[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by CFrance

Hmm... that happened to me at the ER room in Key West. I was there for three hours before they called me in for their "triage," or whatever it was. So three hours later when I still hadn't been seen and went to inquire, they said No, you've only been here three hours according to your chart. Of course, they based their time on the triage time, not the time I signed in. Another three hours and I kicked up a fuss. So all told, I was there for 9 hours before they informed me there was no one there to run the diagnostic I needed.

So it depends on whose clock you're using. And I wouldn't have put up with such a smart-ass response. These folks are in stressful situations.

Nothing personal, but......

#1) It depends on whether that particular ER tracked both arrival time and triage time---we did. In the case I mentioned, the patient arrived via ambulance, so they were well documented.

#2) If you call me a liar to my face in the ER I am running, the smart-ass response was the most benign response this person was getting, and they had no choice but to "put up with it". I was half tempted to have security put her in the parking lot until such time I felt like allowing her back into the waiting room. I suppose she could complain to the person in charge, except that was me. And I could easily have removed her after declaring her "detrimental to ongoing patient care"

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

Nothing personal, but......

#1) It depends on whether that particular ER tracked both arrival time and triage time---we did. In the case I mentioned, the patient arrived via ambulance, so they were well documented.

#2) If you call me a liar to my face in the ER I am running, the smart-ass response was the most benign response this person was getting, and they had no choice but to "put up with it". I was half tempted to have security put her in the parking lot until such time I felt like allowing her back into the waiting room. I suppose she could complain to the person in charge, except that was me. And I could easily have removed her after declaring her "detrimental to ongoing patient care"

If you could "remove" her, denying her care for mouthing off to you, to me that would be abuse of power. I think it's your responsibility to rise above all that.

It must be very hard to run an ER, but people are coming in stressed, sick, injured. You're the one with the education and power. You need to rise above it!

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by CFrance

If you could "remove" her, denying her care for mouthing off to you, to me that would be abuse of power. I think it's your responsibility to rise above all that.

It must be very hard to run an ER, but people are coming in stressed, sick, injured. You're the one with the education and power. You need to rise above it!

I don't think you understood me---she was NOT the patient, she was the wife. And I posted the short version---so here's the longer story. Hubby arrived via ambulance with abdominal pain after breakfast. The wife was abusive to the staff and resident physician from the first minute there. I wasn't taking care of him, but the head nurse asked me to speak with her since she was screaming, disruptive, and abusive. She was abusive to the resident caring for her husband, and the nurse told me that even her husband told her that he was there less than an hour and had been receiving attention continuously since arrival.
I asked her what her concerns were, and she reiterated that she has been sitting around for 4 hours!. I not only had the ER chart, but the PCR from Rural-Metro in front of me, documenting the time the call was received, when the ambulance was dispatched, when they arrived at their house, what they did in the home, when they left the home and the time they arrived at the ER. I asked her what time they generally eat breakfast, and she said 6:30. I asked what time they had breakfast today and she said 6:30. So I told her that she called an ambulance at 6:53, they arrived at 7:04, they left their house at 7:16 and arrived at the ER at 7:33. It was now 8:20, so please explain how you've been waiting 4 hours. She screamed that she knew what she was talking about and became even more abusive. That's when she got the "smart-ass" comment. I had determined that this woman was either a nut job or a moron, and was done wasting time with her, so I think I was actually quite restrained.

On a happier note, we found out that breakfast was 3 eggs, 4 strips of bacon, 3 sausage links and gravy. We removed his gallbladder several hours later and he went home the next day.

[NotGolfer]

"Some" folks think "IF" they fume and bluster that will bring quicker results. The woman GE is talking about sounds a bit of a nut-job (IMHO).....or early dementia.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by NotGolfer

"Some" folks think "IF" they fume and bluster that will bring quicker results. The woman GE is talking about sounds a bit of a nut-job (IMHO).....or early dementia.

VERY early, since she was 37 years old

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

VERY early, since she was 37 years old

Too much cholesterol? Or a prima donna?

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

Too much cholesterol? Or a prima donna?

Probably off her meds. I did briefly consider grabbing the resident and 2 PC'ing her (involuntary commitment to the psych ward for 72 hours of observation), but I didn't want to expose the relatively sane schizophrenics and psychotically depressed patients to this woman.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

Probably off her meds. I did briefly consider grabbing the resident and 2 PC'ing her (involuntary commitment to the psych ward for 72 hours of observation), but I didn't want to expose the relatively sane schizophrenics and psychotically depressed patients to this woman.

That was nice of you. They have enough to deal with in my experience. Psychiatrists that do not know Jung from Freud.

[tcxr750]

I wonder if hospitals triage the patient as they come in. My personal experience is that only "chest pain" is recognized as needing immediate care. I've been to city and suburban hospital ERs with a condition needing immediate treatment and sat for hours. My only option for immediate care for the illness was to go to a suburban hospital that I knew had few ER patients during evenin and night hours. 5 miles away.

[dbussone]

Really good ERs have a system that has a professional do an immediate preliminary review of patients upon their arrival.

Hiding a triage nurse in an office with no view of the waiting room, and having volunteers run the waiting room is a disaster waiting to happen.


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[sallybowron]

My doctor told me they hired a new ER control company. The hospital does not run the ED. Maybe complaints to this new company will do some good. Otherwise it is Leesburg or Munroe. We are not without options.

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by sallybowron

My doctor told me they hired a new ER control company. The hospital does not run the ED. Maybe complaints to this new company will do some good. Otherwise it is Leesburg or Munroe. We are not without options.

By definition, the hospital DOES run the ER. Legally, and otherwise. What they have done is most likely to contract with a different group of ER physicians. If so, that is an excellent start.


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[John_W]

Today they had a big story about volunteers at The Villages Hospital doing everything from scrubbing operating rooms to delivering meals. Yet, I read that people go into the ER and sometimes get charged $1500 for taking their pulse and temperature. Isn't this hospital a commercial enterprise? Why should people work for free so that people who own and operate the hospital can make more money? When I had a business I would of liked to have volunteers come and do work for free. I can understand volunteering for charity, but this is not a charity, it's a big business.

[Annie01]

They should spend more money in enlarging that part of the hospital instead if building more homes. The er should be triple that size and more than one dr there. Let's fix this mess. Shameful.

[dbussone]

Originally Posted by Annie01

They should spend more money in enlarging that part of the hospital instead if building more homes. The er should be triple that size and more than one dr there. Let's fix this mess. Shameful.

First, the developer does not operate the hospital, so building fewer homes would not accomplish what you wish for. Second, the hospital has just completed a large expansion project for the ER and some other areas. IMO, enlarging the ER again would not solve the problem either.

There are a lot of posts on this thread so you might want to review at least some of them since this this topic is obviously a hot one.


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