery he was met at the door by multiple trauma staff and they didn't leave him for a good hour or more but then when I was there recently for a concussion as soon as they determined I was stable it was a good hour before I saw the doctor. They came in and apologized bu said something critical came in.

This is really why there has been such a push for using urgent cares. Wait times are generally much lower and they can give you the same if not better care for most things. Plus its much cheaper.

 

[Micca]

I suspect expediting your entry to a room is a covid thing to avoid having a crowded waiting room. That doesn't make you sitting there by yourself for hours any less miserable.

My last ER trip was taking DW a couple of years ago., It was a weeknight, around 7pm, there was no one there and she was seen immediately. Bonus: Doc on call was a former Disneyland CM! DW and I both had Disney shirts on so he brought it up and regaled us with some stories from back in the day.

Hope you get treated and start feeling better right away!

 

[Kittyblue]

I've almost always experienced long waits in the ER, whether for myself or with a family member. I'm sorry, OP. It's not what you want to be doing when you don't feel well, but it's just the way it goes sometimes.

 

[kymom99]

My husband was sent to the ER in January at the height of the covid spike. He ended up having a kidney stone. He waited alone in the waiting room for 4 hours. They came out and checked his vitals and took blood but had no room to put him in. He was in a lot of pain. I sat in the car for 6 hours waiting for him because I couldn’t come in. Once they finally got him back there, he was out pretty quick but the wait was awful.

 

[hulagirl87]

So a few things with hospital ER's. Most often they have a lot of rooms full. If you are in stable condition then you likely are a little lower on the priority list. For example when my husband came in by squad when he went through a glass window and severed an artery he was met at the door by multiple trauma staff and they didn't leave him for a good hour or more but then when I was there recently for a concussion as soon as they determined I was stable it was a good hour before I saw the doctor. They came in and apologized bu said something critical came in.

This is really why there has been such a push for using urgent cares. Wait times are generally much lower and they can give you the same if not better care for most things. Plus its much cheaper.

I was at urgent care yesterday and they told me they didnt have ultrasound or xray and come to the hospital. I wish urgent care had worked out for me

 

[design_mom]

I think they triage people at the ER. It's not first-come-first-served. So unless you're one of the most severe cases there, you're going to wait.

I've been at the ER several times (with other people, not for myself). The only two times we were roomed quickly is when we brought in our infant son who was having obvious difficulty breathing (we had gone to our pediatrician first and they called ahead). He got taken back and seen right away. They gave him a breathing treatment (several actually) to stabilize him. But it still took hours for them to come back with followup/next steps. I assume they'd moved on to the next "acute" case.

The other time was when my mom broke her femur. She came in by ambulance and my dad and I followed the ambulance. They put mom in a room right away and gave her pain meds, but it took hours for them to actually see her and was the next day before they attempted anything to fix the situation. I could see/hear some of the other things they were dealing with though... and I think they determined she wasn't life-or-death at the moment, so others took priority.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

It happens because they triage and more severe cases will go first, not because they’re purposely ignoring you. If you’re stable, they have no reason to sit with you. I will say they should have updated you on your care (getting the CT) when they knew, but it’s not usual to have to wait for one.

I’ve been to the ER a few times with family members and the only time we got immediate & constant care was when my daughter came in by ambulance and needed life saving measures.

Years later that same daughter went in with a severed finger and her care took hours. My younger daughter needed stitches and they had her all numbed to do it when a trauma case came in and we ended up waiting 3 more hours for it it be done. The doc apologized, but it had been an all hands on deck situation, that we didn’t know about until later. It’s frustrating and lonely, but it is how an ER works.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

So a few things with hospital ER's. Most often they have a lot of rooms full. If you are in stable condition then you likely are a little lower on the priority list. For example when my husband came in by squad when he went through a glass window and severed an artery he was met at the door by multiple trauma staff and they didn't leave him for a good hour or more but then when I was there recently for a concussion as soon as they determined I was stable it was a good hour before I saw the doctor. They came in and apologized bu said something critical came in.

This is really why there has been such a push for using urgent cares. Wait times are generally much lower and they can give you the same if not better care for most things. Plus its much cheaper.

I was going to “Like” this - until I got to your second paragraph. Can’t agree that Urgent Care centers are better - unless you have something very simple, like a splinter! (And for the reasons that @hulagirl87 mentioned above.)

 

[Wendy1985]

Two trips years apart for the same thing kidney stone

1st I went to urgent care thinking kidney infection so my friend took me and after examining me my doctor told me to go to the ER don’t pass go or collect 200 dollars as soon as I got to the ER I was taken back and a woman was angry that I was taken right away she left saying how long she was waiting what she did not know and not her business is I went to urgent care first


2ed time a few years later my mom took me straight to the ER I had really weird symptoms and I was flying out in 10 days they took me pretty quickly that even had surgery to remove a kidney stone the next day in the hospital for two nights the night before and the night after the surgery

 

[VandVsmama]

So I'm here now. I came in at 6am and there was nobody in the waiting room so they brought me right back to an exam room. Where I sat for the next hour and 15 minutes. Maybe a shift change? Then a nurse practitioner came in. They took blood and now it's been over 2 hours and still sitting here and haven't seen anyone. I just asked if I could have some water and they said no because I'm having a CT and need to have contrast. but I was never even updated with that. I know the ER is a waiting game. i just think when you come in mid day or evening, you have a longer wait time in the waiting room but get your tests done quicker. When you come in in the morning, you don't wait in the waiting room too long but wait forever in your room. Tell me your experience! I'm just here waiting!

About 7 years ago, I had to go to the ER. Got pneumonia, which was diagnosed at urgent care on a Saturday around noon...was prescribed antibiotics which I took diligently. It turns out that the antibiotics prescribed by the urgent care provider were the wrong kind to treat pneumonia. By Monday late afternoon, my fever never went down and was up to 104.5, I couldn't catch my breath, kept coughing, racing heart beat, it was awful. DH drove me to the ER. I couldn't even walk on my own by that point, so he had to run inside to get me a wheelchair. We waited probably 2-3 minutes before being wheeled back & evaluated for vitals by a triage nurse.

While sitting there with the triage nurse, she got on the phone and called somebody and said to the person on the other end of the phone, "I've got a STAT patient right here. Probably septic, need labs RIGHT NOW. We're putting her in room 3."

While I was being wheeled back to the triage nurse, I got stink eye from all sorts of people in the waiting room. One of them mouthed off a protest to the check in person and my DH snapped at the protester, "My wife has double pneumonia right now, a fever of almost 105, and can't breathe."

Ended up getting admitted and stayed for 5 days. I was so weak there in the ER exam room that I couldn't even take my shirt off by myself. Once we were in the exam room, all of a sudden there were, like, 6-7 people crammed into the room. A million doctors and nurses all chattering at once to figure out what's going on, somebody barking out lab orders, CT scan orders, somebody else asking my DH for patient history, me trying to answer their questions but I could only muster a whisper at that point.

If you have to wait in the ER, it's probably because somebody there is sicker than you.

 

[Jennasis]

Every ER visit I have had to deal with has been stupid.

Took DH in at 4am when he fainted in the bathroom, had a massive fever, pale, shivering, and an infection in his leg which was woolen to the size of a.grapefruit and hot and painful to the touch. There was nobody in the entire ER. Not another patient. Not a visitor. Nobody. They took him back. Gave him a script for penicillin (even though we told them he was allergic to it) and some percoset for the pain of his infected leg and kicked us out with vague instructions to check in with his primary doctor on Monday (it was Friday). I went to work and DH stayed home but it all sat poorly with me so I called his doctor office and spoke to the nurse. When I described his condition she made me drop everything, Leave work and come in with him immediately. The doc saw him, blanched and sent us right to emergency surgery. The infection was septic. He could have died. He spent the whole weekend in the hospital on IV antibiotics after surgery to clean out the infection.

 

[rottiemom]

Par for the course. Unless you show up via ambulance or bleeding profusely, you're gonna wait around for EVERYTHING.

Or pregnant. What earlier posters have said about triage is true and it makes sense but is frustrating when you're waiting. Especially if your given incorrect or incomplete information.
Once my mom had fallen and was taken by ambulance to the ER. She was in her 90s and in a wheelchair so we wanted to make sure that everything was OK. We were sent straight back but waited four hours before someone could see her. During that time we couldn't give her any of her medications because they would interfere with the exam and subsequent tests, nor was she allowed anything to eat or drink. Thankfully she was fine but the wait was agony for her (and by extension for us).
OP I hope you're better and well on your way back home.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I worked in a large Boston ER for several years. Others have touched on it - more serious cases take priority, and time.

The Triage system uses Emergent (needs to be seen right away, like an accident or other life-threatening problem); Urgent (should be seen within 30 minutes); and Non-Urgent (could be a long wait).

Coming in an ambulance doesn’t necessarily get you care faster. It depends on what the problem is. Some people take ambulances regularly and still have to wait.

A lot goes on behind the scenes. Younger doctors have to review their plan of care with attending doctors, who are busy overseeing all cases in the ER at any given time. Tests are ordered, but there may be a wait. Even blood work has a turnaround time. Once they get results back, they then have to work on the plan of care again, which, again, has to be in conjunction with the Attending, etc. Sometimes other specialists are called in, and it takes time for everyone to come together with a plan. (Since these specialists are coming in from elsewhere and doing other things in the hospital.) Documentation is endless, but so important, and takes a lot of time, as well. As all this is happening, new cases are coming in the door every few minutes, and some are going out by either discharge, or admission (and the latter can only happen when hospital beds become available after patients in those are discharged and cleaned, as well as staffed). You never know what’s coming in, either, yet have to deal with everything in seconds, sometimes. Very, very stressful for those in charge and doing the leg work. Especially knowing most people are irritated waiting, lol.

DD has an RN friend who just quit her small hospital ER job because she was given seven or more patients to deal with at a time. She said it was insanity every day.

As a family member and patient myself I have had more than my share of ER waits, too. Many in the same ER I worked at. I always tried to be as understanding as I can. It helps when you have a nurse and/or doctor who keeps you in the loop, but I realize they are dealing with lots of different things at once, so I try not to sweat it. Most of the people we’ve dealt with have been reasonable. I know I was grateful to the Attending in my own hospital who came into my mother’s room within a reasonable time of our arrival to tell my mother they were “going to take care of her” when she broke her hip one day. I was worried they might say she was too old for surgery, and got that sense from some of the nurses, so hearing his words was a big relief. Another night in the ER, with my son when he was 12, a team of surgeons came walking in his room, and it dawned on me that the problem he had may require major surgery, and my stomach dropped. Thankfully they worked out another plan with their infection control team, but surgeons gave their opinions and everyone worked together really well to help DS have a good outcome. I try to keep those moments in mind when waiting and worrying.

If you walk out the door, count your blessings, because some of the people who come in, don’t!

 

[snappy]

My husband got immediate attention with angina. As with everything though, pick the hospital ER you go to wisely. Not all are of the same caliber.

 

[OpieDoodle]

I was at urgent care yesterday and they told me they didnt have ultrasound or xray and come to the hospital. I wish urgent care had worked out for me

That's a bummer! The urgent cares around me have some depending on exactly what you need. Like last time I was there I needed a heat CT because I had a massive concussion. They wouldn't have been able to help me at all. Sometimes I've also found if you're not unstable you can even try to call your normal doctor and they can put in an imaging order at the local hospitals. You go in and you're in and out usually because its by appointment. Obviously if you need in quicker that won't work tho. Like in my case I tried that and my doctor laughed at me and told me to go straight to the ER lol.

I was going to “Like” this - until I got to your second paragraph. Can’t agree that Urgent Care centers are better - unless you have something very simple, like a splinter! (And for the reasons that @hulagirl87 mentioned above.)

I never said Urgent Cares are "Better". I said there is a push for them, especially by insurance (some insurances will deny ER claims if it could have been resolved at an urgent care). The push for them is more because generally they're faster because you don't have the critical patients coming in there which bumps non-critical down the list.

Its all about your individual situation I mean heck in some cases calling your family doctor and setting up an appointment with them is the best option.

I work for a large hospital network which has both ERs and urgent cares so I was just speaking from what I've seen

 

[snappy]

Also agree that if your doctor has called ahead it helps to alert the ER staff. My husband has his cardiologist‘s cell number, and was told to call him before heading to the hospital if an acute heart situation happens again.

 

[Ellie008]

The only time I was in the ER for myself I waited a couple of hours, but not terrible. I had a chest x-ray and was told nothing was wrong with me, go home. I went to a primary care Dr the next day, they re-read the same x-ray from the day before and told me I had pneumonia. They were pretty mad at the ER people.

I took my kid once and we waited forever. She threw up on me during our wait, and DH had to get me a new set of clothes. Eventually they just sent us home.

I also took DH once, waited for over 7 hours for one x-ray and a couple of stitches. Should have gone to an urgent care.

Every experience I have had with urgent care is 100x better than all of the above. Honestly, unless I believe I am going to die, I will go to urgent care first next time. They will have to force to me to go an ER instead.