Snack bar in the ER?

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Ok All this is something I have never seen before ,I was sent to the ER by doc. and I get there and the place is packed "to bad I did not know at that time that they where on devirt and the wate time was when hell freezes over ":mad: but anyway I go to set down and do I see a snack bar in ER :eek: I could not beleave what I was seeing ! They had soda ,candy , cheese buggers , you name it they had it . This seemed so odd to me and 45mins :rolleyes:latter when I was called to trage "does't that wait time just defeat the perpus of tragaeing someone ?" I had already had a soda and gram crackers . as i sat there I watched every one that was not :barf02: line up for berggers but hay I gess you have to have somthing to do right .

Anyway I ended up leaving after 5 hours of going nowhere when I found out that I had a better shot of hitting the loto then being seem and I was not low on the list. God help the people at the bottom . I would rather fill like c##p at home then siting in a chair in the ER . when I was getting in the car one of the woman I was sitting with yelled out that she was going down the street to get some dinner and them come back as she wanted somthing better then the snack had :) I just found the wole thing so funny .

And this is...free?!?!? How can this hospital afford this with all the cuts you hear about?

Shouldn't some patients who come to the ER not be eating? As much as I like to eat, this sounds like a bad idea.

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This cracked me up!!! I work in a super busy ED and we have a snack bar in the waiting room as well. I've always found it funny to sell junk food while promoting the opposite! I agree with the open bar idea! Would definitely cut down on the DTs!

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And this is...free?!?!? How can this hospital afford this with all the cuts you hear about?

Shouldn't some patients who come to the ER not be eating? As much as I like to eat, this sounds like a bad idea.

No it's not free I payed .50 for my gram crackers and $1.00 for my soda :)

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and this is...free?!?!? how can this hospital afford this with all the cuts you hear about?

shouldn't some patients who come to the er not be eating? as much as i like to eat, this sounds like a bad idea.

thats what came to my mine too but thay do have an idea here there was a thread talking these people that bring there kids to the re and have no food ,juce ect . well this mother came in with her baby and waited juice for it . well she got it but she had to buy it .

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Specializes in Intermediate care.
well she ment well but maybe she should have offered you a beer or 12 :) I hope you fiancé was ok?

A beer i would have taken haha. And yea, he is fine. The hospital was busy so he was an over flow patient and got sent to pediatrics. He loved waking up to a disney princess room every morning. I still remember him asking "Can't you at least put me in a room that has something other than disney princesses? i'd even take ninja turtles"

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Specializes in Intermediate care.
The snack bar is for all the abdominal pain, nausea/vomiting/diarrhea patients.

Sure, load up on that stuff and wait that additional 8-hours to get treated.

Makes sense to me but hell, it's not about the care but press ganey.

Make 'em happy at all costs... :grn:

Snack bar is also there for all the NPO patients to test compliance.

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Specializes in CEN, CPEN, RN-BC.

This idea totally beats discharge hugs when it comes to increasing patient satisfaction

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Our snack bar is overpriced and nasty. But it's nice to have somewhere to send the hungry not NPO patients. Funny how arriving at the ED makes everyone hungry and creates a need to pee!

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

I like the idea. People are going to eat junk anyway, whether or not they are complaining of GI symptoms. At least with a snack bar, they could serve themselves instead of "Nurse, can you get me a . . . oh, and my mother really needs some juice, and my kid really needs a milk, and coffee for my husband. . ."

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I am ambivalent on the idea of 'ammenities' in the ED. On the one hand, family members often have to wait in the area for a long time... and don't want to risk leaving for fear that they will be needed. On othe other hand, if people are feeling well enough to hang out and eat, they shouldn't be in the DANG ED!! (srry - flash back to my ED days & despair over people seeking 'emergency' treatment for hangnails).

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

I don't care as long as they are not paying for it with my money......... Can you imagine the potential for every hungry person in the city to start showing up though?

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I always love when folks come in with 10/10 abdominal pain, cringing and writhing, and after triage they head to the vending machines and return with Doritos and Mountain Dew. *sigh*

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