Are You "Emergency Room Happy"?

[Planogirl]

Our urgent care places can be even slower than the hospital. They prefer to give you a number and a time to come in when you call them.

We've been to the ER when DS had a broken collar bone and when I felt just "wrong" one time (gall bladder about to burst, seriously). DH went to one when he had a minor heart attack of course. I also visited one in a small town on Thanksgiving because of a condition that I needed to deal with and NOTHING else was open for a zillion miles. I think that it's odd to visit one for a cold or something similar.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

All of my ER visits for myself as patient or for my kids--have all been with merit and appropriate decisions even for one that I wasn't sure--but was assured by the ER staff that for my case, it was appropriate. (A UTI of all things, but it was in the overnight ours, intense pain and unable to go at all on my own. I coudln't wait for a clinic to open.)

There was one time that my dd was dehydrated and I Called the doc--but they told me to go to a clinic b/c clinics did IV fluids--I did not know that. Saved me much money and time and though she had to be seen "in order"--there weren't too many folks and she probably got treatment much faster than she would have in the ER.

 

[luvsJack]

We rarely use the ER but there are certain things that I will NOT go to any of the local clinics for.

A broken bone or injured joint for one. With both of my sons playing sports, if they ever had an injury to a bone or joint we went to the ER as they would call the bone/joint doctor and see if he wanted to see them right then or make an appointment. For that reason, I always felt better going to the ER.

Cuts on the face that may need to be stitched by a plastic surgeon.

Asthma attack or other illness that may be preventing a child from breathing.

Some injuries/illnesses just require more immediate medical equipment and expertise than may be available at a clinic.

But, I have also gotten very irritated seeing the kids sitting in the ER with no more than a cold.

 

[rszdtrvl]

I know many people who are emergency room happy.

My son has been to the ER one time.

It was 2 months ago, and a Saturday (of course). He started screaming and crying that his ear hurt. He is 13, and has a high pain tolerance.

A quick call to the doctor after-hours to the on-call doctor, and I was told to take him to the ER. There are no after-hours clinics anywhere near me.

Turns out my son had a double ear infection, with one rupture.

Even after insurance, our out of pocket payment to the hospital and doctor was around $300.

I think many of the "emergency room happy" people are low income and don't have to pay for the "fun" experience of an ER.

One of the people ahead of us at the ER was a "regular". He knew the whole routine, and even said that he probably need a "psych exam" while he was there. He had many "ailments". A horrible part of me thinks he was trying to get prescription drugs.

However, one of the other people who arrived after me was a child who had tripped in a hole while running through his friends yard. He had a bone poking out of his leg.

I am sure DS probably looked like he was not needing an ER visit, so I try not to pass judgement as much as I would like to. I did let every employee at the hospital know that I was only there because I was told by my son's doctor to go there.

Oh, and edited to add : I have read a lot of people and the whole earache ER thing. This was my son's first ear infection EVER (at age 13 he had gone that long without one) and I had no idea if he had something in his ear or what. We had done the whole ibuprofen, ice pack, rest thing. The pain just came on out of nowhere. I would do it again in a second (take him to the ER) if I had to. I just hope that if he ever has to get another ear infection that it is on a weekday. He ended up on antibiotics for almost 3 weeks after the infection.

 

[Mommee]

... if I have an issue and its not during my doctors business hours, I DO go to the ER. Its not that I'm "Er Happy" its that there isn't another option.

wait until morning if the issue isn't an emergency.

There aren't any clinics around here. And even if it's for something minor on Sundays the doctors tell us to go to the ER.

If it's minor it can wait until Monday.

I am a guy. I have to be certain that nature will not cure me to go to the doctor. Same with my kids. It is a good thing that they have a mother.

DH is the same way, and so I have the final call on whether or not they see a doctor

.... You must really hate sitting in an emergency room for something that is not an emergency.

Not to repeat myself, but if it's not an emergency it can wait.

I rarely go to the ER. But a couple of weeks ago my son fell and hurt his elbow. I called his pediatrician to ask if I could just take him to a radiology place for an X-ray and she told me with an elbow I had to go to the ER because if it was broken it would need to be put in a cast ASAP......

Really? Odd. DS broke his elbow, and it could NOT be casted for a few days because swelling needed to go down and proper placement verified before it was casted! I felt so bad for him..

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On the flip side, I know my doctor won't see you unless you can pay for the visit beforehand (whether it's in full or just the copay) so I can see how in that case there aren't many options left.

 

[Becky2005]

FWIW, the only walk-in clinic in our county won't do stitches or set broken bones, and they close at 9:00 pm.

I don't think ours will either -- I know when my DS broke his wrist -- bad mom that I am just figured he strained it or something (he had a tendency to go overboard on pain issues -- when he first came home you would have thought we had to amputate his arm!!! I told him if it still hurt when his dad got home, we would go get it looked at -- by then it only hurt in one area)....sure enough it was broken but they didn't cast it, they just put a splint on it, wrapped it and told me to check with my regular doctor in the morning.

I usually go to the clinic if I'm thinking it may not be a huge deal but if it's a "I'm not really sure which way this is going to go" - then I go to the ER other than the one time I went for strep throat since our hospital had been advertising they had "walk-in" stuff similar to the clinics for the little things -- so I figured I would give it a try -- I'm sure I had the totally baffled look on my face 90% of the time I was there because I was expecting a different area than the regular ER but that's exactly where I ended up. When I questioned the registration person "is this the walk-in clinic area??????" she did indeed say it was & basically they have some rooms set aside for the little things vs. having to go into a room with a hospital bed, etc... I ended up with what reminded me as an very old dentist or barber chair in the room I was in. I had just gone in to see if I had strep or SOMETHING since my throat was killing me and it wasn't going anway (I had never had strep in my entire life so had no clue if that is what it was).

After that, I stick with the walk-in clinic that is a lot closer to us even though it's a different hospital system. I didn't like the feeling of being in the REAL ER with such a minor complaint. Now, when DH gets his kidney stones....it's the REAL ER we go (especially since I'm convinced they only happen at 2 AM or something for him!).

 

[DeniseinNS]

I prefer to go to the Clinics any day over the Emergency room where you are going to wait so much longer to be seen. The Duty Clinics here are mostly all opened from 9-9 on weekdays, 9-5 saturdays and closed sundays so we will go to the E.R if it's an emergency that happens after those hours. I would go right to the E.R for something that I thought may need an x-ray or ultrasound since they can't do those at the Clinic.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I have seen my share of emergencies and always opt to go to my physician but there is a problem as well. You can't just get into a doc's office the next day a lot of times. My doc has a set number of emergency appointments and if he is overloaded he advises to go to the ER as well. I haven't been to an ER as a patient in years, neither has my son but that is us.

I'm fortunate in that my physician's office employs a number of nurse practiitioners and has extened hours most days, and often CAN fit in patients the same - or the next - day. I have a current issue and even got to see one of the physicians with one day's notice - on a Saturday!

 

[clarabelle]

The "Ugh Stop Telling Me How To Parent" thread got me thinking about people who go to the emergency room for every little thing.

IMO, unless you are going to die or there are NO clinics around, you don't need the emergency room. Even if it's broken, the clinic can mend it. Last time I was at the clinic at 1am for strep throat, there were TWO kids getting casts on broken arms!

I have a friend whos DD woke up with a painful boil-type cyst on her butt. Her mom drove her 20 minutes to the hospital emergency room, passing MANY clinics on the way.

The day we moved into our house, my mom fell and somehow split open her hand. It was NOT in need of stitches, the bleeding stopped after about a minute, but FOR that minute, my MIL shouted, "Oh my God, oh my God, I can drive you to the emergency room NOW!" Um... but even if she NEEDED stitches, WHY would we pay for an emergency room when the clinic can stitch it up for her $20 co-pay!

I would certainly go to the ER for some stitches or a broken bone.
I want an orthopod to look at a broken bone -and depending on where the cut is -I may want a surgeon or a plastic surgeon to stitch it up.

Also -some prompt cares are not covered by insurance at all -depending on your plan.

 

[skater]

Judging other people has no great benefit. All circumstances are different. When I took my daughter to a walk-in clinic for an x-ray one weekend, we sat in a tiny waiting room that was not clean and everybody else had some kind of virus. The ER would have given us bigger rooms at least. NO way to know for sure, but I think we brought swine flu virus home that weekend.

We were at the Outer Banks one year and my son needed stitches. We walked in the clinic and immediately walked back out. It was crowded and the receptionist had a bad attitude. We went over to the ER and were treated wonderfully and a bad experience was made tolerable.

In Massachussetts, I had a great experience in a walk-in clinic and was glad I chose it over the ER. If the clinic had seemed "bad," I would have zipped over to the ER immediately.

Its crazy to judge other people and decide they're ER happy when you have no clue as to why they might have made that choice.

 

[KPeveler]

I would never go to a local clinic for a broken bone or stitches! They can't even draw blood right on me!

However, it is hard for me to judge, since I have complex medical conditions... So I really do need to go to the ER if anything weird happens...

 

[msjprincess]

wait until morning if the issue isn't an emergency.



If it's minor it can wait until Monday.



DH is the same way, and so I have the final call on whether or not they see a doctor



Not to repeat myself, but if it's not an emergency it can wait.



Really? Odd. DS broke his elbow, and it could NOT be casted for a few days because swelling needed to go down and proper placement verified before it was casted! I felt so bad for him..

----------------------

On the flip side, I know my doctor won't see you unless you can pay for the visit beforehand (whether it's in full or just the copay) so I can see how in that case there aren't many options left.

Hey I'm just repeating what my doctor told me. I assume it depends on the type of break.

 

[krcit]

The one time I took my ds to the ER for a huge cut on his forehead, I waited for 3 hours and then the nurse came in and told me that the plastic surgeon had just gotten out of surgery and was too tired so could we come back at 7:30 am She thought we were going to be mad but I was grateful that all I was in there for was some stiches. I didn't know that you could wait that long for stiches but they told me you can wait about 12 hours-just keep it clean and moist. So, off we went to the ER the next morning and were in and out in 10 minutes.

 

[iwrbnd]

My DH is a doctor so we have to literally be dying to go to the ER!

Actually, we've been 3x's...me w/kidney stone (spent a week in the hospital), DS7 with pneumonia (spent 10 days on IV antibiotics) and DD4 months w/RSV (spent 3 days in hospital & transferred by ambulance to another one)...so I guess all those were serious enough to convince DH we needed the ER!

Oh, I do remember one night my DS told me his legs hurt. I pulled the covers off and he had purples splotches all over them. Next thing I knew my DH had him in his arms and was leaving for the hospital. Turns out he knew instantly what it was and wanted to make sure his blood work was okay. It was Henoch-Schonlein Purpura and they were home in a few hours. That was one night where I thought my DH came in handy!

 

[krcit]

My DH is a doctor so we have to literally be dying to go to the ER!

Actually, we've been 3x's...me w/kidney stone (spent a week in the hospital), DS7 with pneumonia (spent 10 days on IV antibiotics) and DD4 months w/RSV (spent 3 days in hospital & transferred by ambulance to another one)...so I guess all those were serious enough to convince DH we needed the ER!

Oh, I do remember one night my DS told me his legs hurt. I pulled the covers off and he had purples splotches all over them. Next thing I knew my DH had him in his arms and was leaving for the hospital. Turns out he knew instantly what it was and wanted to make sure his blood work was okay. It was Henoch-Schonlein Purpura and they were home in a few hours. That was one night where I thought my DH came in handy!

How scary!! I have a friend whose ds had the purple rashes and it turned out to be meningitis. He lost both his legs but he is thriving today, thank God.

 

[iwrbnd]

How scary!! I have a friend whose ds had the purple rashes and it turned out to be meningitis. He lost both his legs but he is thriving today, thank God.

Yikes! How old was he? That's sad but I'm glad he's doing well now!

 

[minkydog]

We were at the Outer Banks one year and my son needed stitches. We walked in the clinic and immediately walked back out. It was crowded and the receptionist had a bad attitude. We went over to the ER and were treated wonderfully and a bad experience was made tolerable.

I've been to that Outer Banks ER. A couple years ago I was at the beach with my kids. I somehow let Christian get a little too far away from me and before I knew it he was underwater. Scared the crap out of me! So I go running through the waves and stepped in a hole. I fell hard, landing smack on top of Christian and pinning him underwater. I finally got the two of us out of the water and up on the beach. I walked around on the knee for a few days until I couldn't stand the pain anymore( my knee was the diameter of a paint can!), then i took myself to the hospital. It certainly wasn't life threatening, but I had done my dead level best to handle it and was failing miserably. Emphasis on the miserable part. I didn't feel one bit embarrassed about being there, either. Turned out I had torn the ligaments in the knee and needed to be non-weight-bearing until I could get an MRI at home. Great. Now all I had to do was get through the airport with Christian, my baggage, my crutches and my brace oy! Not my finest hour.

 

[2Eskiedogs]

When I talked to the billing dept. at our local hospital, the billing clerk mentioned that in the ER, no one is turned away for not being able to pay, whereas our doctor's clinic, can turn you away for failure to pay your bills.
Our hospital also shut down their urgent care clinic.

When I fell and broke my wrist, I first called the doctor's clinic to see any doctor, I was told that I needed to go to the ER, and this was at 2pm.

If people running to the ER bothers you, how is that any different than people that constantly run their kids to the doctor? I have a SIL that does this, every sniffle, cough or whatever, she has her kids in the doctor's office.

 

[locolala]

I wish we had the option of just choosing to go to an urgent care, or to just make a same day appointment at the doctor's office.. but with the military that's not possible. If it's a life or limb threatening injury we're supposed to go to the nearest ER, if we can make it the 45 minutes to the ER on base then we're supposed to go there. If you think you have a UTI, you go to the ER, because they don't generally have same day sick appointments on base. There are some urgent care places that take our insurance, but I have to have preauthorization to go there, so I have to call an advice line, wait on hold, then talk to the answering service, then wait for the doctor to call back. Normally thye just tell you to go to the ER anyhow, so I save them the trouble and just go to the naval hospital.

 

[Fintastic]

When I talked to the billing dept. at our local hospital, the billing clerk mentioned that in the ER, no one is turned away for not being able to pay, whereas our doctor's clinic, can turn you away for failure to pay your bills.

I think this is the main problem. People go to the ER because they HAVE to be seen, even if they're there for something stupid. And who pays for that? You do. I do. Everybody else but the person receiving care.

I don't think I've ever taken my kids to the ER. I had to go in myself around Thanksgiving because I was having an asthma attack and my inhaler wasn't working, but I waited for a day or so to see if it would get better on its own somehow. And I was in the ER when my son was five days old - my OB sent me right over because he was concerned that I was showing signs of a pulmonary embolism. But no way would I go to the ER for something as ridiculous as a cold or an infected splinter.