[schotzyb]

Originally Posted by cappyjon431

I am so sorry to hear of your husband's poor experience at the TV hospital. I was glad to hear the the ER nursing staff was good (my wife is an ER nurse there).

I certainly would not offer any excuses for being in a hallway bed for nine hours, that is completely unacceptable. missing an important diagnosis and relying on a nurse to convey the information is unacceptable. That being said, it is just my opinion, but I think the TV hospital has been outgrown by the rapid growth of TV. There are only a limited number of beds and during snowbird season there are simply not enough beds (in the ER or in the hospital itself if a patient needs to be admitted) to meet the demand.

My wife has been an ER nurse for over 20 years and she gets very stressed by the limited capacity of the hospital. The TV ER is unlike any hospital she has ever worked. Because of the older age of most of the patients a higher percentage of the patients that arrive are critical. In other places my wife has worked if a twelve year old shows up with a broken arm they would simply patch the child up and send him on his way. With an older patient population this is not always possible--frequently these patients have to be admitted for additional care. In addition, there are frequently underlying causes which could cause these injuries (back to the 12 year old with the broken arm: Usually it is pretty cut and dried, the 12 year old might have broken an arm playing football. With an older patient exhibiting the same broken arm it is often necessary to see if the broken arm was caused by an underlying health issue (such as falling due to stroke or other neurological issues). The large size of TV's population combined with the small size of the hospital combined with the relative fragility of many of the patients frequently make it a tough place to work. That being said, my wife enjoys working there because patients seem to be extremely thankful for the care they do receive in the ER. Compared to the drug seeking crackheads, drunks, domestic abuse victims, gunshot victims, etc. that she has experienced at other ERs, TV hospital is a decent place to work.

As far as neurologists, I recently needed to see one and Dr. Smirnoff came highly recommended from the hospital staff. I tried to get an appointment but he was backed up for weeks so I saw his associate, Dr. Valencia, who seemed competent. I've only seen him a couple of times, but so far I have been pleased.

Great post and observation. My wife is also a Nurse working at the Villages Hospital but not in the ER. She expresses the same concern about size and number of beds available for such a large population in the winter months. She works the 7am to 7 pm shift 3 days per week and rarely does she get home before 8:30-9:00pm.