The emergency room is not for sniffles.

from JoeUser Forums

I'm faced with having to go to the ER again today.  I still haven't got rid of this stone, and I'm running a fever...they told me if that happened I was supposed to go in, and because there's no clinic today, the ER is the only place to go.

Every time I go in there, I see people who really have no business being there.  People who bring their kids in because they have runny noses.  People who have hangnails that they want clipped because they are "bothering" them (don't laugh, that really happened).  I've seen people bring their children in because they're "not feeling well" and commence to feed them Burger King in the waiting room whilst the child is running around like a dervish.  Yeha, they're not feeling well alright.

The last time I was there I asked the doctor if that didn't bother him.  He said that that kind of stuff was the bulk of their work...that if people like that would understand that that kind of stuff really could wait until the next duty day, the rest of us with a genuine need to be seen would have our wait time drastically reduced.

I feel bad for possibly having to go over there today....I feel like I'm not really an emergency case.  However, when I talked to my doc yesterday, he said that if I got an infection on top of a stone, and left things too long....that I could lose a kidney. 

I think that qualifies as 'emergent'.

misc
6,996 views 22 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I work in a medical clinic, and the term "Emergent" is something that most people understand, they just choose to ignore.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
I work in a medical clinic, and the term "Emergent" is something that most people understand, they just choose to ignore.
Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
Your case is emergent for sure! I know what you mean about all the nonemergent cases at the ER though. I wish they could all know the pain of what 2hrs with gall bladder attacks because every Tom, Dick and Harry in town was there because they "didn't feel well". I honestly wanted to die when I was having gall bladder attacks (ended up getting emergency surgery).

If you have something obviously emergent like spewing blood or bones protruding, they will get you right through, but if you have something internal, you could very well practically die waiting. Heck, I've heard of people with heart problems do just that. Because of the ambiguity of heart symptoms with women, I highly support them going to the Dr when they "don't feel right".

Boy I hope they get this thing out for you and get you over your fever. So sorry you had to go through it. Best wishes and hugs to keep you company in the waiting room
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Oh the stories and memories you conjure up in my mind Dharma!! In fact, if you don't mind, I think my article for today just might have something to do with this. I have posted an article or too based on non emergent "emergencies", but with your article as inspiration, it just might be time for another.... on second thought, I'll just link to one I did before.. call me lazy!!... ;~D

"Dialing 9/11 For Dummies": http://parated2k.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=59043

Either way, pass that sucker soon!!!
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
For people with no medical insurance, the ER is sometimes the only doctor they can see. Poor people get sick, too. I think you're being a tad unfair.
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
People really need to try to educate themselves as to basic principles of their own health. If they would only do that (with the host of free resources available to anyone with or without insurance), the load on the ER would be dramatically reduced.

If people would avail themselves of the host of free (for both insured and uninsured) nurse help lines before they actually come to the ER (and will now absolutely be seen and create quite the hold-up in the system), the load on the ER would be dramatically reduced.

It is astounding the number of people I have seen who seem to think that their child who was running a fever all day long, suddenly needs to come to the ER at 10:00 that night (when the very best thing that child could be doing is sleeping). I understand many of them work during the day and cannot take the time off to go to the doctor then, but a simple call to the ER, a description of the symptoms to a nurse could alleviate much of this stress on the system.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
I grew up in a small town with a teeny Catholic hospital with no trauma or resources for more difficult cases--like heart attacks, strokes, major car accidents, etc..

So when I get to Vegas and I hear that ambulances are parked outside of the ER like limosuines waiting to drop patients off...it totally terrifies me. Car accidents are a dime a dozen down here...what if I'm in one and need to be seen immediately? It's probably not going to happen.

For people with no medical insurance, the ER is sometimes the only doctor they can see. Poor people get sick, too. I think you're being a tad unfair.


Yes...that's true...and the drs. in the ER are under legal obligation to see them, and that's great...because people who can't afford insurance deserve medical care, too.

On the other hand...just about EVERY community in America has some sort of health resource for those with little or no income. I know doctors in my tiny hometown that won't charge a patient if they can't pay, and just an hour away in Fargo, ND, there is a clinic that will charge you based on your wages--meaning if you don't have any wages you won't get charged. And those places probably have even less of a wait time than the ER. Lots of people living in poverty don't know how to tap into those resources is another excuse I hear alot...and all one would have to do is call the county health and human services office to find out about that stuff or just open up the phone book....
Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
Bravo for this post. Though we have free health care here, we also have long llllloooonnnnngggg waits at the ER. They do it on a priority basis. Even so, when I and my pregnaat wife went to the emergency, along with the usual runny nose people was a lady who was holding a rag to her bloody head for at least 1 1/2 hours.
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
For people with no medical insurance, the ER is sometimes the only doctor they can see. Poor people get sick, too. I think you're being a tad unfair.


Another lie from the left! Those medicaid and medicare cards used at the ER (and ambulance) work at any clinic that accepts them. The fact is any clinic that accepts medicaid and medicare must accept ANY patient, regardless of the ability to pay.

I've offered to take unemployed patients to clinics instead of the ER, they usually refused.
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
Another lie from the left! Those medicaid and medicare cards used at the ER (and ambulance) work at any clinic that accepts them. The fact is any clinic that accepts medicaid and medicare must accept ANY patient, regardless of the ability to pay.


Spot on Ted. Saying the ER is the only option is just lazy and untrue.
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top
Those medicaid and medicare cards used at the ER (and ambulance) work at any clinic that accepts them.


Ah yes, everyone has medicaid and medicare. I had forgotten. I forgot we had universal health care in this country.
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
Convenient how you ignored this part of Ted's reply, isn't it:

The fact is any clinic that accepts medicaid and medicare must accept ANY patient, regardless of the ability to pay.


If the clinic accepts Medicare and Medicaid patients they cannot turn anyone away who legitimately needs to be seen. No one. Whether they have Medicare or Medicaid or nothing. The clinic will lose their federal funding the second they do that.
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
Ah yes, everyone has medicaid and medicare. I had forgotten. I forgot we had universal health care in this country.


I wonder Myrrander, would you accept that kind of selective attention from a student? Apparently you just couldn't get yourself to notice the part of my lengthy and ever so wordy reply that went...

The fact is any clinic that accepts medicaid and medicare must accept ANY patient, regardless of the ability to pay.


Of course, you do serve a purpose... You are a great example of why teachers should be required periodic retesting. ;~D
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
Wow BlueDev... Sick minds do think alike!! ;~D
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top

I work in a medical clinic, and the term "Emergent" is something that most people understand, they just choose to ignore

yes, I know!

I wish they could all know the pain of what 2hrs with gall bladder attacks because every Tom, Dick and Harry in town was there because they "didn't feel well". I honestly wanted to die when I was having gall bladder attacks (ended up getting emergency surgery).

I had mine removed too, so I know all too well that that feels like.  It sucks....I had mine emergently removed too because it almost ruptured.

 

Oh the stories and memories you conjure up in my mind Dharma!!

Oh, I can imagine!

 

For people with no medical insurance, the ER is sometimes the only doctor they can see

Not in this case.  This is a military medical facility. You have to have an ID card to be seen, meaning you have free medical care available to you on a routine basis.  I'm sorry if you think I'm being unfair...but I think it's unfair that people like me, who have a genuine medical problem, have our treatment and care delayed by people who should have been seen in the family practice clinic. 

People really need to try to educate themselves as to basic principles of their own health. If they would only do that (with the host of free resources available to anyone with or without insurance), the load on the ER would be dramatically reduced.

I was talking to the med tech about that this morning.  The wait time in the ER was over 2 hrs today...I got triaged and seen almost immediately, much to the chagrin of the lady who checked in before me with her child who had a sore throat....but not to sore that she coulnd't eat an egg McMuffin and sing along to Dora The Explorer at the top of her voice.

 

And those places probably have even less of a wait time than the ER

The family practice clinc will see people on a walk-in basis.  Yes, you're going to have to wait, but it's a damn sight quicker than the ER.

Bravo for this post. Though we have free health care here, we also have long llllloooonnnnngggg waits at the ER. They do it on a priority basis.

As does my homeland, England.  There you can wait for over 12 hours to be seen, and people regularly die waiting for treatment.

 

Ah yes, everyone has medicaid and medicare. I had forgotten. I forgot we had universal health care in this country.

No, we don't.  However, there are facilities that cannot refuse people treatment, and they're not all emergency rooms.

 

If the clinic accepts Medicare and Medicaid patients they cannot turn anyone away who legitimately needs to be seen. No one.

Exactly.

You are a great example of why teachers should be required periodic retesting.

Ted...you know I love you, so know that I say this with love:  no name calling or insinuating on my thread, please.  No-one gets to do that, not even the people I detest.

 

Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
The family practice clinc will see people on a walk-in basis. Yes, you're going to have to wait, but it's a damn sight quicker than the ER.


Not here, at Ft. Hood, the TMCs and clinics are won't do walk-ins unless you're practically clutching at your breast with chest pains. The rule is if you're military, get sick between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., and not with anything more serious than the flu (say pneumonia for a mmm..hypothetical example) if you want more care than motrin and maybe quarters. If you're a spouse or dependent, try to get sick three days in advance, otherwise off to the emergency room.........

(although I gotta admit, once I made it past triage and x-ray, the care there was GREAT....)
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
Not here, at Ft. Hood, the TMCs and clinics are won't do walk-ins unless you're practically clutching at your breast with chest pains. The rule is if you're military, get sick between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., and not with anything more serious than the flu (say pneumonia for a mmm..hypothetical example) if you want more care than motrin and maybe quarters. If you're a spouse or dependent, try to get sick three days in advance, otherwise off to the emergency room.........

(although I gotta admit, once I made it past triage and x-ray, the care there was GREAT....)


and yet we still have braindead Americans who want to adopt this kind of policy nationally. Military medicine is nothing more than "socialized" medicine and "socialized medicine" is an oxymoron! ;~D

Ted...you know I love you, so know that I say this with love: no name calling or insinuating on my thread, please. No-one gets to do that, not even the people I detest.


Putting my nose in a little circle in the corner for the next 15 minutes. ;~D
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
I just have a problem with people deciding for theirselves who should go to the ER and who shouldn't. Just because you think somebody shouldn't have come in doesn't mean anything.

It's the worst kind of arrogance. If a sick person doesn't know anything other than the ER, then let them have that. I

When you're being self-centered about your ER visit, remember that every single person you see in there is just as focused on themselves because they are ill. If you have energy enough to make judgements on other patients, maybe YOU didn't belong in the ER.
Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top
just have a problem with people deciding for theirselves who should go to the ER and who shouldn't.


It's not just me Myrr. I'ts the nurses, and the doctors too. And as for being 'ill'...some of them are, and some of them aren't, but the ER is for EMERCENCIES, as the name suggests. It's not a walk in clinic, it's not for hangnails and runny noses. It's for conditions that, unless treated promptly, could result in loss of life, limb, or organ, or could permanently disfigure a person unless they are treated promptly.

You're really getting into this naysaying role, aren't you?
Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hope you feeling better dharma...
Reply #21 from JoeUser Forums Top
Hope you are feeling better, K. Kidney stones suck--I know from experience. It's not a pain I would wish on anyone!

Another lie from the left! Those medicaid and medicare cards used at the ER (and ambulance) work at any clinic that accepts them. The fact is any clinic that accepts medicaid and medicare must accept ANY patient, regardless of the ability to pay.


I find it is interesting that the two people in the medical field know this, but not a lot of other people do.

I agree with Myrrander--a lot of times if you are uninsured doctor's offices and clinics don't have "time" to see you--I'm saying this from experience. I had really bad insurance and I could never fit into the doctor's schedule--couple that with being a new patient in a new town, and what are my options? Now, I'm not saying that I would run to the emergency room with a runny nose--but when I had my first "kidney stone" episode, it was the emergency room, or wait three weeks for an appointment with a primary doctor--funny that once you have a referral from the ER, doctors will see you no problem. And, even if I had wanted to go to the walk-in clinic the hospital offered and sit around for hours to see a doctor--I could not go for four days (it was thanksgiving thursday and the clinic was closed until Monday).

Also, I think that if you've lived in the same place your whole life and you know the ins and outs of the system, you would be less likely to use the ER. In my home town, I probably could have convinced my doctor to do a house call late on a holiday --but in DC, it is hard to get the same treatment.

Also, people with the sniffles are not holding back your care. There are priorities in an emergency. Heart is first, but kidneys are pretty high up there--When I went in the second time for kidney problems (because it was late on a Sunday night and no office was open), I was seen immediately even though there was a waiting room full of patients who were all there first (that is when they determined I needed emergency surgery).

I'm not meaning to be the naysayer here, and if I hadn't lived in a bad health insurance situation, I probably would agree with you totally. I am sure that there are many people who simply abuse the system for a variety of reasons--they have low pain thresholds and the running nose is wrecking their head--who knows.

And just for the record--clinics and hospitals may have to treat anyone who can't afford to pay, but that doesn't mean they don't bill you. They will make "payment plans" that are often ridiculous and stretch the best budgets. Last year, I paid more than $10,000 in medical bills as a result of my surgery--and was constantly harassed by the hospital with "new bills" and higher monthly payments. I had to have a lawyer friend call them on my behalf to let them know that as long as I paid $1 a month to make good on my bills they could not report me to a credit agency. I was paying well over $600 a month--but it was still not the amount they wanted me to pay. So, yes, they have to treat you--but they don't have to do it cheaply and they still expect you to pay.
Reply #22 from JoeUser Forums Top
When you're being self-centered about your ER visit, remember that every single person you see in there is just as focused on themselves because they are ill. If you have energy enough to make judgements on other patients, maybe YOU didn't belong in the ER.


And that is fine. It is when they start whining because the all important laws of "first come, first served" are not held inviolate by the triage nurse!

I have seen people with "sniffles" whining because people who are bleeding are seen before them. On the other hand, I've been forced to endure a whole lot of wimpering from patients who called an ambulance for something minor, thinking being brought in by ambulance will give them priority over everyone else.

Self centeredness is one thing, but expecting to be seen before "true emergencies" is rediculous!

Now, I'm not saying that I would run to the emergency room with a runny nose--but when I had my first "kidney stone" episode, it was the emergency room, or wait three weeks for an appointment with a primary doctor--funny that once you have a referral from the ER, doctors will see you no problem.


Not to worry, Shades. Kidney stones are a true emergency (yes, "true emergency is an actual medical term), and while as you point at, won't get you seen before a Cardiac patient, do warrant a trip to the ER.