My experience as a patient in ER

[BackfromRetirement]

I had a broken leg last summer. The ortho NP told me to become a couch potato and elevate my broken leg. I had never had a broken bone before and at the time I wasn't thinking in nurse mode because I had not worked in years. 3 weeks later i was watching tv and got a pain in my side. I thought maybe i had over-stretched the wrong way and that it would go away. Slowly over the course of a hour the pain had spread from my left ribs to my sternum. At this point I knew it was time to get to the hospital. The pain did not make me feel SOB, did not radiate to my back. I began to think cardiac since I am 59. They gave me the usual protocol of 4 baby aspirin in the ambulance. At the local ER, it was crowded. There were all sorts of folks on gurneys lining the halls. This ER is a Trauma 1 place, with 3 truama rooms, 4 acute rooms and a dozen or so other rooms. Yes, it was one of those busy nights. Because I came in with chest pain and knew I was coming, they had moved someone out into the hallway, cleaned the room, and in I went.

They did the usual chest pain tests and labs, then sent me for CT of the chest. Turns out I had multiple clots in my lungs. I have no idea how much time i spent freezing on that gurney and alone. It was getting late and I was sleepy. I nodded off. I awoke when they came in to move me elsewhere. I was told i was being moved to another ER room. They stuck me in one of the backrooms with curtains that you must share with another patient. Finally they told me they were going to admit me for heparin therapy. O.K. so still on the same stretcher, I am warehoused. I was on that stretcher from about 10pm until almost noon the next day, still in that holding area. Could not adjust the gurney, had to use a bedpan because they didnt want me up walking with my crutches. I felt abandoned. I was scared, and i was alone. The noise from the ER kept me from sleeping. I was shuffled to three different rooms during my week in that hospital. They moved me from floor to floor as beds opened up closer to the unit I should have been on. My family had trouble finding me each time. I cannot say that my entire stay was a bad experience. But I can say that the entire system is broken for an ER admit. Patient centered care? Good luck with that! No open beds, patients stuck on gurneys in the hallways, musical rooms. This is NOT nursing's fault! It's the system that stinks.

Thank you for listening.

[gentlegiver, ASN, LPN, RN]

Hope your feeling better. So sorry that you went thru that. I went into the ER with symptoms of a TIA (I'm 51 & it's not the first time it's happened). They did an EKG and told me I was fine and wanted to send me home. I flipped out on the Dr & Nurses! I asked if they were willing to wait until I had a full Stroke, because I wasn't. Dr finally (after 4 hours) agreed to run some blood tests. He entered my room when he got the results and said he was admitting me. WHy I asked?? Well he said, you've had a big TIA and we feel you show stay for a few days to ensure you don't stroke.. Boy was I surprized...... NOT!

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

As an ER nurse for 22 years I'd like to apologize to you both and wish you better health soon. I find ER's deplorable, nursing staffing is decided by the bean counters and not by people who want to assure good care. In my career I hated these conditions and did my best to try to improve the patients' experience. What can I say. I hated the job for the parts you describe so eloquently, but I kept on trying to make it better knowing that if I left, the next warm body they hired might have cared less. In the immortal words in One Flew Over the Cuckoos' Nest, spoken by Randall Patrick McMurphy, "At least I tried."

[singingtothewheat]

Nursing staffing is always measured by the bean counters. One of the MAJOR draw backs of nursing. Things here have gotten bad enough that the nursing are trying to bring in the union. While I never considered myself a union kind of person, I'm frankly thrilled and hope we might have some voice in how far they can push their crazy grids that put my patients in harms way!

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

Beware, hospitals threatened by unions can do a lot of staff splitting to keep the staff from uniting. Hope you get a union. NNU (I think it's National Nurses United) sounds like a good way to go. Via con Dios Mi Amiga.

[TDCHIM]

@ singingtothewheat: Go to it! I hope you all can pull it off. But be very careful. Several years ago, a year before he arrived there, there was a major push to unionize my husband's last workplace. It came down to a very close vote, and the management did its best to intimidate staff about the number of people who'd lose jobs in order for the employer to meet union level demands. Well, the vote went in the employer's favor, by a hair. The first thing that happened afterward was the management fired every single person who voted in favor of unionization. Now, that was a different field, but it was similar in that it involved a profession with a glut of available, experienced workers. So go to it, but don't kid yourself about the stakes. I really hope you all succeed.

@OP: I'm sorry you had such a horrible experience! Remember, one of the nice things about "patient-centered care" is that a patient's voice carries significant weight. Send an icy, formally-worded letter explaining exactly how awful your care in the ER was due to the systemic failures you encountered. Then sign your name and whatever alphabet soup credentials you've acquired. You'll spook the powers that be.