let's talk ER waiting

[easyas123]

Cooper Hospital in Camden, NJ

I was born there, in the same room my father was born in!

 

[DisneyTeacher]

Outrageous.

I’m guessing I was a pretty low priority that day. I think that hospital is probably that way seven days a week. There were police officers, metal detectors/screening, and just a crazy atmosphere in general. There wasn’t an empty seat in any waiting room. However, I feel lucky to have been where I was that day. I could have had a different outcome at another hospital. I don’t fit the profile for a blood clot but I had a massive clot from my inferior vena cava to my calf.

 

[hulagirl87]

I’m really sorry you didn’t get any answers. The constant round and round is so frustrating and exhausting. I don’t know what kind of pain you’re experiencing, but has your primary referred you to any specialists?

DD had been battling some pretty constant pain for 2 years and her ped finally referred her to a specialist after exhausting everything she could do and we finally got an answer.

Yes, I have definitely been to my share of specialists. 4 different GI doctors (I left one office in tears), a cardiologist, a rheumatologist, ENT, and neurologist. I'm so glad that your daughter has gotten an answer! That must make her, and you, feel so good!!!

 

[tazdev3225]

I had to take my son in law to the ER today. As soon as I asked for a wheelchair because it looked like he was having a stroke I had 4 people at my car helping him and he was in the CT room before I could even call my daughter to let her know that I had gotten him to the hospital, she was still trying to get out of work. Thankfully it looks like another mini stroke but it is his 5th or 6th stroke in 4 years, the 2nd in 6 months. I just wish they would figure out what is wrong with him.

My insurance is set up to go to Urgent Care over the ER if I can. It's a $150 difference in co-pay so I opt for the Urgent Care. Thankfully they are equipped with X-Rays. I had a rough January 2020 and needed to go 3 times. That was a $450 savings.

 

[leebee]

I went to walk-in care (urgent care) in Nov 2019 (pre-covid) because I had what looked like a couple of red pimples near my eye, but there were big red streaks coming from them. Urgent care said it might be an invention, marked the perimeter, gave me IV antibiotics, and said if it got worse to come back. Two days later I had a fever of 101 and a fierce headache; I went back and they sent me to the ER. Got to the ER at noon and by 1:15pm I'd been triaged, put in a room, given IV antibiotics, had blood work, etc. Turned out I had periorbital cellulitis. I had to be admitted as the treatment is vancomycin, which can only be given by IV. OK, fine... and then the wait for a bed began. I'd missed lunch, someone checked on me hourly, made sure I was OK. A nurse realized around 7pm that I might need something to eat and brought me a "grey meat" sandwich. It was 1am by the time there was a bed for me. I was in the hospital for the next 4 nights- but at least I had a bed! SO I was treated fairly quickly, but it was the wait for a bed that got tiresome.

 

[Lilsia]

From our experience, it does not matter when or what day you get there, you WILL wait a loooong time for everything. The only way for you to actually get someone to look at you right as you come in is to come by ambulance or look like you are about to die.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

My last ER trip was almost exactly 2 years ago. I walked in to the ER at 7:05 am and was in a room in less than 5 minutes. A PA was in the room before I hit the bed. They had me in for a CT scan within 30 minutes and a surgeon on standby waiting for the results. I was admitted to a room by 10:30 on med-surg. I can not say enough good things about my local, inner city hospital. They are phenomenal.

 

[Disneychick75]

We go to Urgent Care first. All but 1 time they were able to treat, x-ray, whatever we needed. Not sure about where y'all live but our ER is oftentimes filled with people who use the ER as their primary healthcare.

Forgot to add that what Urgent Care couldn't treat was a massively painful headache. They took me straight to a room because my blood pressure was very high. Normally, it's 90/60. Turned out to be food related tyramine syndrome (there's also a type related to medicine) Glad I went to the ER because this type of headache can lead to a stroke. I was in so much pain that even after a "cocktail" of meds, my pain level was still at a 7. Doc wanted to send me home with a morphine pack. Truly was the most pain I'd ever had - definitely a 10. It was worse than a slipped disk, abdominal surgeries, or broken bone. Have had a few since but now take THC drops which helps if I take the drops at the first sign.

Have had to change my diet which is not fun because I have already had anaphylaxsis episode after eating softshell crab so no shellfish. No citrus, deli meat, sausage, wine, beer, good cheeses, avocado, bacon, leftovers, fresh meat has to be cooked same day w/in a few hours of purchase -it's a long list. The upside is following the rules means less pain.

 

[flying_babyb]

went to the er a few weeks back, 3am on a Saturday! NO ONE else there! sat in a room in extreme pain for 3 hours, then was given meds that lasted Just till i got home. Oh and it cost me 790 affter insurance

 

[sweetpeama]

In my area the top priority are those that arrive by helicopter followed by transfers from other area hospitals via ground ambulance though a lot of those are just taken through and onto the regular floors depending on what is going on as they already took x rays at the smaller hospital if it is an accident victim and they suspect a break. The critical care hospital from a smaller community is going to call and say that we are sending this patient name, date of birth, ect to you and the x rays that show a closed compound fracture (those hospitals can not do surgeries) and here is all the other information. At which point the hosptial with a low level trauma center is going to go thank you and either start getting ready or go we will send the paramedics to meet your volunteer fire dept emts part way depening on how serious it is. Anything that is a ground transfer due to flying conditions grounding the helicopter is handled that way with the ambulances communicating via radio for a safe place to make a transfer. It is not that those emts do not give good care but they do not have the training necessary to do much where the paramedics can start an emergency IV and administer medications after getting a phone order if necessary. The ambulance systems in the larger towns have an emt and a paramedic on all teams with the emt being the driver plus the fire dept has at least one paramedic assigned to every truck or ladder at all times and often 2-3 so if needed one of them can go with an ambulance crew

 

[C&Jx2]

ER waits stink, that’s for sure. There are a myriad of reasons why it happens. An ER may appear empty to some, but you never know what’s going on behind the scenes (staffing, triage, equipment malfunction, etc.).