Odd ER visit

[inshallamiami]

Well, my husbands Doc (actually his staff) told me to bring him to the ER. It's a SMALL hospital, and we get seen fairly quickly. The triage nurse asks me to wait in the waiting room while he talks to my hubby and that's cool, but my husband doesn't feel good and doesn't have a lot of his own info easily "at hand" but hey, I figure the triage nurse doesn't want to ask him questions and have the wifey answer. Perfectly understandable. Sure enuf, ten minutes later he comes out and asks me to come in to provide med info etc. later my hubby says that the triage RN kept asking a lot of questions which he couldn't answer and kept telling him to get me. All of this is fine and dandy, and of course I don't tell him I'm a nurse but boy this triage nurse seemed unhappy and bored and po'd. I'm sure he would have preferred an interesting trauma.

Ok so we get to the ER and that nurse was FANTASTIC but the ER doc, sheesh! He spends a t least five minutes GRILLING us about whether We spoke to our doc. I say no, repeating several times all my calls to the dr and how eventually his staff spoke to the doc (Presumably). they told us our dr says GO TO THE ER. I would have preferred at trip to the office but I wasn't given that option. Well the ER doc seemed to have a bug up his u know what about this but again I try to go with the flow.

Hours later the ER doc then asks if my hubby ACTUALLY passed out, which my hubby wasn't 100%sure but the doc didn't like that response and again seemed to give us a hard time. I felt like we were treated like criminals trying to take advantage of the ER or something. Hey my hubbie was I'll, couldn't walk, probable passed out, and our doc TOLD us to go to the ER.

Well we felt awful how we were treated, like criminals or morons or something (and he does have an underlying condition requiring chemo) It was like they were all in bad moods (except for one great nurse)

God I've been a nurse for years and years and I at least TRY not to make my patients feel bad or guilty. Ah well, thanks for listening to my vent.

[laydiebuug]

I agree they owe you to be polite, if you don't like your job work somewhere else its the ED! I work in Peds some don't have the patience for that but it kills me when people do and lack the patience for children or the families. I get that you can be tired and have other things going on but you have to check that mess at the door. So the ED is busy...most are, so you had a rush...they happen. You never have the right to be rude to anyone who is not beig rude to you and even though sometimes people are rude ...be professional.

[poppycat, ADN, BSN]

I sure wouldn't be gentle in the satisfaction survey. That kind of behavior needs to be addressed & stopped. If they do it to one patient, they are probably that way with all patients.

[inshallamiami]

Well I considered talking to their "patient support or customer relations" type person. But since we may have to go back to this ER (no other place in town and no car) I have to tread lightly to avoid revenge. I worry that they could recognize us from my complaints in the written satisfaction survey....although I guess I could be very general.

[FineAgain]

I would bet my bottom dollar that the OP is going to have a heck of a time getting her husband to ever utilize the ED again under most circumstances. And what makes that sad is that the ER staff seemingly likes it that way.

And that...in a nutshell...is what happens. My husband had a serious STEMI and was having chest pain about a month later. He did exactly what he was told..."if you have chest pain (he did) unrelieved by 3 nitro (he did) especially with SOB (he did) go immediately to the er (he did)". They treated him like a drug seeker and sent him to the waiting room, scared to death that he was dying, to wait for (and I quote) probably about 3 -4 hours. He left after an hour. They tried it again when he was at Cardiac Rehab the next day and they saw a change in rhythm...Cardiac Rehab took him there and told them "no, you WILL find him a bed". He had another blockage and another cath that day. He could have died and no one took him seriously in the ER.

When I had my "chat" with the ER Department Head, I said "and one of the worst things about this is that these are my co-workers (although I work in a different department)! How am I supposed to support my hospital and tell people they should come here when this is how our ER treats people?"

Yes, there are people who use the ER as their PCP -- BUT, there are many, many scared people who don't know what are happening to them. Yes, maybe it is "nothing" to an ER person who would prefer to deal with trauma or codes. But it is something to the patient, and I wish they would realize that.

Don't mean to generalize, there are a lot of wonderful, dedicated ER nurses and docs out there. But those few seem to be the ones who stick in people's heads!

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

But since we may have to go back to this ER (no other place in town and no car) I have to tread lightly to avoid revenge.

Even though it is clear that you had issues in this ER, I'm would venture to guess that this is very very unlikely to happen.

[inshallamiami]

Even though it is clear that you had issues in this ER, I'm would venture to guess that this is very very unlikely to happen.

Why? This is a SMALL TOWN. This is a 8 bed ER in a 25 bed hospital. One ER doc, 2- 3 rns per shift. My doc is the only specialist Of his type within 100 miles and his office is 50ft from the ER. So what will be different the next time? Good chance in bumping into the same ER doc and the same triage nurse again. Good chance we would get caught up in their turf wars again. If they were the kind of people to make us feel bad in the first place trust me, they are cold enough to "get back at us" for complaining. I'm just going to shut my mouth and keep my fingers crossed.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

Why? This is a SMALL TOWN.

I'm not in a small town...however, I have had specific complaints made about me by patients (not many times and always for quite frivolous things....like I would not go to the cafeteria to get ranch dressing for a pt's salad). I've had the opportunity to take care of such patients on their next visit. Now, this is just me talking, but the furthest thing from my mind is "how can I get back at them for that complaint."

[Morainey, BSN, RN]

I might be wrong, but I don't think satisfaction surveys like Press Ganey are shared with staff. My manager will make photocopies of good ones, especially if they mention staff members by name, and hang them up as attaboys in the break room, but I've never seen one w/ specific complaints. You don't have to write specific names but you could ding them on friendliness, politeness, 'did the doctors and nurses treat you with respect', 'do you feel your concerns were addressed in a timely manner', etc. It is anonymous I believe.

[svdestiny]

I'm not in a small town...however, I have had specific complaints made about me by patients (not many times and always for quite frivolous things....like I would not go to the cafeteria to get ranch dressing for a pt's salad). I've had the opportunity to take care of such patients on their next visit. Now, this is just me talking, but the furthest thing from my mind is "how can I get back at them for that complaint."

Well sure, you probably are a nice person and wow that the complaint is frivolous, but this doc doesn't seem to be a nice person and my complaint is a little more serious than salad dressing. Of course he may have been having a bad day but I can't take a chance with my hubbies care and assume the doc will thoughtfully consider my complaint and aim to do better

[inshallamiami]

Oops! I responded to this thread on my iPhone on which I had opened an all nurses account as user sv destiny ( couldn't remember original acct name/password). My apologies to Allnurses and moderators...won't happen again. By the way how does one remove a user name/acct?

[Poochiewoochie]

I was once treated badly by one snotty ER nurse. A quick email to the hospital and the next working day I received a phone call from a patient representative telling me they were sorry I was treated badly and they would talk to the nurse. I also received a letter in the mail saying how sorry they were. Granted it was a nurse and not a doctor but I would imagine that most hospitals aren't accepting of a nurse or doctors personal feelings influencing how they act towards a patient. That applies to those who think all patients who come in seeking medication for pain are drug seekers or those who are upset because doctors send their patients to the ER. You might not like it but the hospital isn't paying you to treat someone according to your personal feelings.

That is what I suggest to anyone who is treated badly at a hospital. Forgot the Press Ganey survey-just complain to the the hospital and a patient liason/representative will get back to you. I keep reading that nurses are supposed to be patient advocates but after experiencing just how little some of them do advocate for their patients I've learned that I have to advocate for myself when it comes to medical treatment.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

Well sure, you probably are a nice person and wow that the complaint is frivolous, but this doc doesn't seem to be a nice person and my complaint is a little more serious than salad dressing. Of course he may have been having a bad day but I can't take a chance with my hubbies care and assume the doc will thoughtfully consider my complaint and aim to do better

I wasn't trying to compare the nature of my complaint to the complaints about this doctor. I was just saying that for me, personally, I would never even consider getting back at a patient/family member if they complained about me or our ER.

As a side note, someone suggested that this ER treats "all patients" this way. If that is true (which I highly doubt, and I hope patients aren't making sweeping generalizations about me, but I digress), then how would the staff at this ER know that you (the OP) was the one who turned them in? If on your comment report you say "the triage nurse was disinterested and rude, and Dr. Smith was dismissive and treated my husband like a drug seeker" how are they even going to know that it was you that sent in the comments?