Overloaded hospitals, 10 admission, 12 hour discharge
 

I accept the idea that our hospitals and nursing staff are taxed to their limit. I recently had am ambulance transport to our local hospital and using an ambulance was certainly warranted. I was placed on a gurney type bed in the ER hallway, I did receive care but spent 10 hours in that hallway never be admitted to a ER room.
My purpose with this post is to say we know of the long admission process thru the ER's. But what sense is there in it taking 12 hours getting discharged from a hospital ??? Several days later and another kidney stone attack landed me in the Leesburg hospital. Eight hours anain thru the ER process, four days in the hospital. Kidney stone removed, early in evening on the fourth day, both doctors tell me , I will go home tomorrow. Early the next morning (8:AM) The IV, etc are removed. I WAS NOT DISCHARGED UNTIL 5:30 PM. There always seemed to be another thing that need to be done, final release from the DR. Meds and that sort of stuff. It in unbelieveable that the discharge process took 9 and a half hours !!!! Basicallty, I layed in that hospital bed and watched TV for an entire day.

Warren. I am hoping you are feeling better. Our son in law had kidney stones and the pain was TERRIBLE. I feel so bad for you. It was in Cincinnati and he went through the same thing waiting to be admitted but they did give him pain relief. I hope you got pain relief.

I will tell you this. Our daughter has had many hospitalizations over many years and it always seemed to take all day to get the release signed to go home. There were many final things to check and the doctor had to sign you out.

And of course that kidney stone had to arrive during the busy season.

One of the problems to getting discharged..and it is absolutely maddening for nurses & other hospital staff is getting YOUR doctor to discharge you. The doc's gotta sign off, and many, many times the staff is just cooling their heels waiting to get the doc to sign you out. That doesn't mean the doc is out goofing off or playing golf while you're waiting. He may be seeing regular patients, he may have been sidetracked by an emergency while doing his rounds and so forth. But without the OK from your doc or the staff Hospitalist-MD, you're not going anywhere.

Since TVRH has a chronic shortage of needed beds, that causes all the other things to slow down, which then adds to the ER waits. It's a vicious circle. The staff wants you OUT! And I don't mean that in a mean way..they need your empty bed. At TVRH they are essentially "hot sheeting" those beds. As soon as somebody is discharged, and fresh linen can be put on the bed and the room quickly cleaned up, they've got somebody new to put into that bed.

Basic rule of thumb if you're headed to the ER..Plan on being there at least 12-15 hours. I'm talking from wait time to discharge. It can be a lot longer, but I hear funny stories about people coming by with very unrealistic ideas about how long their wait is going to be. You can't stop by at 8am and hope to make your 12noon tee time. Not gonna happen. Really...if you're going to go to the ER..You can plan on being there ALL DAY, and by all day it's not unrealistic for that to mean 24 hours.

But..no matter how long you've waited..Be kind & don't take out your frustration on the nurses, aides & doctors. They are running their tush off for you!

I am sure with the Affordable Health Care Act kicking in soon, that sort of emergency care waiting problem will be much improved.

Yeah................right......................... ..

Food for thought:

Government and health insurance intrusion penalizes efficient doctors

Keep one thought in mind....as the new health care laws take more effect, and millions more enter the EXISTING health care system.....

What we have today is THE BEST IT WILL EVER be for the foreseeable future.

So like it or not enjoy what we currently have while it lasts!!

btk

Maybe if a few people just walked out when the iv's are pulled, they'd find a way to streamline the process.

Exactly what I was thinking. Give them 1/2 hour to get squared away, get dressed and leave. They can't physically restrain you. They can squawk all they want. If you need meds, tell them to call the pharmacy, and you will pick them up. :wave:

pick a hospital in any city and you at times will find the same...of course if its a child with a hot appy its even a harder to sit in that hall

Bobnbev
Be careful when suggesting leaving before the paperwork is complete. What if insurance doesn't pay the hospital because you left. I forget the term the hospital uses on the chart but it flags it. I wish they would improve the process. Hospital has Electronic Medical Records. The attending could complete the discharge orders he does not need to put "eyes on you" before discharge. The nurses can review the information. There seems to be a lot of finger pointing within the hospital. Processes can be changed to meet the needs of the patients, the insurance, and the hospital's policy makers. Maybe the hospital should start a campaigner, " Get in, Get out, Get Better".

If you leave without being formally discharged (The technical term is Against Medical Advice) Your insurance absolutely WILL NOT PAY ONE SINGLE DIME OF YOUR BILL. Yep..that's right, you'll be stuck with 100% of the cost. It might make you feel good to just stalk out, but you'll feel plenty sick when you get stuck with the full cost of your stay just because you wanted to prove a point.

It would seem the bottleneck in the ER is caused by the lengthy discharge. During the times I have been in a hospital (up north) the doctor would see you during his/her morning rounds and you would be discharged within an hour or less.

Just speculation but if you stay past noon maybe the hospital gets to charge for another day.

It doesn't quite work that way..the insurance companies won't pay for that, plus TVRH needs the beds too badly to be attempting to play that game.

You are certainly correct that they NEED the beds, but going about releasing the beds is another matter. I was at urgent care recently. The Dr. wanted me to get a particular test that had to be done in the hospital. He told me to walk across the street to the hospital and he would send the orders over for the test. I walked over, they admitted me into a bed in the emergency room....walking past MANY sick and injured folks on gurneys in the hall way. I explained that I do NOT need a bed...only a test. they admitted me anyway. After blood work and a couple hours wait, they took me for the test....then back to the room that I didn't need. They kept me waiting in the room for another 4 hours while I waited for results, then a Dr to release me...all the while taking up a bed (really the room, I never got in the bed). On my way out I still saw many folks in the hall that needed a room. Two in particular had very bloody heads. Didnt have any idea why this incident happened this way....I was not sick, nor in an emergency situation...Is it possible that they saw that I had private insurance and not Medicare??? I hope thats not the case, but I did feel ridiculous taking the room away from those that needed it.