[tucson]

Originally Posted by Mack184

These stories enrage me and NOT for the people who are telling them about how badly they are treated and their poor, poor family member who is left to "rot" in the waiting room.

If you knew ANYTHING (which you don't) about how things work in an ER you might begin to understand. The ER staff at TVRH, and in fact most US hospital ERs are on roller skates from the minute they clock in until the minute they leave some 12 hours later. They often have not had a single meal break, or even a bathroom break.

ERs take people on a 1-5 triage scale. 1 being the most critcal, 5 being the least important. 1=you're dieing. They take people in order of their NEED. Since you have no idea what's happening behind the doors, you make the decision for yourself that the staff's in the back room playing cards and drinking beer while your poor, poor family member is left to rot. BS!

Actually these HARD WORKING people are handling heart attacks, strokes, gunshot victims and severe traumas. Those ALL go first. In every hospital everywhere in the USA.

TVRH has a problem that is only going to get much worse as time progresses. They have a chronic shortage of beds on the medical floors. If you can't get a patient OUT of the ER and onto a medical floor bed, they can't take another patient UNTIL that current paitent is moved out. TVRH is constantly short of med-floor beds.

Since TVRH draws fully 88% of it's entire revenue stream from Medicare, and Medicare reimbursements are continuing to decline, they have NO ADDITIONAL MONEY to build a larger facility, or hire better and more staff. However, they have a continually growing population that requires more and more services which they have to provide on less and less money. That's a losing deal all the way around.

Poster after poster has said "Something Had Better Be Done"! OK what? The staff pay is horrible and so they have trouble attracting more and good people. The revenue stream is dwindling daily. The answer is MONEY. Are you ready to come up with a few million bucks so that the hospital can afford to expand? Yeah. I thought not.

The problems that plague TVRH are financial. That isn't going to improve unless there's a BIG infusion of money.

And..when you finally get into an ER room..Zip Your Mouth and don't carp at your nurse, tech or doctor. They are busting their butts to help you out and they don't need your lousy whiny self-entitled attitude to make their hard day or night even harder. Also.. you are in the hosptial's ER..Not Denny's. The staff is there to give you MEDICAL care..Not run and get coffee & sandwiches for your family or fetch magazines or other personal wants.

If you are in need..you WILL get help at TVRH..but it will be on their need scale..not yours. And I would trust them ANYTIME to know what's important and what can wait.

Thank you for telling it like it is!! Like you said, It's only going to get worse...