Ms. Pizza My friend Emily came down with a case of (what she thought was) pink eye last week and decided to go to the ER for medication - a decision my friend Laura and I, who trucked along with her, weren't very sure needed to be done. When we got to the ER in Spanish Harlem, we quickly realized there were bigger problems on our hands.
I know that emergency rooms have a bad reputation for how their patients are treated, how they're kept up and the long wait times but I have never seen anything like this.
During our 8-hour wait, I experienced everything from gang violence victims to battered elderly women and a man convulsing on the floor while security guards just stared then went about their business. Seriously, it took ten minutes for this poor man to get help. Around 2am (after arriving at 7pm) Emily was finally seen. Her case wasn't nearly as bad as some other patients (she didn't even need to go) but what troubles me is that the people who were in worse condition were still waiting to be seen.
I couldn't help but think of
this story I read awhile back about a women who collapsed on the floor of a Brooklyn emergency room and was left there for an hour without staff realizing it, resulting in her dying. It boggles my mind how horribly ran most emergency rooms are. We need them, and they're just as important as any other kind of medical facility (if not more) - so why such bad treatment? Long waiting hours? This is an ancient problem that I really think needs to be fixed.
What's your opinion of emergency rooms? Have you ever had a bad (or good) experience at an emergency room?
Comments (29)
That is absolutely disgusting. I myself have waited 4 hours to see a doctor when I was having a particularly bad asthma attack. By the time the doctor came in I was breathing fine and half asleep - no thanks to anyone on the floor. I saved myself and I had to pay for 4 hours of nothing? Thanks a lot.
I hate emergency rooms.
This is a post I can answer from direct experience working in the emergency medical system. The reason Emergency Ward treatment involves such long waits is that people don't use the service properly.
An emergency is something that will cause you to die if someone doesn't fix it for you. Bleeding that you cannot control yourself is an emergency. Currently having a stroke is an emergency. A broken bone is an emergency, though not immediately life threatening. You might have to wait until the folks with the heart problem, the stroke, and the respiratory failure are treated first. Almost everything else should go through the doctor's office or local clinic.
If people did this, the true emergencies would be less likely to go unnoticed in the endless sea of little problems and angry voices.
Do you understand how triage works? No one died. When I go to the ER I know it will be 12-14 hours. I avoid it unless I am squirting blood, in which case I will be seen quick enough to not die.
@HeartOfPandora@xanga - Your expectations of emergency rooms are unrealistic. You said it yourself, it went away on it's own.
@benjimau5@xanga - No it did not go away on it's own, it went away because a kind, bleeding citizen helped me out. Granted I think I said saved myself, didn't I.
@HeartOfPandora@xanga - I still think you're cute.
@benjimau5@xanga - Well that came outta nowhere.
I've never had a bad experience with an ER. I'm always seen within the first 20 minutes, usually much less. Once I did have to spend about 8 hours in the ER, but that was because I had to see multiple doctors and have various tests done, then get anesthetized and I really don't know how much of my time there was spent unconscious. So there was a lot of waiting, but at least I was in a bed and could sleep.
For more minor issues, I recommend an urgent care type facility. I went to one when I had to get stitches and it was much better - I was high priority there.
I have waited many hours at emergency rooms, but I like many others here, only go if it really is an emergency. The times I have gone i have seen bleeding, and people with faces so beat up, they're disfigured.
I think ER doctors are not to blame, it's the people who go with no emergency but a really bad cold. I know this because my mom is like that. She freaks out about anything and everything.
here's a really great article that pretty much addresses all the concerns in your post: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-18-texas-health-care_N.htm
this article has everything i wanted to say- and i can speak from personal experience too, because i used to work in a houston hospital and i know how overwhelmed the system is. secondly, i have relatives that don't have health insurance so they waited in the same ER mentioned in the article, for 24 hours.
at the same time, i have recently moved to massachusetts where we have a very progressive healthcare system and EVERYONE here is required to have health insurance. it doesn't mean that all the problems are solved in the ER's here, but it's definitely not as overwhelmed as hospitals in Texas because everyone has their own PCP /family doctor to see for minor problems/ health concerns.
The only time I went to the ER was because I thought did something to my leg and I expected to be waiting for awhile. I only waited for an hour because the ER I went to makes sure to get people in and out.
Animal ERs are better! Haha. We had to bring my puppy to the animal ER because she took some of my mom's medication and was on a trip and they took her right away. Animals definitely have it better off.
@dryvona@xanga - OMG I SO AGREE WITH YOU!!! Modern day mothers are not like mother back in the day. A child gets a cough, sniffles, and a fever 99+ and modern day mothers rush their child to the ER. Back in the day mothers understood how to nurse their child back to health. When they couldn't then they called the doctor, NOT rush the child to the ER.
A couple of months ago my daughter attempted suicide. Of course we rushed her to the ER. We were at the hospital from 2:00pm Saturday until 4:30am Sunday.That's when they stuck my daughter in an ambulance and transported her to a Psychiatric Unit in a nearby town. We followed behind the ambulance. We were at the Psych Unit from 5:00am until 8:30am. By the time it was all said and done, my boyfriend had been up 40+ hours (because he's a trucker and hadn't been home for very long from being out on the road) and I was up for 30+ hours.
Emergency rooms are very scary at times. The last time that I met a sick friend at one, there was a crazy psycho prisoner in the next room.
The best way to get seen quickly is for them to think there is something wrong with your heart!!
I'm not too much of a fan of emergency rooms. I went twice for stomach problems, neither times did I get diagnosed with anything. I stayed there for 12 hours!
I've waited a full 12 hours in the emergency room before in Harlem when i went with my father for a minor ear irritation. they seem to pay no attention and they "lose" your file sometimes until you go and confront them. you could actually see them drinking coffee and eating pizza, chicken, etc. with a ER full of people. why do these people still have jobs? i get mad whenever i think of something like this.
My mom is a RN and I worked in a hospital myself for a year, so I've never had a long ER wait. knowing people helps a lot. but from experience working as a clerk (you know, the people who sit at the desk who aren't nurses but hold all the keys to getting you seen), don't go to the ER unless you're having a major issue. the doctors and nurses are dealing with people who are literally dying, and if an order for a dying patient comes through in the middle of them seeing you, they'll leave your bed anyway.
words of advice:
1. don't go to the ER unless you're in really, really, really bad shape. unless you came in an ambulance, are gushing blood, or are having a baby, get comfy in your chair.
2. try to go to a clinic that stays open late/opens early (ask for referrals from doctors, friends, the web). some open as early as 5 am and close as late as 11 pm near me. you may have to go a little out of your way, but you'll be home hours earlier than if you went to the hospital.
3. if you can't find an open clinic, then wait until it opens if you can. if you have something like a mild cold/cough/irritation, you can probably wait. of course, if your condition gets worse, by all means, go to the ER!
4. if you have to go to the ER, try going to a smaller hospital. you can always transfer to a different one after you're stabilized if you don't feel comfortable there. the major hospitals are dealing with everyone, while the smaller ones tend to have some "downtime" during off-peak hours.
in a perfect world, everyone would get seen in a timely manner and everyone would get well. but such is life
My husband had kidney stones when we last visited OKC. It took 4 hours to get him seen- and I'm talking big time, OMG he's going to pass out type pain. They had 30 to 40 rooms available, 4 emergency docs on duty, and every bed full, all that time. I'm glad I don't live in the city -- any city.
I remember that Brooklyn story... Ugh.
I work for a medical center and I enjoy going over the the ER. It's never all that busy when I go(during normal work hours). My boss tells me it's only busy on Friday and Saturday nights.
When I lived in my old town, the hospital nearby in another town (a big hospital in a very busy area) waiting in the ER took hours. Whenever someone in my family had to go and it was a school night, I made sure I was able to go too....sure beat sitting at home.
Now, I live in a bigger town with a bigger and busier hospital and my ER waits never last more than 20 minutes. Seriously. It's why I'm delivering my baby there, they seem fairly competent and have the ability to move patients.
I haven't been inside a hospital since I was a toddler.
My family..at least on my mother's side, don't tend to have very positive opinions of doctors and the health industry in general.
We've always treated our own health problems.
As I've grown older, I've thought less and less well of hospitals, doctors, insurance companies...etc etc.
Because most of them seem to have deteriorated over recent years, geared toward profit more than for caring of the ill or hurting.
I haven't heard of the long waits, but I'm not surprised.
@dryvona@xanga - well said.