A Headache is not an emergency

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jun 20, 2016

LMAO! What, like Mafia surgeons? "Hey, Jimmy, I got dis here GSW, do you know a guy?"

Pretty much.

OrganizedChaos, LVN · Jun 20, 2016

QuickCuts! Though that might be confused with a hair salon. :) QuickSnips? (Sounds like vasectomies.)

OMG! I love it!!!! [emoji2] There would be lines out the door. Hahah!

guestng82 · Jun 20, 2016

We have a nice little ER where I live, that the charge is based on your income, and you just pay a small deposit before you leave. Back when I did not have insurance and was only making ~29k a year, I went for bronchitis, and my deposit was only $25.00. My ER bill total was $350.00, and that included the physician bill, which was the most expensive part ($237.00). No physician would see me that day, and considering I had chest pain and shortness of breath, I figured I needed to be seen. The urgent care would have been over $300.00, due at the time of the appt.

I love that place, and would go there when needed before the more expensive urgent care or physician's office here (I only went twice in four years). Now that I have insurance, I usually go to urgent care because it is usually less than $200.00. If I don't have that much in my HSA, then I go to the ER for the cheap deposit.

Though, working in med mal has resulted in me avoiding most all medical care unless it's absolutely necessary.

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Jun 20, 2016

I've went to the er a handful of times for a migraine. It was the worse pain I've ever experienced in my life. My cousin went to er for a migraine. Turns out it was a brain aneurysm, so to you it may be a simple headache, but you don't know what that person is experiencing or feeling or that "headache" is actually something else.

About a week after my twins were born, my legs were still swollen and my head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. I thought I was just dehydrated. I only sought medical help when my sister-in-law said she'd had cellulitis after her second baby. I actually had post partum pre-eclampsia. It's not common, and it's very easy to miss. Most pre-eclampsia deaths happen post partum.

My mild, persistant headache led to a night on a lasix drip (I voided over 9 liters) and a 2-day inpatient stay.

silentRN · Jun 20, 2016

Well, it really depends. Sometimes those headaches turn into a ruptured aneurysm.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Jun 20, 2016

The OP seeking to cause drama is long gone.

Headaches are simple...until they are not. Like ruptured cerebral aneurysm leading to SAH or hypertensive crisis with high risk for hemorrhagic stroke...

Alisonisayoshi, LVN · Jun 20, 2016

Or even worse...it feels like having a stroke; my worst migraines have facial droop, slurring blurred vision and aphasia; I have seen it in the pts that come through as well; we take migraines seriously enough that they are Level 3s-they are never classified as urgent when they have serious symptoms.

I had one once that I was sure was a stroke. The ED was seriously concerned it was as well. True migraine is no joke. Lots of people believe they have "migraines", most don't have much more than a yucky headache.

CSnyder823 · Jun 20, 2016

Hmmm... Christmas Eve many years ago, I worked in HR for a global Fortune 500 company, I drew the short straw... had to work. As I am doing my thing, I felt a terrible pressure inside my ear, and then a "Swoosh" sound and suddenly I had blood dripping out of my ear. I was a hard worker, and even though I woke with a fever and an earache, I went to work. So, the blood thing changed my mind. Guess what? I WENT TO THE LOCAL ED. Yep, I went to the Emergency Dept on Christmas Eve with essentially, a horrific earache and a ruptured membrane. I hope that is ok with those of whom are the "Guardians of All that is Right and OK with Living Based on the Rules of the Righteous".

FWIW, the ER MD was very clear that coming in ASAP was THE CORRECT CHOICE. I certainly, once again, hope that is ok with the Guardians.

If someone feels the need to go to the ER, we deal with it. THAT'S LIFE. I would expect the same level of compassion for that patient as I would a patient suffering from something more gruesome. There are things happening in a persons life that you might not understand, and you might not even consider... So, just be the amazing nurse you always imagined you would be.

JMHO.

FineAgain · Jun 20, 2016

It's not the coming in with a headache that bothers me, its the "I have a HEADACHE! Why are you making me wait with these other people for so long? I just saw someone come in after me that went straight into a room[picture CPR in progress]!" people who drive me crazy.

CSnyder823 · Jun 20, 2016

OK, I totally understand that...

I work in psych and the Intake dept will bring us new patients in the middle of a code.

Dumb and dangerous.

It's funny... two years ago, I was septic, paralytic ileus, diverticulitis, peritonitis... and I seriously never asked a THING from the ER nurses, they took excellent care of me,.. but really, I was too sick to complain or say or do anything. THANK GOD they were my angels!

ixchel · Jun 20, 2016

I have gone to the ED for an ear infection, knowing full well I would get the eye rolls, but for me, this was 10/10 pain. I had been to my PCP the day before, who had said, "wow, that looks bad, but it will feel better once it ruptures."
It ruptured in the middle of the night, and I felt like some one had poured molten metal into my head. I drove my self to ED in the middle of the night, tears streaming down my face, and shuddering with what felt like spasms in my ear. After obvious eye rolls from nurse and MD, they irrigated and scooped out gobs of pus, "wow, that looks bad." They asked why didn't I just do this at home, and scoffed when I said didn't have anything to irrigate with, let alone any docusate to instill first.
The pain returned at home, and I got a bulb syringe and just kept irrigating the yuck out every few hours for another day.

What the heck! Why would they expect you to have the tools or knowledge necessary to pull this off without help AT HOME?! Goodness. I'm so sorry that happened.

WanderingWilder, ASN · Jun 20, 2016

I feel so lucky to live in a town where the hospital has 7 days a week nonemergent walk in care from 7 to 6. A lot faster then the ER, cheaper and leaves the ER free for emergencies.