Whats your biggest pet peeve working in the ED?

Specialties Emergency

Published

Id have to say my biggest pet peeve is when someone hands you a medicaid card as they pull it from their Louis Vuitton handbag with bling on their hands after having rolled up to the ER in their Mercedes Benz! After that I'd say when someone comes to the ER for a UPT. Dont they know they are available at the dollar store now adays?

While I am not an ER nurse yet, I am the mother of 2 kids and have had my fair share of visits to the ER. I do NOT get the people complaining about ER wait times. We have never waited more than 45 minutes and even that was because they had 3 ambulances pull in about the same time as us. Just yesterday, I took my 14 yr old son to the ER for a deep gash to the bottom of his foot. So there we are at the admit desk getting signed in. Another patient comes up and says that he has "cut off his finger". Now mind you, there is no visible blood on the paper towels that he has it wrapped in. But my son has a bath towel wrapped around his foot saturated with blood. A triage nurse comes out to look at the 2 patients with lacerations. They promptly get a wheelchair for my son and we are wheeled back. The man gets all upset because "I cut off my GD finger off, his can't be that bad, I should go first" The nurse said "Yep, he definitely has you beat. And by the way, you did not cut your finger off" Later, when the guy is finally seen, I can hear the man getting upset because he did not get stitches, only steri-strips. And of course wants a pain med. All I could think was, it takes a real man to try and outdo a kid for severity of injury at the ER & then go for the pain meds.

When we have needed the ER, we have never had to wait and unreasonable amount of time. Now that being said, we also only go to the ER when it is an emergency.

I'm in nursing school now and hope that we will get a chance to see what the ER is like before graduation.

I spent 2wks in neuro/stroke unit at Easter this year due to low pressure headaches after a double tap. When I went home I got twice daily calls from pain management and my neurologist as well as 3 docs in ED. ended up back with brain irritation and vomiting from pain.

Specializes in Med-Surg.
While I am not an ER nurse yet, I am the mother of 2 kids and have had my fair share of visits to the ER. I do NOT get the people complaining about ER wait times. We have never waited more than 45 minutes and even that was because they had 3 ambulances pull in about the same time as us. Just yesterday, I took my 14 yr old son to the ER for a deep gash to the bottom of his foot. So there we are at the admit desk getting signed in. Another patient comes up and says that he has "cut off his finger". Now mind you, there is no visible blood on the paper towels that he has it wrapped in. But my son has a bath towel wrapped around his foot saturated with blood. A triage nurse comes out to look at the 2 patients with lacerations. They promptly get a wheelchair for my son and we are wheeled back. The man gets all upset because "I cut off my GD finger off, his can't be that bad, I should go first" The nurse said "Yep, he definitely has you beat. And by the way, you did not cut your finger off" Later, when the guy is finally seen, I can hear the man getting upset because he did not get stitches, only steri-strips. And of course wants a pain med. All I could think was, it takes a real man to try and outdo a kid for severity of injury at the ER & then go for the pain meds.

When we have needed the ER, we have never had to wait and unreasonable amount of time. Now that being said, we also only go to the ER when it is an emergency.

I'm in nursing school now and hope that we will get a chance to see what the ER is like before graduation.

I always crack up when someone from the US complains about wait times in the ER. As a nurse who grew up in Quebec, where everyone has government covered healthcare, believe me, 45 minutes, 2 hours, whatever...its a joke. It is beyond common to have to wait overnight in the waiting room.

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
I always crack up when someone from the US complains about wait times in the ER. As a nurse who grew up in Quebec, where everyone has government covered healthcare, believe me, 45 minutes, 2 hours, whatever...its a joke. It is beyond common to have to wait overnight in the waiting room.

And people wonder why we don't want to go to Universal Health Care in the US? Can you imagine the wait times if it suddenly becomes "free" to go to the ER here?

Specializes in ER trauma, ICU - trauma, neuro surgical.

I love it when someone says "They usually stick me right here."

I think "Usually? How often do you come here?"

And people wonder why we don't want to go to Universal Health Care in the US? Can you imagine the wait times if it suddenly becomes "free" to go to the ER here?
It's already "free" for plenty of patients. I'd like to see universal healthcare with better incentives for physicians to specialize in primary care and an upfront copay required for nonemergency ER visits.
Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
It's already "free" for plenty of patients. I'd like to see universal healthcare with better incentives for physicians to specialize in primary care and an upfront copay required for nonemergency ER visits.

And the ability of EMS to "just say no" without fear of being sued!

And non-emergent ER visits should be COD only -- not just a copay, but payment in full for services rendered. (Exception: things that should be "urgent care" in a town with no urgent care facility.)

The patient dictating to me their course of care and what I'm going to do. Sorry, no. You are in my bed, in my room, under my care. You are here because you need me to take care of you. Emphasis on the need me part. I don't need you bossing me around. You do, however, need me fixing whatever is wrong with you.

Amen!

One of many pet peeves: patients who come to the ER presenting with abdo pain/ chest pain going on for almost a week and finally come to the ER and complain how long they have to wait to be assessed by a doctor. You've "waited" almost a week to come seek treatment, a few more hours wont kill you. Oh and your troponins/CK are negative. Oh and eating that slice of pizza while you say you've been having abdo pain probably is not going to help, especially if you need surgery...there is thing called aspiration...so maybe wait to eat till you're labs are back and the doc assesses you, here are some ice chips.

I hear u... Almost an everyday thing in the ER I work in.

Specializes in ER.

Had a patient who came to the ED complaining of chest pain. Come to find out her electrolytes were out of control and her blood glucose was off the charts. Guess what? She left AMA before we could even treat her because she "HAD to play her lotto numbers"!! Seriously?? Why'd you even bother coming to the ED?! Oh, but don't worry she promised she'd come back the next day. AND SHE DID!! And she brought her bad attitude back with her. Not only did she demand a food tray, but when she actually got it she threw a fit because it was the same meal she had last night! Well excuse us for not personally whipping up something for ya! The nerve of some people! I swear some people just have no clue what the ED is actually for!

Specializes in ED.

One of biggest pet peeves is a parent coming in with a small child / infant with a fever saying s/he could not afford the tylenol. The parent smokes a pack-a-day.

DC

My biggest pet peeve lately is management! I work in a craaazy busy ED and end-year overtime has been forbidden. So we start off every day with minimum staff, and if there are any call-offs, we're screwed. They'll try and call in nurses for 4 hour shifts (so as not to exceed 40 hours) but everyone knows its insanely busy if they're calling, and non-ot, why bother.Last week I worked a 12.5 hour shift with no lunch. There were 4 call-offs and no call-on takers. We also, thanks to mgmt now have to keep all drinks and food in the breakroom and sadly, I was so busy with criticals all day I couldn't make it to the breakroom. Usually a neighboring nurse will cover me but my neighbors had huge, high acuity loads and I had intubated, trying-to-dies and I had to stay at bedside. I got the opportunity to have a blissful 30sec to pee off my morning coffee but that was the only time I left all day. Starving, frazzled, and dehydrated at 6pm (11 hours in!) I see a perky manager coming through to HELP! "Our" big goal this year was to get new pts back to the beds within 8 minutes so the manager came in to help housekeeping by cleaning beds, then running out to triage to bring pts back... For nurses to care for, nurses who were super TIED UP, and had worked 11 hours without food or drink. I was furious, I mean, if you want to HELP, watch these pts for me, or hang this heparin on my PE so I don't accidentally hang it on my 8cm AAA because my brain has run out of carbs. Thanks!

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