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| No. 80 | 
Jul 09, 2004, 02:20 AM
 They decided to start collecting money from our discharges...
That will start next week, and I'm wondering how it is going to effect our stupid is as stupid does patient load. People with insurance or private pay will be escorted to the finacial counselor upon being dismissed from the exam room and then the FC will ask them to pay some amount and set up payment arrangements. They will not receive their discharge instructions or prescriptions until they have finished with her. I imagine people that really need to be in the ER for things like lacs, and fxs won't blink twice, but I am hoping that it will at least discourage the repeat visitors we have coming in for stupid things time after time. I am hoping that once they have to face the FC once and get asked how they plan to pay the bill, then they won't want to face that again. Unless they figure out that we have no FC during certain hours and time their complaints to correspond with that time. How long do you think it will take for them to figure THAT out?!?!?! Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it works. All I know is that I wouldn't want the FC job for ANY amount of money! I can't imagine how nasty some of these people are going to get.
JMHO, Pam
 | | Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 81 |
Jul 09, 2004, 10:36 PM
Some of my all time personal favourite "Dumb presentations to the emergency room" are;
-Being drunk,
-Being drunk and requesting detox until social security check arrives (read "keep me sober for a couple of days until I can get good and drunk again")
-Seeking narcotics
-Welding flash burns (ie not wearing a welding mask while welding)
-THAT guy from "Jackass" (with the toy car up his butt)
Generally I found that on any given night there would be plenty of malingering drunks, also, when both parties from a drunken altercation arrived at the same emergency room for treatment, that was fun, however as I worked the graveyard shift on Friday/ Saturday nights, what do you expect?
| | No. 82 |
Jul 10, 2004, 10:51 PM
Updated
Jul 10, 2004 at 10:54 PM by kids
Originally Posted by Traumamama59 That will start next week, and I'm wondering how it is going to effect our stupid is as stupid does patient load. People with insurance or private pay will be escorted to the finacial counselor upon being dismissed from the exam room and then the FC will ask them to pay some amount and set up payment arrangements. They will not receive their discharge instructions or prescriptions until they have finished with her. I imagine people that really need to be in the ER for things like lacs, and fxs won't blink twice, but I am hoping that it will at least discourage the repeat visitors we have coming in for stupid things time after time. I am hoping that once they have to face the FC once and get asked how they plan to pay the bill, then they won't want to face that again. Unless they figure out that we have no FC during certain hours and time their complaints to correspond with that time. How long do you think it will take for them to figure THAT out?!?!?! Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it works. All I know is that I wouldn't want the FC job for ANY amount of money! I can't imagine how nasty some of these people are going to get.
JMHO, Pam
Let us know how it works out.
They tried this in my area a few years ago and got nailed for it within a couple of weeks.
The problem was their holding the discharge instructions until payment arrangements were made.
Something about their being a publicly funded hospital and having to treat regardless of the ability to pay...so they could not discuss money until after treatment (and discharge is part of threatment).
Now they treat & discharge but you can't physically exit the building (thanks to a remodel) without passing thru the financial department.
| | No. 83 |
Jul 11, 2004, 01:51 AM
Updated
Jan 03, 2008 at 04:36 PM by txnrobin
| | No. 84 |
Jul 12, 2004, 02:07 PM
Had another great one this past weekend. Tell me if you ever got this one: middle age female presents to ER with c/o generalized rash (looked like eczema) for 2 weeks (yep - 2 weeks) asked why she didn't see her PMD, she states she "didn't have time". VSS, no acute distress - as she watches me mark her chart "non-urgent" she asked if we were busy. I replied, "Well, it is the weekend and this is a trauma center - we have several high acuity patients so you may have to wait for awhile." (I figure honesty is the best policy - why mislead her?) Well, I'll be darned. As an after thought, she suddenly remembers that she is also having chest pain. Ofcourse that bought her the LAST mon bed and a cardiac work up (which was negative) but hey - she got seen quicker ... never mind that the work up took even more of her time and she complained the whole time. I guess the "chest pain" BS call has unfortunately became public knowledge as a means of getting seen quicker. Geez ...
| | No. 85 |
Jul 12, 2004, 02:57 PM
Originally Posted by RainbowSkye Gee, let's see:
-broken acrylic nail
-child vomited once, now sitting on mom's lap eating chips and drinking coke
-laceration too tiny to be seen by the naked eye ("it was bleeding just a minute ago" as patient squeezes the alleged laceration trying to make it bleed again)
-totally well, but needing a work excuse for a sick day sometime last week
-child sleeping all day (up all night crying the night before)
-prescription refill (could be anything from bp meds to oxycontin)
-viagra request
-mosquito bite (yup, just a plain old mosquito bite with no allergic reaction or infection)
-child "lethargic" (mom's words) as kid is running up and down the hall and, you guessed it, eating chips and drinking coke
Oh Wow Rainbow, I wouldn't count out that mosquito bite now with the threat of West Nile Virus and other yukky things mosquitos can cause...  | | No. 86 |
Jul 12, 2004, 03:54 PM
tink you are right about using the chest pain to get in the fast lane....my DON told me if i ever wanted to get through er fast to c/o chest pain and act like i had dyspnea...by the way i love pic of sleeping cats
| | No. 87 |
Jul 12, 2004, 05:33 PM
I used to work with this triage nurse who just loved the expression "therapeutic wait", at first I was a little shocked but I must admit that the expression has grown on me somewhat.
I'm sure I don't need to (or probably want to) elaborate.
Suffice to say, there is limited scope for deterring inappropriate presentations
or unreasonable demands, but the "therapeutic wait" ensures that they don't get it all their own way at least.
| | No. 88 |
Jul 12, 2004, 06:01 PM
I'm on dialysis and have Medicaid, so when anything happens to me-- like when I had a badly sprained ankle-- I get told to go to the ER by the dialysis unit. My nephrologist isn't going to do anything not directly kidney-related, so I have to go to the ER because I don't have any other doctor. (But you can bet your a** I make sure it's a real emergency-- and I don't bring six friends with me, either!)
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