It's FRUSTRATING that....

It's frustrating when during Triage, a 23 year old will arrive with his mommy, and she won't let him answer questions. For example, Me to the patient: "Can you rate your Sore Throat Pain on a zero to ten scale?" Mommy: "Oh it's more than ten". Me to the patient, "Can I ask YOU to tell me what number YOU think it is?" Mommy: "I said it's more than a ten!" Patient: "No it's not that much, it's more like a 2."

It's also frustrating when the ER is extremely busy with many critical patients, many very sick arrivals, it never fails, nightly someone will drive up to the waiting area ramp, run out of their car, screaming for a Nurse to extricate their very sick friend or family member by gurney. I'm forced to temporarily abandon my Triage post to go to the car, where I find the "BLEEDING!" patient to actually be Chief Complaint: Stubbed Toe with very superficial abrasion, very slight oozing, requesting wheelchair or gurney extrication service. Then 12 people jump on me, shouting their history stories all at once. Then when I have them wait in the waiting room, as my Cardiac Chest Pain waiting patiently for me to finish the Extrication in Triage, needs the ONE available bed...these people become terribly irate and demand that their friend/family member is far sicker and should go back first. It's more frustrating when the Cardiac Chest Pain patient, who was there first and needs to go in first, feels bad for these people and says, "it's ok, I can wait, let them go first," and the Toe patient and their concerned significant others hear this. UGH.

It's frustrating that there's a HUGE Disparity in the Community about what Entails Sick versus Not Sick. Ie: Dire Medical Emergency versus Nothing Wrong. Some people will arrive to the ER with their Dire Medical Emergency as Rectal Bleeding for 2 days, unable to stand up without losing consciousness, and that IS a Dire Emergency. Some other people will arrive to the ER with their Dire Medical Emergency as Fever 98.9 and Itchy Throat for 1/2 hour prior to arrival, and that is NOT a Dire Medical Emergency. The frustrating part is that Not Sick people who consider their problem to be a Dire Medical Emergency expect the same Attention and Treatment as people who are Truly Sick with Dire Medical Emergencies. How did our Society ever get this Entitled and Selfish where someone who is totally WELL, YOUNG and HEALTHY expects to come before someone who is Criticaially Ill and Fighting for their Lives?

It's frustrating that NOT SICK people misuse the ER so much, are the ones who complain the most, are more likely to Sue Healthcare Providers, and hence, we have to cater so much to the Not Sick patients, much to the Detriment of Truly Sick Patients. This all goes back to Selfishness and Entitlement.

It's frustrating to know that the patient who comes 1-3 times weekly to the ER with Chief Complaint Abdominal Pain, has had 60+ NEGATIVE Full Workups, all of which included IV, Labs, Urnialyses, Pan Cultures, Acute Abdominal X Rays with Chest X Ray, Abdominal CT with Contrast, Pelvic Exam, Pelvic Ultrasound, IV Pain Medications, etc...at our Hospital ER ALONE (not to mention the same patient is a regular at other surrounding hospitals, receiving Diagnostic Studies there too)....has been exposed to SO MUCH Radiation, that one of these days he or she WILL have a Positive Scan showing a new Malignancy from all of the Radiation Exposure (a CT scan has what, 1000 times the radiation as an Abdominal X Ray?). It's more frustrating when trying to advocate for the patient by asking for a Care Plan to minimize Teratogenic Exposure, only to be shot down.