[OnTrack]

Originally Posted by applesoffh

Well, at least ONE person had excellent and immediate care in TV Hospital! Did you real the column in today's SUN? Honestly, it had to be written in response to all the complaints both on TOTV and around the "compoud". We must all be crazy, because the columnist said it was just wonderful! Sorry I can't remember her name...already tossed the paper.

I too saw that article in the Happy Paper and couldn't help but think the same thing...that its purpose was to mitigate the criticism.

If I believed in those type of pure coincidences, I would be smiling at the irony.

Alas, I don't..........and I'm not.

.

[Russ_Boston]

Originally Posted by perrjojo

RUSS_BOSTON. I have used urgent care in the past and been satisfied but most close at 7 or 8. Is there an Urgent Care in our area with longer hours.

Not to my knowledge but perhaps others will chime in.

As it relates to another post: To my knowledge Leesburg goes on ER diversion (I get notified by e-mail when it happens to either) more than TVRH does so it may be a hit or miss as far as shorter wait times in the ER.

Also: CFHA (which is the parent of TVRH and Leesburg) runs two urgent care facilities, one at each location. So please don't always run to the ER unless it is EMERGENT or off hours.

And yes we came through with very high marks in most categories in our last JCAHO visit. And boy do they get picky!

[Russ_Boston]

Have you noticed that the vast majority of posters who are complaining mention wait times in the ER. Yes that can be one concern but since ALL real serious cases can seen immediately (or very close to immediate) why the real debate?

Now if you had concerns with the operation you received or the cardiac cath you got or the knee/hip replacement etc. then that would be different. That is how to measure a hospital not the ER wait times for non life threatening conditions.

I think most posters are barking up the wrong tree and extrapolating the ER waits into horrible medical care comments.

If someone has comments on care after they were admitted I'd love to try and answer them. I only have 1 1/2 years at TRVH but I know the system and the docs quite well now.

[gerryann]

Originally Posted by Russ_Boston

Have you noticed that the vast majority of posters who are complaining mention wait times in the ER. Yes that can be one concern but since ALL real serious cases can seen immediately (or very close to immediate) why the real debate?

Now if you had concerns with the operation you received or the cardiac cath you got or the knee/hip replacement etc. then that would be different. That is how to measure a hospital not the ER wait times for non life threatening conditions.

I think most posters are barking up the wrong tree and extrapolating the ER waits into horrible medical care comments.

If someone has comments on care after they were admitted I'd love to try and answer them. I only have 1 1/2 years at TRVH but I know the system and the docs quite well now.

Russ, you are correct about the concerns being about the ER, but the topic starter was "TV emergency room". Now....start a new thread about "successful/unsuccessful surgery at TV hospital". I personally don't know how that would pan out....but, I would guess (hope) that it would be positive.

[blueash]

Originally Posted by looneycat

I have numerous 'issues' and turn to Shands hospital for treatment and exams. Have yet to find a quality doctor here.

Shands in both Gainesville and Jacksonville have been given special legislative protection against having to pay malpractice awards over 200,000. So if they take out the wrong kidney or forget to give you oxygen while you are in surgery your ability to collect is severely limited whereas I believe no other hospital in Florida except Jackson Memorial in Miami has a similar limitation. The hospital itself is a teaching hospital. It is fairly well ranked and has some fields ranked in the top 50's nationally. Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL Rankings - US News Best Hospitals

[rp001]

Originally Posted by Russ_Boston

Have you noticed that the vast majority of posters who are complaining mention wait times in the ER. Yes that can be one concern but since ALL real serious cases can seen immediately (or very close to immediate) why the real debate?

Now if you had concerns with the operation you received or the cardiac cath you got or the knee/hip replacement etc. then that would be different. That is how to measure a hospital not the ER wait times for non life threatening conditions.

I think most posters are barking up the wrong tree and extrapolating the ER waits into horrible medical care comments.

If someone has comments on care after they were admitted I'd love to try and answer them. I only have 1 1/2 years at TRVH but I know the system and the docs quite well now.

Sorry Russ, have to disagree with you...The majority of the negative posts did complain about waiting times, but in addition some of us pointed out what we had seen there in regards to lack of care and suffering to the extreme. As I've said before, I personally witnessed a young man with an obviously dislocated shoulder, moaning in pain in a wheelchair for 8 hrs...I witnessed a diagnosed stroke patient, with spouse that worked there, leave for another hospital after sitting for 6 hrs unattended, and elderly in wheelchairs left unattended for hrs..In no way do I see this as any form of normal treatment in this country.

[OnTrack]

Originally Posted by rp001

As I've said before, I personally witnessed a young man with an obviously dislocated shoulder, moaning in pain in a wheelchair for 8 hrs...I witnessed a diagnosed stroke patient, with spouse that worked there, leave for another hospital after sitting for 6 hrs unattended, and elderly in wheelchairs left unattended for hrs..In no way do I see this as any form of normal treatment in this country.

If those are cases of patients who "can wait," there must be a plethora of extremely serious patients.

I get the feeling though........that really isn't the case.

.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by OnTrack

If those are cases of patients who "can wait," there must be a plethora of extremely serious patients.

I get the feeling though........that really isn't the case.

.

I think the point that was trying to be made is that in triage the people who are most seriously involved are taken first. There isn't any place in the country with the percentage of older population that we find here and as a result of that you will find people more vulnerable and a bit more fragile and that in itself makes the whole issue more complicated.

Our VA rep said that another wing was planned to add to the hospital and it can't be soon enough. I am guessing that will begin when the junior school is completed and that looks near completion now. Again, I am assuming they use the same crews to construct large buildings such as the junior school, and the Moffitt center. Specific kinds of construction crews work on homes, some for villas, some for designers and some for premiers so it would make sense that it might be the same for large construction projects.

I am hoping that they will start soon on the addition to the hospital and praying that it will make some things better there.

[OnTrack]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I think the point that was trying to be made is that in triage the people who are most seriously involved are taken first. There isn't any place in the country with the percentage of older population that we find here and as a result of that you will find people more vulnerable and a bit more fragile and that in itself makes the whole issue more complicated.

I am fully aware of the point that was trying to be made.

I am also aware that for people with the conditions noted in that post, to wait 6-8 hours, implies that there were a lot more serious patients ahead of them.

Or......it's a case of under-staffing/poor management/ambivalent workers/etc.



.

[TOTV Team]

Please keep comments directed at the topic. Thanks in advance.

[Mikeod]

We recently had my mom transported to the ER one night. As we sat in the ER, ambulance after ambulance arrived. All those patients were delivered straight into the ER for evaluation. Many people were on gurneys in the hallways, with EMTs attending. We saw the same EMTs come in with a patient, leave, only to return a bit later with another patient. This was repeated all night. We were in the ER with my mom for 12 hours. I left and went home to get her things as she was to be admitted. When I returned about an hour later, she was still in the ER because there were no beds available on the floors.

To me the problem is capacity. With no place to admit patients from the ER, they must stay where they are. With no room for non-emergent patients in the ER, those people must wait in the waiting room. Unfortunately, pain is not as high on the triage scale as many would like. Also unfortunately, you cannot treat patients in the waiting room; the staff's attention is directed toward those in the treatment rooms. And you cannot hire more staff if you don't have space for them to work.

Plans are in the works to expand the capacity of the hospital, but it takes time. Perhaps the best interim solution is for the operators of the hospital to expand the hours of their urgent care facilties to siphon non-emergent patients away from the ER.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by mikeod

We recently had my mom transported to the ER one night. As we sat in the ER, ambulance after ambulance arrived. All those patients were delivered straight into the ER for evaluation. Many people were on gurneys in the hallways, with EMTs attending. We saw the same EMTs come in with a patient, leave, only to return a bit later with another patient. This was repeated all night. We were in the ER with my mom for 12 hours. I left and went home to get her things as she was to be admitted. When I returned about an hour later, she was still in the ER because there were no beds available on the floors.

To me the problem is capacity. With no place to admit patients from the ER, they must stay where they are. With no room for non-emergent patients in the ER, those people must wait in the waiting room. Unfortunately, pain is not as high on the triage scale as many would like. Also unfortunately, you cannot treat patients in the waiting room; the staff's attention is directed toward those in the treatment rooms. And you cannot hire more staff if you don't have space for them to work.

Plans are in the works to expand the capacity of the hospital, but it takes time. Perhaps the best interim solution is for the operators of the hospital to expand the hours of their urgent care facilties to siphon non-emergent patients away from the ER.

I plan to look up all the urgent care facilities in the area and put their addresses, hours and telephone #s on the side of our fridge. If something happens, we'll know where we can go, or have to go.

[shcisamax]

We had to go to urgent care yesterday and Sumter was closed at 5 so I check the hours of Paramount and they were open. Ran to them and they had a closed sign in the door. Grrr. Went to Premier. He was told to go to the hospital. Ran over to The famous Village Hospital. Only 9 patients. Great! It was 3 1/2 hours to get to a bed. And we were out in another 3. Grrr.

[buggyone]

Originally Posted by shcisamax

We had to go to urgent care yesterday and Sumter was closed at 5 so I check the hours of Paramount and they were open. Ran to them and they had a closed sign in the door. Grrr. Went to Premier. He was told to go to the hospital. Ran over to The famous Village Hospital. Only 9 patients. Great! It was 3 1/2 hours to get to a bed. And we were out in another 3. Grrr.

...and we were out in another 3? Does this mean you were out of the hospital in 3 more hours or out of the ER in 3 more hours after being told it would be 3 1/2 hours to get a bed?

The problem could not have been too serious if you were discharged from the hospital in only 3 hours after being checked into a bed. Why the Grr? At least your husband got seen, evaluated, and treated and was able to go home in a very short time.

[shcisamax]

bp of 200 over 100 when you don't have a blood pressure problem is a reason to get immediate care. Clearly this wasn't coronary arrest but we did need care which is why we were in search of urgent care which failed in 2 out of 3 facilities and then on to the hospital because it was too late to run testing at the urgent care which was closed for testing at 6 pm. Frankly, my comment is in response to the issue of not enough open urgent care facilities etc. I am really tired today after getting home at 2:30 and don't feel like defending my grrr which relates to the general lack of sensible solutions to urgent care and an overwhelmed system. And BTW: Two people left while we were there who had been waiting for 5 and 6 hours.