nurses,our ER system needs an overhaul.

KalipsoRed · Jul 27, 2011

Well I'd like to complain about patients with extremely high blood pressures who think that its safer to go home with a BP 180/120 because the 'wait' was too long and 'nobody' was listening and thus they went home to have a stroke. THEN THEIR FAMILY wants to take it to the local news that the ER just let this patient die.

Really?! Are you crazy? Your vitals are pretty impressive there...deadly really...and yet you chose to go home? Because of the wait?

Yet it is unbelieveable that someone 'might' be a little sicker than you, not that you weren't in need of care, but that someone else needed a room a tiny bit sooner than you (active heart attack...accidental limb removal, etc) and thus you were going to have to wait a minute? I know they said 4 hours...that's a standard line, a pure estimate to get the person there with the snotty nose to go sit back down until the more acute patients are seen. The symptoms you describe are acute...I'm betting it would have been no more than 30 minutes a wait for you BUT no, you are to American to be patient. If you have a stroke it's your own fault.

I agree with the statement that the whole medical system needs an over haul. I'll agree that long waits in the ER for semi emergencies are annoying for the patients. I'll even agree that ERs and floor nurses and doctors miss sometimes and someone dies because of it.

BUT I will not agree that RNs/MDs/CNAs are MAKING you wait for service because we just feel like it. Waaaahhh, poor baby has to put up with other sick people waiting to be treated because he/she thinks that we are back there picking our nose.

Nobody067 we know it's annoying to vist the ER, and really is there a need to make your visit to the ER a pleasent one? ER is short for EMERGENCY ROOM or ED is for EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT. What about those words makes you think that any part of your visit will be pleasent? Because I know that when I think of ER I'm thinking of a quite room with plush furniture and a buffet in the corner. Doctors, Nurses, and CNAs standing around in a prim and orderly fashion axiously awaiting a signal from me to provide service and no other customers...uh, I mean patients....to attend to.

Uh, no. Emergency to me means an ATTEMPT to provide some order out of chaos.

Heck, I'm not even and ER nurse and I'm aggitated with you. Are you a nurse? Have you worked in medicine? How can you not know that you need a pcp? And then have the gall to be upset to have to WAIT in an ER...you can't have worked in medicine anywhere I know.

BrazoriaLVN · Jul 27, 2011

Ya know, if you are really concerned about how long the wait is, is it really an emergency? If you are truly concerned enough about your situation to go the the emergency room, I would advise you to stay there until you can be seen. Remember, everyone thinks what they have is more important than others. Not to belittle or demean your health concerns, but you really never know what else they are dealing with in the back.

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Jul 27, 2011

those of you that work in the ER know about this. i went to the ER twice with pretty bad symptoms and was told each time that the wait would be 4 hrs to see a doctor. today i was in the ER and i was seen by a triage nurse who measured my BP which was 186/116 and my heart rate was 149. they gave me a 12 lead ECG and told me to wait. i did not want to wait that long cause i was dizzy and my head was numb. after having a close almost syncope episode,they lady at the desk yelled at me to sit down instead of taking me in to see the doctor. i left very angry. i was not gonna wait 4 hrs. i called the hospital twice to get the results of my ECG and they refuse to tell me. i still feel like crap and i have a hand held BP monitor that always shows lower results then they really are and 4 hrs after my ER visit,my diastolic BP is still anywhere from 94-99. i just wanted to vent cause i know you nurses know this experience that patients have all too well.

Just curious... are you in the medical field? Can't tell from your info at the top of the post....:)

KalipsoRed · Jul 27, 2011

You know maybe I was a little harsh in my reply. So let me help you out.

Emergency Room - This means medical personnel take care of the most likely to die first, then the next most likely to die second, so on and so forth.

With those vitals you should have been a priorty...BUT if someone had something that they were more likely to die from before you then they would have to go first. It's how an EMERGENCY ROOM operates. And really I don't see how anyone else could make sense of it working any differently.

We don't like to get peoples expectations up in the ER. Why? Because then the patient (and their family) get more aggitated and beligerent than they WERE acting when we can't make good on our esitimates because..*shocked expression here* someone sicker HAD to go back before them and bumped them down in the line. Thus when silly people ask the crazy question in the ER "How long is the wait?" and they can't comprehend the answer (which is "We take the most acute or sicker first.") we estimate where they are in line and add a few hours to it so that if we say "six hours" and they get called back in 4 then they feel as though we scooted them up in the line. Happier people all around. :)

Emergency rooms are not suppose to be nice comfortable places. We only want the people who need to be there because they are sick. Not the people with a cold. It's not a 24 hour doctor's office for Pete's sake!

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Jul 27, 2011

You have been advised to seek services of PCP or ER for your high BP. 4hr wait is often the norm when ambulances keep flying in. Patients with high BP often get pushed to the front as soon as possible. You came to our site asking our advice-yet chose to not follow it.

Thread closed as unable to provide individual personal advice. You may need to find another site that meets your needs.