Skip urgent care, Come to our ER!

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I have heard a radio ad in my area recently that made me livid. A local hospital has been advertising to increase the traffic flow to their ER. The commercial tells people to skip the local urgent care centers because they don't have emergency treatments, high tech equipment, aren't open 24 hours a day, etc. It encourages people to go to their ER for any and ALL problems. I think it even mentions going there for flu symptoms and stuff. The end says "If your minor emergency becomes major, we can handle it."

ERs are already packed to the brim with not enough staff. I could never understand why someone would show up to the ER at 3am for a stuffy nose or "the pimple on the back of my neck". These commercials are certainly not helping at all. :banghead:

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Specializes in M/S, Infectious Dieases, Pediatrics/NICU.

As long as the hospital can get some kind of money out of somebody (even 100.00 bucks for cream for that pimple on the back of a neck) they will feed into some hypochondriacs fear and have them rushing to your doors.

lol

:lol2:

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One of the reasons I no longer work ER!

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Specializes in Rural Health.

And yet another reason why I want to leave the ER....:D

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Specializes in ED, ICU, Heme/Onc.
I have heard a radio ad in my area recently that made me livid. A local hospital has been advertising to increase the traffic flow to their ER. The commercial tells people to skip the local urgent care centers because they don't have emergency treatments, high tech equipment, aren't open 24 hours a day, etc. It encourages people to go to their ER for any and ALL problems. I think it even mentions going there for flu symptoms and stuff. The end says "If your minor emergency becomes major, we can handle it."

ERs are already packed to the brim with not enough staff. I could never understand why someone would show up to the ER at 3am for a stuffy nose or "the pimple on the back of my neck". These commercials are certainly not helping at all. :banghead:

We had a 6 hour wait from the waiting room yesterday. There were 5 patient's with "sore throat with post nasal drip x3 days, not feeling better" - one even came by ambulance. The EMTs gave me a cheerful "yes ma'am" when I said, "would you gentlemen mind escorting the patient to the triage nurse in the waiting room?" (No reason for being upset with them for bringing us the patient. If she was truly ill enough to come in via ambulance, I would have made room in the hall and would have had someone pick up a 6th patient. :o) So she harumphed herself into a wheelchair and went to triage...

At first I thought that these people coming in with head pimples and sore throats didn't have PMDs. But they do. I work in an ED in a middle class suburban area. Most of our patients are employed and insured, but just want to be better "yesterday", and do not understand that having strep throat diagnosed by your PMD by throat swab does not consitute an emergency if you are "just not feeling better and it still hurts to swallow" 24 hours after starting antibiotics! And administration expects us to give these people five star hotel service. I think that I should be carrying a crisp towel over a bent arm, and should trade in my scrubs for a tuxedo. "I'm sorry sir, the maitre'd called out sick with the flu, may I direct you to your stretcher with a lovely view of the hallway?"

Our CEO has been paying us visits when things come to a standstill. (No available beds, all patients in the ED are boarders, including those in the hallway, and the waiting room times are six hours plus...etc..) This has been a recent development and I hope that her seeing things as they exist will start a ball rolling to get patients on the floor discharged - and picked up earlier in the day. It is unfair to the floor nurses to be slammed with end of shift admits, it is unfair to the truly sick people who come in and are sitting in the WR for who knows how long, and unfair to the ED staff to have unrealistic expectations from the administration AND from the people who come to us because "the *service* is excellent"...

Blee (Would you like to see our juice list? Might I recommend the apple? It is a good vintage and it comes in single serve cups with a foil top...")

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Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice.

Bright idea! Maybe if insurance companies stopped paying for all but Emergency (as in life threatening) ER visits, people would stop using it as their Primary Care facility. (Yeah, like that will happen. *Sarcasm*)

I know how overworked all of you are, but do know that you truly are appreciated.

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An urgent care center in my neighborhood just closed after being open less than a year. It wasn't getting enough business.

But go to my ER anytime of any day and it is packed!

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

There is also a perception that ER is "free" care. If you go there and say you don't have any money, they have to see you anyway. Urgent Care centers and PCPs usually expect some payment.

And, Blee is so right about people wanting to be totally cured yesterday, and also not wanting to wait for an appointment. I really think some folks expect miracles. They don't want to hear that their flu, viral URI, or viral gastroenteritis can't be cured by, say, two hours from now.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I love our local urgent care center. My kids always get ear infections, need stitches, etc. on Friday afternoon. WOuldn't want to do it on a Wednesday morning when we can get to our PCP. Don't want to wait till Monday and I certainly don't want to go to the ER if I'm concious.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

There's a hospital ER that feels the need to go out and drum up additional business???

Where is this mythical place?

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
I certainly don't want to go to the ER if I'm conscious.

You're a dear! :flwrhrts:

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

We also had a similar advertisement drumming people to come for free flu shots in our clinics. Never did hire more nurses to take on the crowd, and the patients would then argue with us that they were waiting for more than 3 hours for the shot.

I feel your pain...people coming to the ER for colds, post nasal drip and pimples??? They need to be thrown to the wolves for advertising like that.

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