and all night people were telling me that I didnt look well,pale, diaphoretic etc, I had a bit of a headache to start and I just assumed it was because of the record high temperatures here that made me feel gross. Well as my shift went on I got progressively worse, I vomited three times and the incharge said she was worried cuz at one point it looked like I was going to pass out.
I am hardly ever sick like this so it really walloped me, anyway long story made short I got sent down to our emerg at 0500 hrs (hospital policy is that if you get sick while at work on nights you have to be checked out at the ER - on days Occupational health will do just fine)
so I go down there and there are only three other patients in the waiting room, so I go to triage , explain what happened and she writes down on my chart that I'm complaining of weakness, well we all know that weakness is a low low priority in the ER, she doesnt document that I have been vomiting and that I have just done so in a k basin at her triage desk, I'm just weak apparently.
so I sit down in the waiting room, running to the washroom every 5-10 minutes to throw up, she comes up to me and says "if you feel faint again just wave at me and I'll come over and help you" uhhh yeah thanks I'll do just that, "hello I'm fainting now miss miss I'm fainting now!"
im stuck 2 hours in the waiting room , people are being taken in before me for things like a sunburn and a swollen ankle, Is it just me or could someone at my workplace just snuck me in a back room, gave me a shot of gravol in the A$$ and sent me packing ? I didnt need an emerg bed, I've never worked in a place that wouldnt see their own staff quickly and promptly, so i finally get a room in sub acute and start retching while im in there, my room was right near the nursing station so I know they all heard me , and no one even came in for another hour and a half!
I know emerg is busy and I dont think I am special or anything but the whole thing just made me feel sicker. I know why ppl get frustrated with being in emerg, I am a huge supporter of the nurses who work in emerg cuz they are so bogged down, but really what if I had been someone elderly or something and I had passed out? no one would have noticed.......
I called Occ health at 0830 hrs tired of waiting and having not been seen by the MD yet and she hightailed it up to emerg, stating that what happened with me wasnt acceptable and gave me a taxi voucher to get home, waited with me etc and said that she would check things out as to why they couldnt see "one of their own" a little sooner.
I'm not silly enough to expect priority in a busy emerg dept , but could they not have snuck me in before the guy with the sunburn or the swollen ankle at least? I mean really ,dude with the sunburn was in ZERO distress sitting outside smoking and cavorting with the nursing staff out there and the guy with the swollen ankle seemed okay enough to be pacing around on his ankle and kicking the vending machine!
I think my workplace should change their policy about making us go to emerg for treatment in non life threatening situations,because the whole thing was a waste of time for everyone involved, for them because I took up space and time , for the nurse who got stuck with me having to do my vitals for no good reason q hourly ,and most of all a waste of my time
I can puke just fine in the comfort of my own home thank you , minus the audience of onlookers too
anyway this whiny brat is going to have some yummy crackers now . mmmmmmmmmmmm crackers
