Are You "Emergency Room Happy"?

[mariolatry]

But what if you have a young child who comes down with an ear ache on a Friday evening? I have a two-year-old, and a doctor with no one in the office after 4:30 pm. You cannot get same day appointments, so that means Tuesday (at least) before I can get her in. Trying to keep a 2-year-old happy with a painful ear drum for Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, plus however long it takes for antibiotics to kick in?

I just playing devil's advocate here, just to make people aware that there are grey areas.

 

[daughter_of_amid_chaos]

I hate going to the ER and unfortunately I have had a number of experiences there.

The one time I went to the ER for something where in any other situation I would have opted to see a doctor or go to clinic was in college. No urgent care clinic. My PCP and parents were over 17 hours away at home. I was flying to England the next day for a 2 week school trip and I had my first ear infection ever at the age of 20. Turns out I had double ear infections in both ears and a sinus infection. They told me not to fly but that was not an option so they gave me everything to make me as comfortable as possible.

Other visits, which I deemed (and my parents who I asked) necessary for the ER included: uncontrolled bleeding that would not stop--ended up being admitted for surgery (2AM visit--rushed in to ER).
Severe gallbladder attacked paired with UTI causing shortness of breath (8AM with health services on campus closed).
Sent to the ER by my surgeon after gallbladder removal when I had a high fever and was unable to keep down any food.
Fell down the stairs and slammed into the wall at the bottom of my stairs. Sprained ankle, severe contusions up and down my leg. ER doctor told me if I had been older I would have broken my hip (11PM Saturday night visit). Surprisingly they did not take any xrays when I was there. Luckily it was not more serious.

Some would call me ER happy but I think all my visits were necessary as did my doctor and my insurance company.

 

[lemondog]

But what if you have a young child who comes down with an ear ache on a Friday evening? I have a two-year-old, and a doctor with no one in the office after 4:30 pm. You cannot get same day appointments, so that means Tuesday (at least) before I can get her in. Trying to keep a 2-year-old happy with a painful ear drum for Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, plus however long it takes for antibiotics to kick in?

I just playing devil's advocate here, just to make people aware that there are grey areas.

I suppose I am lucky because I am less than a mile from both a CVS Minute Clinic and a Walgreen's Take Care Clinic. Luckily our pedi has night and weekend hours, but one time I was not able to get DD in, they were totally booked up for their Sunday clinic, and she had begun running a fever overnight along with stomachache and sore throat. I was pretty sure it was strep so I ran her down to the CVS. She got a throat culture and diagnosis of strep, and within 15 minutes we were out the door with our amoxicillin in hand. I suppose if the child was young and VERY ill with earache and I was not near a walk-in, I might consider an ER, but even in those cases I have managed over the weekend with motrin and numbing ear drops until I could get in to the pedi first thing Monday morning.

 

[minniecarousel]

When younger DS was playing HS football, he managed to get himself home after a brutal hit in practice. He needed to be seen, so I called the clinic and got him in first thing in the afternoon. Welllll....they transferred him to the hosp via ambulance since he had a kidney "fracture" & he needed a CAT scan. The ONE time I should have taken him to the ER & I didn't!

Every time I took my Mom to the ER, she was admitted. I took her to Urgent Care once on a Saturday, with her first ever gout attack. We wanted to make sure it wasn't cellulitis. As it was, her gout needed to be treated with medication.

 

[Inigo]

I've been to the ER a bazillion times in the 19 years since I was diagnosed with Crohn's due to repeated small bowel obstructions and other complications. I've heard so many other patients in the ER with colds, itchy rashes, and what have you. It just boggles my brain to think they went to the ER for that sort of thing.

Of course, I was in the ER so much, they practically gave me an assigned room. I'd just walk up to the window, and they'd buzz me in without me needing to say a word. If a new ER doc was on, the nurses would tell him/her that I knew what I needed, and to just listen to me.

 

[Elmo9607]

I've only been to the ER once, about 7-8 years ago. It was about 1 a.m., and earlier in the day I smashed my thumb in the car door. It wasn't broken, (we could have taken care of that at home anyway) but it did start bleeding under the nail. We just figured that we'd just go to the regular doctor the next day if it didn't stop, but it didn't. I took a pain pill (like the ones you get after surgery) and it didn't help AT ALL. I was in SO much pain and my entire thumb was hot and throbbing. I have a fairly high tolerance for pain, but I was just a wreck.

So we packed up and went to the ER. Took about a half hour...they drilled it, and when the blood started to drain it literally shot out of my nail about 3 feet in the air and got all over the doctor's coat.

I have no idea what things would have been like if we had waited until morning. I'm sure I would have went to the basement and attacked it with my Dad's electric drill before then!!

So yeah, not an emergency, but it was something that needed to be attended to ASAP based on the pain factor alone.

 

[iwrbnd]

I agree with you. Many injuries or illnesses are not life threatening but they do require an ER. A fracture is one I can think of right off the top of my head. Most doctors don't cast broken limbs or do xrays. You would definitely need to go to an ER for that. My children's pediatrician does not suture either. They can do the wound glue, but the one time we had a bad cut we were sent on the ER anyway because it was not a clean enough cut for the glue and she needed stitches.

I think people are referring to those who head to the ER for a cold, sore throat, etc. Things that could definitely wait for and be treated by a regular doctor's office visit.

Maybe it's because we live in a small town but my DH (family practice) does stitches and casts in his office.

 

[tasha99]

I'm definitely not--usually when I've had to take a kid to the emergency room, it was because the clinic told me they couldn't handle it (I once had a receptionist tell me to hang up and call an ambulance, which I did).

 

[phragmipedium]

I also live in a town without "clinics." We have an UC that is sometimes open, sometimes not, and only slightly outside of normal business hours. I do have a PCP here that I became established with primarily for that reason - their office is very good about getting me in same day or calling something in for me when I have an ear infection, etc - something urgent but not ER-worthy.

Coincidentally, I was just in the ER tonight...kind of. I am very pregnant and wasn't feeling well at all today, and I thought my blood pressure might be high so we checked it with an automatic cuff. I called the Ask-a-Nurse through my insurance and after giving my symptoms and bp, was told to go immediately to Labor & Delivery. I've never done that before and we stopped in at the ER, they called up to L&D, and we were sent right up.

So no, I'm not ER happy, but I'll use it when I feel I have an emergency even if it might not necessarily be life threatening - as long as my other options are exhausted or have told me to do so.

ETA - I'm okay now, I think. BP is a bit lower; I'm having more contractions than they would like but they're Braxton-Hicks, and they have me on some medication to try to deal with both the BP & contractions. I'm told to get in to see my OB tomorrow morning.

 

[skater]

Maybe it's because we live in a small town but my DH (family practice) does stitches and casts in his office.

My kids go to a huge pediatric office - and they don't do stitches. I wish they did.

 

[NY Disney fan]

Elmo, you poor thing!!!

 

[Tink_Or_Belle]

we don't have any in clinics. I have been to the ER twice in my life both in the last 3 weeks 1st when I thought my appendix had burst then 10 days after surgery because the incision popped open and my Dr's office was closed for the weekend.

I tried everything I could think of to avoid the 2nd visit because with one ER visit, a hospital stay, and all the dr visits recently another ER co-pay was not what I wanted to do

 

[pilesoflaundry]

Our doc is set up like a mini urgent care, they can do bloodwork, xrays, ekg but they will not set broken bones and I'm not sure on stitches (I hope I never have to find out!). We avoid the ER as much as possible. I hate waiting forever and there is no need to go most of the time.

 

[Mellie2162]

The clinics around here are 9 to 5 and won't do stitches or broken bones, so it would be a total waste of time and money to go there.

 

[Darsa]

I've taken DD14 to the Emergency Room twice in the past 4 years or so; she's always had digestive issues which are usually handled OTC, but a couple of times it's been like she might have appendicitis, so I brought her in just in case. Both times we waited; once for 3 hours, and once for 5 hours, in the waiting room... she got to feeling better and I took her home. Only once did they dare to try to bill me for the ER visit; after my wrathful phone call I wasn't billed again.

We don't have any clinics up here that I know of; I've been trying to find something to use 'til DD and DH have insurance again, but so far no luck.

 

[Katie Dawn]

I just want to chime in and say this thread is spurring me on to find out if the Urgent Care Clinic in our area is open 24/7. I don't think it is, but I need to find out, and I want to find out days of the week, exact hours, etc. I would ALWAYS choose to go to any place but the ER if I could reasonably do so (Let's see... the co-pay, the wait time...)

I will say that the whole $200 co-pay or whatever it is that you have is a GREAT motivator for not going to the ER unless you really need to! That is, after all, why they make the co-pay so high (at least I assume that is why.) I'm not saying I like that $200 bill if I DO have to visit the ER... I'm just saying that it is an effective deterrent!

 

[tammymacb]

I spend about 50 hours a week in an ER. I work there. We see the same people day after day after day.

( BTW, we're a Certified Stroke and Heart attack center, so we're set up for very sick patients )

We see people who ran out of meds and need more for the weekend. Paper cuts, ear aches, colds, vomiting ( ONCE, Oh NO!! ) "Just don't feel good"

A triage I recently wrote was, "Patient states she was posing for a picture, fell off bed and landed on beer bottle. Pt has 2 cm laceration to left buttock"

We get lots of drunks, who random doogooders find sleeping in parks and call 911 so we get to deal with the stinky, obnoxious winners till they wake up and go home.

But worst of all. My biggest peeve is... people bring their kids to us. We have no pediatrician, we have no pediatric area in the hospital. We are directly across the street from a University Hospital with a Peds ER. And people bring their kids to us. Even though their pediatrician is across the street.

I. take. care. of. a. lot. of. dumb. people.

 

[lilmissdisney216]

In the past year or so I've been to the ER about 4 times (mono, peanut allergic reaction, asthma attack, and car accident). Between me and my darling fiance, we only go when either one of us is in a dire emergency and our life is being threatened in some way shape or form. So its not too bad. But I know a couple people who take their kids to the ER over a fall on the side walk and they assume that its a broken bone when really it ended up being a scrape.

 

[Muushka]

ER happy, me?

My poor husband found out about me right after we got married. It was a Sunday and he had something in his eye. He wanted to go to the hospital!

I said, nope, sorry. No hospital ER unless you have a bone sticking out of your arm or you are having a heart attack. We went to the drug store, bought the eye wash and he was fine.

 

[Acklander]

street.

I. take. care. of. a. lot. of. dumb. people.

Wow.