Seriously?!?!

The good news is, from our testing today, what your experiencing is not a life threatening issue. There's no blockages, growths or swelling that is causing your pain. Your blood levels are normal, which indicates you are not experiencing any active bleeding or issues of concerns with your organs. Your d/c plan is xyz, and I encourage you to follow up with your doctor, where more in depth testing than is available in the ER can be performed. Of course, I encourage you to return to the ER if you feel your condition is becoming worse or new symptoms develop.

I'm stealing that! Literally that's perfect.

The good news is, from our testing today, what your experiencing is not a life threatening issue. There's no blockages, growths or swelling that is causing your pain. Your blood levels are normal, which indicates you are not experiencing any active bleeding or issues of concerns with your organs. Your d/c plan is xyz, and I encourage you to follow up with your doctor, where more in depth testing than is available in the ER can be performed. Of course, I encourage you to return to the ER if you feel your condition is becoming worse or new symptoms develop.

Definitely stealing this!

I work in ICU, and one night while waiting to see what my next admission was, I looked up the patients waiting to be admitted. "Shut member in car door." That was someone's cc.

I just... can't... quite imagine how that happened...

I work in ICU, and one night while waiting to see what my next admission was, I looked up the patients waiting to be admitted. "Shut member in car door." That was someone's cc.

I just... can't... quite imagine how that happened...

Sounds like a case for dr vinnie boombatz or possibly dr nick riviera....

Pt and family came to ED in a panic, arm wrapped in dirty towel, cc of knife lac and "blood everywhere at home." When we finally got the "Deliverance family" to show us the arm, I had to look around for a hidden camera! Never have I seen such a stupid waste of time in my life!!! I mean, there was a couple 2mm drops of blood on the arm!!!!!! I had a bandaid on my arm that shift from an abrasion on my arm that I didn't even know was there, and was larger than this "arm lac,." What a waste of resources, and oxygen...

Is a copay charged? There needs to be a way to give people incentives to go to the right level of care. I think my insurance has a $50 copay for emergency services if not admitted.

There is no co-pay with Medicare!

As for the rest-hold out 2 hands, wish in one, and . . .

In my state there is no co-pay for medicaid.

I do often ask about insurance -and for a good reason. If you have no insurance I know of a few ways to help keep your costs down.

We have a local businessman who offers FREE Courtesy Health Screening, (a.k.a. lab testing) to anyone who walks in the door. No co-pay or cost of any kind. All they ask for is your name and a phone number where you can be reached.

For the owner it is a huge tax write off and a public relations gimmick. For people without insurance it is a godsend.

You get a CBC, CMP, A1C, PSA along with all your vital signs checked. You can pick up the results in 3-4 hours or they will mail them to you. A MD comes in once a week and checks all the labs. If you have something to be concerned about her will call you.

The lab in located in a quiet, low traffic area of our large mall and is open Monday thru Friday, 9:00-6:00.

My hospital also offers pregnancy testing and help getting free and low-cost prenatal care at the same clinic. WE also offer different services for seniors that are free-if you know about them.

Sadly, this clinic only gets about 300 people a month. I recommend ANYONE with no insurance goes there, and then gets a check-up. You can get one of them at WalMart clinic for $45.

Knowledge of a pts insurance situation will go a long ways towards helping you to guiding them to the best place to get help-and keep non-emergency pts out of your ER.

When I work the ER I can also tell you if your MD is taking call that weekend and if not who is covering for him. I also know what pedi MDs can be contacted over the weekend and how to get them.

love to ask pt's "what is your emergency today?" during triage just to see their puzzled face when they realize they really don't actually have an emergency

One of our doctors got in trouble for saying that.

Couldn't believe my eyes when I read the triage note for the pt they had just given me in one of my rooms. "Hiccups this morning, no active hiccups now. Wants to be seen, fear of hiccups returning"

Ok, a few new ones.

0400: Peds patient with dry cracked skin on heels preventing sleep due to the 9/10 pain. What parent doesn't put on lotion and tell their child to go back to sleep? Best part was they left without being seen after 5 minutes in the waiting room

We had a sixfer the other day. A whole family with (drumroll please) a cold.

"I'm 8 weeks pregnant and my boobs hurt and I sometimes feel sick in the morning."

"Those are common discomforts. Did you see your GP?"

"Yes, but he says I'm not pregnant"

Negative preg test and discharge.

Yep...picked them up in hospital parking lot and transported to another hospital. I always give the receiving ER nurse all the details. Sucks at 3am!

This was in reply to a another post about discharging patients who after discharge call ambulance to take them to another hospital.