To be fair.....

Consider the patients IN those ER beds that were all full. They are most likely to be over age 75-80 with carloads of internal medicine complexities to diagnose and rule out, which takes a lot of time and testing, with 3 or 4 organ systems wearing out fast and failing.

They were in the ER beds and not your wife, because they were vastly sicker and true "emergencies". The emergency dept. of a hospital is not a walk-in Minute Clinic that could be staffed by a single nurse practitioner, family practice dr, etc. All specialties are on deck 24 hours a day for the ER, one of the big reasons ER is so expensive to provide and operate.

The fact that she could "walk right out" and go to the urgent care center indicates she was triaged accordingly. Yes, mistakes and human error sometimes cause erroneous triaging of patients. But all there are human and have to go with their years of education, training, observant eye/mind, etc., AND with their hands often tied by administrative boondoggling between other departments which the ER clinicians have to depend on to get things done.

Sounds like a fair assessment!!

Great post. :thumbup:

First off you have NO idea what issues my wife was going threw.She was VERY sick.We both walked out with me helping her because we could not take the chance on staying 8 hours waiting to see a doctor.Your post really was all guess work.And you guessed wrong.Waiting in an ER for 8 hours is dead wrong.

Sounds like the Triage system worked perfectly to me."We walked right out and went to urgent care in Sumter Landing and saw a doctor in 5 minutes"

"My wife is doing awesome"

A quick and efficient system of care that worked as it was designed.

Could you point me in the right direction for Consumer Report ratings. I am very interested in reading it but couldn't find it my issues.

Just totally being curious...what hospital were you with in Michigan??

As a life long New Yorker 4-8 hr. waits are the rule unless you have chest pain!

I have an acquaintance who was seen in The Villages Hospital ER. He waited for hours until he was seen and eventually admitted to the hospital for adominal pain. After two days he was told he needed an appendectomy. He decided to check himself out to go to an Ocala hospital where his physician had staff privileges. He was diagnosed with the flu. He was discharged to rest at home where he fully recovered. He has had no problems since and still has his appendix!

After reading all the comments I had to think about myself when I was in the ER July 2014 at a Sunday afternoon. I went in the hospital because I had a pain in my left shoulder, within 30 min. 2 doctors saw me and I was under full observation. Check after check, looking for a possible heart attack, I had to stay overnight to be sure that all was fine. I can't complain at all about the service, I think something must be wrong with me.

The Villages Regional Hospital?
 

All hospital ERs triage when they are busy. More often than not they get it right. I know that is not very comforting, but if you have a loved one who needs to be prioritized you will understand if you talk with the staff. I've been to TVRH ER twice with my wife. They took much longer to see her than I would like, but there were ambulances waiting outside to offload patients for hours. This speaks to me about the physician group in the ER, not the nurse staffing.

I waited 5 hours in hallway at TV regional hospital emergency , after a vehicular accident. Most of the time I was on a back board and neckbrace. Volunteers were kind , but also clueless about not raising my head to sip water. " No ! Stop! " I had to halt one from being too helpful . All in all my experience led me to never go there again if at all possible

I don't want to bore you with our tale of woe, but if you can safely be transported farther than TV Hospital, my advice is don't go there! We won't make the mistake again, unless it's just to get stabilized --and then you might be better off with good paramedics transporting you to a better place!

Complaints
 

For all of the visitors of The Villages Regional Hospital ER--

If you were told the "WAIT TIME" is too long and you end up going to an URGENT CARE, treated and sent home--YOU HAD NO MEDICAL EMERGENCY IN THE FIRST PLACE

If you were "lying on a backboard" and in a collar and even asking for water-I am SO CONFUSED of the concern for lying flat while drinking--the backboard/collar are for TRAUMA or rule out trauma patients -not for people who haven't "had anything to drink/eat all day" and come to the ER with the notion the nurses and volunteers have become the wait staff at a hotel.

Wait time is LONG during SEASON. 100,000+ people for a 24 bed ER? And you are mad at the STAFF?? Why not support the staff and hospital? Yes, it needs to make changes-yes they are working to build larger hospital-but NO they will never be able to keep up and yes another Hospital is needed.

Unless you are having a Heart Attack, Stroke, Short of Breath, Head Trauma, or Unresponsive, Not Breathing or Have NO PULSE --you are not a priority. :censored::censored:

The following are people who can wait in the waiting room safely-until a room is ready for you, unless your presentation to the nurse is critical, all of these patients would wait in most ERs.
Saying your dying because you are having pain from a KIDNEY STONE is NOT a medical emergency. Vomiting in a waiting room-is NOT a medical emergency unless you are vomiting blood and even then has to be SIGNIFICANT amounts. -Blood tinged vomit is NOT a person that is seen right away, even if you take COUMADIN. Having a urinary catheter that you sat at home 8 hours clogged is NOT a medical emergency that means you are the next patient to come back in the ER after waiting 5 minutes. Your dental abscess NO, you sciatica pain NO, your chronic back pain NO, your red spot on your leg for two weeks NO, your abdominal pain NO-especially if your vital signs are better than the NURSE signing you in. Nose Bleed-NO even if on blood thinners, Laceration-NO, unless you have peripheral pulse missing or possible loss of limb, Dizzy-NO, Blood Sugar uncontrolled Type 2 NO, Abscess from shooting up street drugs into your veins NO. Blood in your stools NO, blood in your urine NO. Your constipation x 2 days NO. Not to mention all the minor common sense things people come to all ERs for- cough, rash, runny nose, child well checks, dressing changes because home health nurse didn't come to the house, simple bruising from falls, twisted ankle, insect bite, scabies..

Stable patients that call 911 to get the hospital quicker-and have their family arrive in the waiting room before the ambulance--may end up in the waiting room themselves. Triage is done at all hospitals at the front waiting room an the "truck" entrance. If you are stable in either area-in the Waiting Room you go.

For all the people who continue to say they would drive past the closest hospital in a MEDICAL EMERGENCY-well, you are probably not even experiencing a REAL emergency or you wouldn't be able to make that decision clearly-but good luck. Door to balloon time is trying to be 60 minutes for Heart Attack patients-meaning once you arrive in most ERs you are in the OR within 60 minutes-including calling in OR team at night for best results for saving any heart damage.

I think The Villages need a URGENT CARE 24/7 however--- There is a URGENT CARE inside the VILLAGES REGIONAL HOSPITAL OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 8am-8pm. Went there recently and was treated and discharged in less than 1 hour.

Dear 57 Chev: Your kidding right? While I agree that people ought to give more thought as to whether they need an ER or Urgent Care the fact remains that continual testimony by many residents points to the need for improvements. And by the way all Urgent Cares are not equal. I learned that the hard way

Some posters talk about what is happening at other ER's which gives some indication that the medical community is failing and I believe the medical community, not only because of their failures, but because government and insurance companies are sticking their noses in where they don't belong
But people who live here will making comparisons with ER's in other states which is understandable but because residents rely on The Villages Hospital's ER that should be their focus

My wife and I have doctors who have privileges at Ocala because our past experience personally and with people we know here has been positive.
Make no mistake I have learned the hard way that medical people anywhere and with the best reputations within the country or the state are quite capable of making mistakes. Its the human experience. On the other hand i have been a recepient of some of the best medical people have to offer

I am glad people are speaking up and complaining because it will cause TVRH to continue to improve.

Personal Best Regards: