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.

[inshallamiami]

Because this is a small, tiny hospital, not that busy, and my complaint would be specific not like, "the ER doc was a jerk" which I imagine Would be hard to pin it to a specific customer. And in the end I don't know what the hospital can do, you can't make him be nice or professional , I'm sure they are quite aware of what he is like, or turfing problems that exist, and don't give a hoot about us. That's why I'm venting, cuz there are no real options. I have to get over it.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

I'd call the ombudsman...there is never a time or place to be rude.

[Nccity2002, MSN, RN]

I'd call the ombudsman...there is never a time or place to be rude.

Wow...The "ombudsman" really??

To the OP: Sorry about your bad experience. The situation obviously still bothers you, as others had wisely adviced, get in contact with the hospital ER manager or the custumer service liason person (now in days, every hospital have one of those) and informe them of you bad experience. Hopefully you would be able to get some closure.

[inshallamiami]

I did call but they didn't call back. Sorry for the excessive venting :)

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Why the sarcastic face for my comment...our hospital takes them seriously and people have been written up. And yes, many of us who work there have called when we have been patients. Like I said, no reason to be rude ever. With new reimbursement guidelines coming down the pike people have to be up in customer service.

[DaveinFL]

Have you considered ...

That your doc is notorious for telling his staff to tell people, "just go to the ER" ... in other words turfing patients so that he doesn't have to deal with them?

That the ED doc did your husband's workup, but is left with calling your hubby's doc who will decide whether or not to admit him?

That the ED doc and staff were, for maybe the 50th time that day, facing a patient & his anxious wife with the news that ... we can't find anything wrong. We don't have an explanation for your episode of near-syncope.

Just some additional perspective.

But....none of that has ANYTHING to do with THESE patients.

Maybe the other doc is a quack who constantly refers his patients to the ER. Then that is a problem that should be taken out on the other doctor, not on his patients.

What did the patients have to do with that doctor's decisions? Absolutely nothing. Therefore it is still totally inexcusable to take it out on the patients for something a doctor did.

Just my $.02.

[sandyfeet]

In the future, I would ask to speak to a charge nurse while you are still in the ER if you are not getting good care. That way things can be resolved faster. And be careful about taking out your family member's IV's--you've stated that you were happy with your nurse. What if another IV med was ordered and now there is no access? Your nurse would be taking the fall for that one, not the doc.

[NurseMotivated]

Since when is it ok to treat anyone like garbage for utilizing the ED? There are privacy policies in place that adult patients do have the right to be triaged alone. It does say a great deal about someone's mental status when they are unable to answer questions regarding their health history--and one does have to establish some sort of baseline. However, it is common of a nurse's spouse to leave that all up to them. The ER doc just sounds like a jerk. Grilling is far from theraputic, and seriously, if one wanted grilling they would go to a five star resort, order a steak medium rare, and pay a lot less for health insurance premiums. In all seriousness, how many patient walk out AMA due to these type of attitudes and come back via an ambulance critical?

With all due respect, what is it that one would like to do at work? If patient's don't come due to fear of being made to feel stupid about the choice--it does little for job security.

It is with these attitudes that people put off going to the ED for hours longer than they should--if coming at all--due to the notion that somehow their complaints will be taken as a hyperchondriac looking for attention.

There are patients who "take advantage" of the ED. The uninsured, the frequent guests, the I have had a cold for 6 days kind--but they all are bound under rules that they are to be seen. Such as the life of the ER. As frustrating as those patients may be, they are what keeps us all working. Thankfully, in small community hospitals there is not a multitude of level 1 traumas 24/7. So it goes without saying that we will get the patients who are not in the ED as a result of some horrific accident or injury.

A common complaint is syncope. It is scary, it is indicitive of something, or perhaps nothing. But it should not be ignored at the expense of getting the ER staff all in an uproar of its validity. That is not what the patient is there for.

The ER staff is not there to give warm hugs and sprinkle glitter and positive affirmations about the fragility of life. But this is not what the OP's husband was seeking. (although if he was, that needs to be dealt with professioanlly as well).

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.

Two thumbs up!!

[young,dumb&happy]

I agree with you; you were treated very unfairly. I read the first couple of pages of people's responses and I totally disagree. After working in the ER for many years: yes, I'll admit, there are moments when we get burned out, frustrated, we get insulted, yelled at, cursed at, spit on, etc.....but that doesn't mean that we should let it get to us and treat ALL our patients terrible just because some of them treat US terrible. I definitely have my moments of unbelievable frustration and I find I have to stop myself: I have to remind myself, "Hey! This is a brand new patient! Don't let your anger and frustration out on them just because the 10 patients before him/her treated you bad".

I recommend you definitely let your complaints known to the hospital; despite how unfairly you were treated, I think it's awesome that there was ONE nurse who treated you great and you should let the hospital know that as well. Like I said, I get frustrated in the ER a lot but God knows I TRY not to let it get to me. I'm sure that more than once, I'VE been like this staff and treated innocent patients angrily for something a previous patient did to me and THAT IS UNFAIR. I'm sorry you went through this and I regret the times I've acted like this. As much as it would hurt, I prefer a patient complain about me if I treat them like this SO I CAN CHANGE AND IMPROVE. I love working in the ER but I totally understand why the staff treated you like this; however, that in no way justifies the unfair way you were treated.

[SweetMelissaRN]

I agree with you; you were treated very unfairly. I read the first couple of pages of people's responses and I totally disagree. After working in the ER for many years: yes, I'll admit, there are moments when we get burned out, frustrated, we get insulted, yelled at, cursed at, spit on, etc.....but that doesn't mean that we should let it get to us and treat ALL our patients terrible just because some of them treat US terrible. I definitely have my moments of unbelievable frustration and I find I have to stop myself: I have to remind myself, "Hey! This is a brand new patient! Don't let your anger and frustration out on them just because the 10 patients before him/her treated you bad".

I recommend you definitely let your complaints known to the hospital; despite how unfairly you were treated, I think it's awesome that there was ONE nurse who treated you great and you should let the hospital know that as well. Like I said, I get frustrated in the ER a lot but God knows I TRY not to let it get to me. I'm sure that more than once, I'VE been like this staff and treated innocent patients angrily for something a previous patient did to me and THAT IS UNFAIR. I'm sorry you went through this and I regret the times I've acted like this. As much as it would hurt, I prefer a patient complain about me if I treat them like this SO I CAN CHANGE AND IMPROVE. I love working in the ER but I totally understand why the staff treated you like this; however, that in no way justifies the unfair way you were treated.

Fully agree with you on this! To the OP: sorry for your experience I hope your husband is doing ok and eventually got whatever medical attention he needed either there or elsewhers

[Pudnluv, ASN, RN]

I work in a moderately sized ER and all I can say it there is no excuse for rudeness. I know triage can be tiresome, listening to the same complaints over and over and over again for 12 hours, but still, no excuse for rudeness. I work with a couple of docs that have this apathetic, nothing is an emergency, and I don't care attitude. My feelings....time to get out of the business. Again, no excuse for rudeness.

To the OP, I applaud you, keeping your cool and not lashing out at the doctor. I don't know that I would have reacted in the same manner. I am truly sorry for your bad experience and I do hope that you have a better experience in the future.

Nurse Jackie once said, "You are meeting people on the very worst day of their lives". I try to keep this in mind during all my patient interactions.

Good luck to you and your husband.

[SweetMelissaRN]

I work in a moderately sized ER and all I can say it there is no excuse for rudeness. I know triage can be tiresome, listening to the same complaints over and over and over again for 12 hours, but still, no excuse for rudeness. I work with a couple of docs that have this apathetic, nothing is an emergency, and I don't care attitude. My feelings....time to get out of the business. Again, no excuse for rudeness.

To the OP, I applaud you, keeping your cool and not lashing out at the doctor. I don't know that I would have reacted in the same manner. I am truly sorry for your bad experience and I do hope that you have a better experience in the future.

Nurse Jackie once said, "You are meeting people on the very worst day of their lives". I try to keep this in mind during all my patient interactions.

Good luck to you and your husband.

Oh how I love Nurse Jackie! She's my idol minus the drug abuse and everything!