What's the longest er wait time you have Even seen

Specialties Emergency

Published

One big hospital here has been packed many times this is the one I waited 23 hours in the er for a room once . I was told at that time they had a 20 hour wait that day ! I was sick last week and went back to this same one and waited 9 hours to get in the back not. But after 4 hour they did come out in the waiting room to give me meds so I was thankful for that . But it got me thinking what is the longest wait you have even seen .

"I think I'll go to the surgery message board and complain about surgeons bedside manner now....It was moved here from another place and and tock on a life of it's own and many of the therds do!

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The long waits effect the ER nurses too so this has everything to do with us. Are you an ER nurse? If not you cant understand how hard it is to tell people they will have to wait many hours and them hear them cuss you out cause you cant get them see in a timely fashion. We dont have the option like floor nurses to NOT take report or to say were full. The patients keep coming and it effects us all and we have to take everyone that comes in. so maybe you do need to go to a surgical message board where you can hide. Just sayin...

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you obviously have crappy insurance. ER will cost more but you dont have to prepay. Thats the key!

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Ok I think there are some problems with the new format as in the spacing does not seem to be working alone with a few things . First I am not shoure who you are replaying to me or the the person how wroght the quote of my post ? the quote on my post from for someone eles post . This was moved here but was mention for the general boad and was meant as a poll kind of thing not a "who's falt is it " we all know that the er has to see anyone no matter that problem may be no matter how dum . " witch can lead to some uneck story's sometime "
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so maybe you do need to go to a surgical message board where you can hide. Just sayin...
Why would anyone need to hide !
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Specializes in Trauma/ED.

I am an ED charge nurse and I guess I was just bothered by the tone this thread was taking. Most of the responses were from patients of the ED--not nurses who work there. Yes, of course we know this is a problem world wide...DUH! If you are in the WR for 12 hrs...you probably don't need the ED (as someone else stated).

My job is to "move the meat" as I always say...we need to get the patients back and get them out of the dept as fast as possible. I put the pressure where it needs to be whether it's with the ED docs, admit docs, floors, ICU, or my nurses...we do everything we can to get you back as fast as we can.

To come on this page and complain that you, as a patient, had a bad experience in an ED somewhere is offensive to me. If you come to my ED and have an issue, I will be happy to talk to you personally.

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Specializes in ER.

Patients can wait for an ER bed for up to 15-18 hours at my hospital on busy days. It can easily reach 24 hours before they are admitted. On a "Good" day, our wait is betwen 4 and 8 hours. We are crowded!

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Specializes in EMERG.

It always appears we are running a mini cardiology (NSTEMI) clinic with a full department (not a free stretcher) when the waiting room is full of impatient people with ingrown toenails, calluses and sore throats....frankly you will rot out there unless you are dying or unstable its an emergency department people!

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Specializes in Hospice, ER.

In the last hospital I worked 8 hours wasn't unusual to sit in the waiting room. For admitted pt, 3 days in the ED and for one particular psych pt, 5 days in the ER.

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Compared to 23 hours, I once waited 7 hours to be seen because of a sycopal episode that mimmicked a seizure. On top of that, the Cab company never showed up to pick me up after waiting in the freezing cold for an hour...thank God I was over the Pneumonia by that time. So after the little jerk of a security guard came over and told me I couldn't smoke where I was standing, I walked about 10 blocks home. I was so upset by the whole episode, I called the local mental health center just to vent. Needless to say, I will never go to that hospital EVER again.

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Specializes in Emergency/ Critical Care.

trekfan,

the triage nurse assesses each patient and decides who needs to be seen first. Although someone may appear healthy or sick to you the nurse may have found something different after triaging them. Please trust their judgement:) Also if many sick people are in the waiting room waiting to be seen that usually means that even sicker people are inside the department.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

I work in a 50 bed ER, one of only two in our area. We often have 4-6 hr waits in the waiting room, occasionally much longer. Our wait for admits to actually get upstairs to a bed is often 12 hrs +, which of course slows down the whole department! If we have 10 people waiting for in-patient beds, that's 10 less beds and the nurses caring for them, NOT available to see ER patients!

I agree with previous posters in that people seem to have forgotten what the ER is for,..EMERGENCIES, injuries or illnesses that immediately threaten life or limb! From triage, the sickest pts are always seen first, and this may change depending on who is in the department! I may have a kidney stone and a possible pneumonia ready to go back next, then suddenly we get three Class I traumas and 2 MI's that show up by EMS,..everyone waits!

We do have protocols that we can start from the waiting room to get labs and Xray started,..no meds other than tylenol/ibuprofen. This works well if we have the resources to start these protocols! I have often had angry parents state that they could have given Ibuprofen at home,...it's very hard not to say "yes, why didn't you?" I realize that when you or your child are ill and feel miserable you want it fixed and fixed now,..but in theory, if your not actively dying, you might sit in the waiting room forever! I'm sure that all the people yelling and swearing about the wait would not want us to take back the 22 yr old "flu like Sx" over the 63 yr old CP if it was their Grandmother!

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