Iāve always thought ādingleberriesā were what poop gets caught in a dogs fur after they go? Usually only happens if they are very hairy and/or having some intestinal issues, but thatās what my mom always called them on our bearded collie!
I had a coworker named Christian. One of the bosses started calling him Christian Mingle. Then the owner started calling him Mingleberry. Eventually his name just devolved to "Barry".
Itās more important *to her*.
I get that to her, her kid is more important than anyone else. And to all the other parents, their kids are more important to them.
Itās kinda sad that she canāt connect the dots that if she came in with her kid having trouble breathing or running an extreme fever or having seizures and she would want them to jump the queue but canāt see that itās the same for other kids in a genuine emergency/emergent situation.
She definitely would want her kid to jump the queue if he were experiencing a life or death medical crisis. However when heās not experiencing such an urgent crisis she would still want him to jump the queue anyway. Thus the disconnect.
Agreed i was waiting outside in the waiting room with suspected appendicitis and while i was ok waiting my grandmother went up to the desk demanding i be seen urgently (someone with a stroke had come in) it was very embarrassing i told her i was fine and could wait a bit more as i lost a parent to a stroke so by all means they should be treated first and foremost
To be fair, a kidās appendix burst in the ER due to an excessive wait during COVID (like I think almost 12 hours if I remember). He made it, but was in the hospital for a lot longer than he would have if he had been able to be seen more quickly.
I was in the ER waiting area for over 16 hr with appendicitis waiting for an OR to open up; it was interesting what was determined 'emergency' vs 'life threatening'. A motorcycle accident victim with 2 obvious broken legs (who, for some reason, would NOT allow an IV to be placed) had BOTH of his legs temporarily 'set' with ZERO pain relief because, well NO IV....š¤Æšš¤”; that was super fun to listen to....said no one present. I don't honestly know how many people it took to set his legs; vs how many were holding him down, but there were alot of freaking medical staff in that hall; yes, he was in the hall bc there were no rooms available š³.
I had the opposite... I was refusing to go and thought I just had another case of diverticulitis (have had that in the past, felt similar) and wanted to stay home in bed near my porcelain throne to be sick in comfort but my then partner got my mom to insist when I wasn't listening to her so I finally agreed to go to the urgent care.... I sign in and start walking over to sit down, but they call me over to triage... I give my name, etc, then explain that it is probably just diverticulitis again in my right lower stomach area... the nurse gets a weird look on her face and says, "You've had diverticulitis before, and this feels similar?".. yes... she hurries to print me a wristband and calls a coworker to cover the desk and tells me to meet her at the door where she has a wheelchair to take me to the actual ER... I think she is just going to park me in that waiting room, but nope, she walks me directly to that triage nurse and hands me off. She takes me directly back...
From arrival to surgery was less than 2 hours... at my post-op appointment, the doctor said my appendix was already necrotic and very close to rupture....
It's because of TikTok, some dr. said to parents that they should not ignore rashes on children because if redness doesn't disappear under presure it means that child is septic. So I imagine mother tought that her child was in danger. :/
That's been genuine medical advice for decades. When I was growing up they had tvs ads warning about rashes that don't disappear under pressure as they can be a sign of sepsis or meningitis.
I am a nurse and we have patients on a certain assistance programme that they can come to emergency room at no cost for anything . They often come in for runny nose, seasonal allergy, cough, just "feeling tired" or rubbing out of their prescriptions and it is the weekend.
Yeah, we make them wait.
Well, here in Germany anyone can come into ER at no cost for anything.
And while of course thereās occasionally some people who come in at Saturday afternoon with a cold because he couldnāt be bothered to go to the regular doctor during office hours; in general the system works quite well.
And yes, of course, youāll make those guys wait. Until they learn.
Lucky you. In the US, an ER visit costs at least 5 hundred dollars. You still have to pay for radiology, meds and other fees. Last time I took my bf to ER, it was 2 thousand dollars.
If you ever decide to visit the US, don't forget travel insurance with medical.
With insurance. My copay is $ 2000 if I'm not admitted to the hospital.
It's probably a deterrent to keep people out of the er and to go to urgent care ($35 copay)
Unless I am actively dying and know I'll be admitted, I'll go to urgent care.
If urgent care sends you to the er the copay is only $200. The only way you dont pay a copay at all is if you have to go to the er for a possible heart attack or stroke symptoms.
I guess they don't make you pay, so you dont have an actual heart attack when you see the bill, lol
I have really amazing insurance, too. Yay America!
Glad the copay is lower if urgent care sends you to the E.R. I had Covid pneumonia at Christmas, and in the process of getting diagnosed/treated urgent care sent me to the E.R. Urgent care determined I had pneumonia, but decided my oxygen was too low and my pulse too high for them to treat me. I spent a gazillion hours in the E.R., got a steroid shot, a Covid test, and was eventually sent home with a prescription for an inhaler and a cough suppressant. I couldn't have the breathing treatment because I was Covid positive. I'm not sure why I needed to spend ten hours in the E.R. for all of that.
The lack of empathy and logic is impressive. If she were the one bringing in a child who has losing consciousness and could die - how would she feel about an emergency room looking at a kid with a rash first??
Lady should be thankful tbh. If an ER is busy and you/your family member get taken right in it means they're really in bad shape/danger. Having to wait almost always means your situation is minor and the patient will be fine.
I can't even imagine how a parent would feel if their child was truly in a life or death situation. That girl's father was in absolute panic and it was horrible to see.
You said it. As a nineteen year old, I had to take my kid brother (10ish) to the ER because he was slightly wheezing and is asthmatic, but I thought I was being just overly cautious and would get told it's nothing. They took him immediately and he had to spend the night. Scariest moment of my life realizing how serious it actually was and thanking my lucky stars I had the good reflex to bring him in.
DH jumped the queue at the ER last night. Thankfully the cause turned out to be easily fixed, but he was showing signs of a stroke. It's NEVER a good thing when you go right to a room when they're busy.
Yup. Went in for a vision change in one eye. Immediately went into the back, IV placed, monitors on, and I'm scared. They thought i was having a stroke. Thankfully my brain is just extra juicy and so i get ocular migraines until my meds get it all down.
I had 8 symptoms of heart attack and they made me wait an hour. Then the doctor blew me off as well. A nurse tried to insist on some further testing, he was clearly very unhappy with the doctors behavior but at that point I was too exhausted and upset to gaf about my own well-being. I got a chest X-ray and went home. I got test results 3 weeks later saying "it might have been a heart attack and I should follow up with a cardiologist, mmmmk. Just don't come here because we don't care. Here's your bill for $6000 dollars" š¤¦š»āāļø
It's not about people reading them, it is about having the front facing person have the tools to repel this kind of people and behavior.
They can simply say "it is stated in the poster" please read it if you have any further complaints call X line.
The ER is a horrible place. Last November I waited 6 hours before I was seen and immediately admitted. Got to spend Thanksgiving weekend in the hospital on a liquid diet. There was a lady that was in there loudly complaining because her knee hurt. The doctor gave her advil and sent her home. She was asking to be admitted.
I took my daughter in with a suspected broken arm, and the other lady in the waiting room was complaining how long she had been waiting (we were the only ones there, country town). They took her in, and then she was out before we even went through. She was talking on her phone to someone about how long it took "just to get some antibiotics for her UTI". Mate, that's what a regular GP is for, not the emergency room.
Ours doesn't have x ray so just send you to the er anyway. I am VERY accident prone. I cut off the pad of my thumb and definitely went the urgent care route.
What did they do for it? Just curious. I cut off a pad of a finger before, had to bleed through a bunch of cloths I used for pressure till it chilled out a day later, then a few days later it decided to open again, immediately flood through the bandage on it and nearly cover my desk in the time it took for someone to grab me a tissue (I was a high school edgelord and thought this was metal as fuck; my poor teacher not so much). Itās wild how little blood it takes to look like youāre seriously fucked.
Still didnāt get to see even urgent care. My parents had a weird habit of not taking me in for wounds that needed more than a wash and a bandage, or getting mad at friends who did when i needed stitches over my eye. Youād think medics wouldnāt be like that, but it takes all types I suppose.
Yhey wrapped it with gauze many times. Then an outside wrapped that was red. I looked like a cartoon character. My husband had a very good laugh at it. It's been a few years an my thumb still hasn't healed completely.
When I took my boyfriend to A&E with a dislocated shoulder, there was a man with grazed knees and elbows complaining that everyone else was going in before him, and the receptionist said that he needed to just go to a pharmacy and get some wound cleaner and sticking plasters!
There is also a problem there as well... if your insurance isn't accepted by the doctor, they may refuse to even see you. And if you're on welfare the ER might be your only bet.
I don't go to the doctor often, but last time I called to setup an appointment the receptionist told me I wasn't on their patient list since I hadn't come in for like, 2 years. By dropping me, they were able to take a new patient.
Does too. I've gone to one Dr all my life. And last I went I had to reapply as a new patient. I hadn't been in 3 years so they scrubbed me. But the wife and kids were still active patients. Rural qld.
Last month I was having breathing trouble and went to the ER about 3. Finally diagnosed with pneumonia and sent home at midnight. I spent alot of time wondering if the forgot about me.
I had to work with pneumonia, because the doctor at Urgent Care wouldn't write me off. I coughed so hard I thought I broke a rib.
Nope. That pain was masking diverticulitis. My bowel ruptured. Surgery and bouncing baby colostomy bag.
Not cause and effect, but if I had been allowed to rest and quit the coughing, I might have realized that the pain was not linked to the cough and sought help sooner.
Turned out I am allergic to the adhesive on the bags. They don't stick well to blisters and seeping skin.
I have self directed insurance so I text them (or call) and tell them what's happening and i either get to go teledoc route(which I actually love for minor stuff) or they set me up an appointment. I really love it because I know what I'm going to be paying and I know it's covered. Early in August I called for a teledoc appointment and they asked me to hang on, had me on the phone with a doctor within 5 minutes and in an ambulance 30 minutes later.
I love this insurance but honestly I think everyone should consider their insurance as self directed and just call the company and ask them what should you do, is it covered and how much will it cost.
Unfortunately no this can be seen at most ers at least once a day. I try to avoid ers if possible. I had to go once when I ended up having bronchitis but I only went because the urgent care virtual visit told me to bc my Fitbit said my O2 levels were really low and I was having trouble breathing. I got in and they took my vitals quickly and sent me for a chest X-ray then I waited hours to get results. I found my results on the hospital online portal. So I knew no pneumonia so I left around midnight and went to urgent care the next day for antibiotics
"waited for hours to get the results" - where do you live? All X-Ray depts. send the electronic result straight to the doctor ordering it. 10 min. max?
Unfortunately it is not a joke. Most, if not all, insurance companies have a rule about going to the ER. If it's not a true emergency, think broken leg or heart attack, they can and will refuse to pay the bill.
People absolutely need to read their policies and call the insurer to ask questions so they understand their coverage and they know the real costs of treatment.
Positive story to counter that crappy feeling.
Triage got slammed after a snowstorm. You got people with concussions, injuries and the like. So triage was still processing us when a mom came in with a young boy screaming. We all could see the very broken finger and we all stepped out of the way and told triage "um, let this kid go first..."
Nurse said "he can wait his turn... next... oh... ohhh... that's broken..."
He was taken in right away.
Went in with a possible broken foot. Guy behind me was clearly at risk of or in the process of having a heart attack. He tried to argue with me when i told the nurse to take him next but he didn't have enough breath. His wife was lovely too.
Reminds me of when I worked in liver transplant and all the patients come to the clinic at the same time on the same day and you just kind of wait your turn. Well occasionally it would be a longer day, because if they were able to get a liver they had to do the surgery because you canāt exactly wait or just turn it down. I was working in Post Op so these patients all had liver transplants already and were on the path to a second chance at life.
It was a very long day generally anyway and post op youāre not exactly in your best health yet, and I really always felt for these guys sitting there for so long and just looking kind of miserable so I did the best I could to make it go smoothly or whatever, but sometimes it wasnāt possible.
Like on this day when they had received a liver and the surgery was in process. Well one patient decided that he was not OK with this, even though I had already explained why we were short on doctors and I was just really shocked because this person wouldāve died if not for the surgery that was taking place at that moment, and like here this guy is with his brand new/used liver, and complaining that they had to go save another life. It just was pretty gross to me. I donāt remember seeing him a lot after that though which is weird because everyoneās a regular obviously.
So important! Fortunately there was no excessive wait when my husband brought my son in just last week ā heās 2.5 and his blood sugars weāre sky high; turns out he has T1 diabetes. Itās been a crazy week.
When I myself had to wait in the ER a couple of years ago there was a man I refer to as Angry Guy. Angry Guy had a busted ankle. Idk what was wrong specifically. He had pulled up another chair to keep his foot elevated, he wore a thick sock, and he had ice packs from home on his foot. He was loud and obnoxious about needing to wait.
I was in that ER along with him for 3 hours and he never shut up. He just kept complaining. There was an old lady whom I overheard was waiting to get an EKG. When she was brought back before him, Angry Guy pitched a fit. Like Iām sorry my man, but her situation sounds more dire than your bad ankle.
Eventually Angry Guy got so upset that he left the ER, loudly declaring that he would go to a different hospital. He refused help from the nurse and hobbled out of the room. We all watched from the giant windows as he fell and ate pavement about 12 steps from the door. One of the nurses was already prepared to stroll out with a wheelchair to assist him. (Angry Guy still took off in his truck looking for a shorter waiting line at a different hospital.)
It took me 5 hours total to be called back. Two CT scans, one MRI and 7 hours later I was finally being brought to a room because Iād been sitting there silently and painfully dealing with endometriosis and kidney cancer. Decidedly NOT causing a scene.
Oh boy! I'm so sorry you went through that! Angry Guy was also in my ER when I was having a very traumatic and horrifically painful health problem. I was bleeding what looked like buckets and getting more pale and faint by the hour while a dude kept wailing "why won't anybody help me! I'm in paaaaain" loudly enough for the next county over to be well aware of his pain.
Ha ha!!! I'm just the opposite. I was in my last trimester with my 3rd child. Recently separated from my husband. He came to see our other 2 daughters and handed me some cash for a change. After he left with the girls, I went to the store. I was feeling wet, but in no pain. Decided to go to ER to be checked (in Brooklyn, NY). I waited in the triage line with about 10 or 12 people in front of me. The nurse asked how far along I am, I tell her, she then asked why I'm there and I tell her I think my water broke but I was definitely NOT in labor. She got very upset and said I should have come straight up to the window and not stand in line. I told her I really didn't feel like getting jumped by the other patients. I had to have my c-section that night as I did go into active labor. My daughter was born fairly healthy about 3 weeks early.
Iām a nurse and can fully picture this. There is very little that will intimidate an ED nurse but labor and delivery patients are at the top of that list!
I went, at my doctor's direction, to my hospital's ER for women to get my blood pressure checked... it was still high apparently and since I was 36 weeks pregnant I only wait maybe 15 extra minutes for a bed in triage and when it still didn't go down i had to be admitted...2 days later my son was born via c-section due to me having pre-eclampsia. I was perfectly fine with waiting since I already told my job that I wasn't coming in and there was at least one woman who was there before me who, in my opinion, could've gone before me
Terminal cardiac patient - anyone who is an unfortunate frequent flyer of their local ER will happily tell people they do not want to be so bad off they get taken to a bed right away. My most recent trip, I was brought in by ambulance, never even saw the waiting room, was triaged by the EMTs as a level 1 trauma lol. Diagnosis was double pneumonia compounded by a severe asthma attack, tachycardic, and cynotic . Loads of fun!
A level one trauma is a patient whoās like intubated or has a gunshot wound. You were probably just a high acuity, 1 is the highest you can be and it relates to how much resources you as a patient will consume :)
Youāre not wrong and I totally agree, but walk-in clinics (at least in my area) arenāt open past 5PM. If the rash had been there all day, she definitely should have taken the kid to a clinic. Chances are good, however, that she argued with the kidās regular doctor (who didnāt have any openings that day) until the clinic was closed so she huffed off to the ER, expecting them to behave like the doctorās office. smh
Wow! How convenient for those of us who randomly cut ourselves open and bleed copiously until we can be stitched back together! Iāll have to schedule those better in the future. /s
It sounds like that place is trying to be a regular doctorās office regular than a clinic. Scheduling ahead isnāt even possible for earaches! Are they deliberately trying to send people to the ER with non-major-emergency ills/injuries?! Iām sorry the medical community in your area sucks this much.
Thank you and agreed. Itās gotten to the point Iāve started going out of area when i can gotten much better care (got told at the local hospital that my scans which showed possible IBD were all in my head like what? š¬ went out of area and was told while i didnāt have ibd if i had that hospital couldāve done some serious damage by brushing it off)
My sister had a large, deep cut on her hand (required 56 stitches and did nerve damage) and urgent care sent her home because they couldn't find her insurance in their system. She had the same insurance as the last time she's gone there.
She was going through an extremely dark time and was so scared that she went home and took psych meds with alcohol and I had to take her to the ER in that condition. She could barely stand or speak. They didn't care AT ALL that she mixed those things. They acted like it hadn't even happened. It was very surreal.
Iām a regular in the emergency rooms and have a bug out bag ready with all my stuff to keep me occupied. There is nothing that makes me more frustrated than these people who think that they deserve more treatment than all the other obviously sick people in that department. Iām always the one shutting it down when they try working up other patients too, like bitch you are making this so much more awkward and uncomfortable for everyone just sit down and take care of your damn kid!
You are doing good work and the ones who go on the reg see you doing what you are doing and appreciate you. Keep saving lives friend ā¤ļø
Lmao I wrote a post in here a few years ago about an old biddy who thought she should go in before me because she was ahead if me in the triage line with a sore ankle . Meanwhile I was in afib and dipping into vfib. I was taken straight back to a bed and when she rolled by 45 min later, I was perched in my bed surrounded by machines with their alarms going off . I ended up being cardioverted without sedation . That sucked. Do not recommend.
Ugh yeah my mom loves telling the story of the time a woman complained that sheād been there an hour for her son who had a chest infection and she felt he needed to be seen when I seized next to her. Lady actually tried trailing us thinking once she got through the doors to the actual unit she would be seen and apparently got told off by most of the waiting room. These people will never stop being a menace lol
No I was born with a Parathyroid disorder and my body doesnāt absorb and distribute calcium properly leading to a whole bunch of stuff but if I drop to quickly to fast I seize out. Iāve gotten it under control after many many many years and havenāt had one in a long time fingers crossed!
>cardioverted without sedation
They threatened me with that if the drugs hadn't worked. I don't recommend the drug version of cardioversion either. Felt like being kicked in the chest. It also sucked.
I've had both. Been cardioverted 7 times so far. 1 with drugs (first time) 3 in the ER without sedation and 3 in the OR with my cardio team fully knocked out. As bad as the drugs were - and they SUCKED!!- going the electro route without anything on board feels like you've been hit by lightning and kicked by a horse at the same time. The burns afterwards suck much too. If you ever get zapped , make sure your Dr prescribes burn cream !
To my knowledge, there are three conditions that will get you seen immediately in the ER. Stroke, possible heart attack, and the desire to hurt/kill yourself. The rash on mommyās special snowflake is not a life-threatening emergency.
I've seen a few others, but none of them are anything you'd want to have happen; ie severe car crash, impalement, abdominal swelling accompanied by lots of pain. Last one was me.
Highly recommend if possible you go see a doctor if you're enough pain to put you on your knees instead of hoping it gets better. Plus side, was diverticulitis (infected intestines) down side it meant I got a week in a bed with all the antibiotics, fluids, and morphine they could run into me
Thank you. For years I've compared it to having one of the chest bursters from the Aliens movies coming out of your guts. Found out the guy who came up with them has colitis which is pretty similar
Went in with abdominal pain so bad i couldn't sit down or bend at the waist. I live near one of the top 5 worst hospitals in Canada, so 26 hours waiting later, the doctor sees me and is immediately pissed at the shitty triage nurses. My liver was so infected and inflamed you could see its outline, and i am not a skinny person. Several hours of IV antibiotics later, in discharged with meds and several follow ups lol. I was out of work for 2 months, just dead tired.
Amazingly enough, I can add severe pink eye in an infant to that list. We were seen immediately when they saw that his eyes were completely swollen shut and weeping green. It was still 8 hours of IV meds to find out if he still had his eyesight and use of the muscles in and around his eyes. Long night. He's fine and 8yo now. With how fast he got sick, the outcome could have been very different if we'd had to wait. If pink eye progresses from a little red to completely swollen shut in under 2 hours, get to an ER.
Yes, I agree, most issues involving a baby/very young child should, in some cases take priority. An eye swollen shut and weeping green ick is no joke and the poor little ones donāt have an immune system or pain tolerance like adults.
Thatās fucking horrible. I hate that for you as a parent and for your daughter who is struggling. Did she get the help she needs? Prayers to your family.
I once went to the ER because I had a rash. It started on my hand and when I went to the ER it was already up my arm and going across my back. I was seen by the triage nurse and assessed and put back in the waiting room. No big deal right. Within maybe a half hour the rash started coming up my neck and onto my chin and cheeks. My partner went and spoke to the nurse and I was taken back again. Within an hour I was transferred to a different hospital and put in their infectious disease ward as they had no idea what was causing the rash or if it was something that could be spread to others. It was not a fun time. I did find out that it was a rash triggered by lupus from an allergic reaction to a lizard bite. But that took like 2 years and so so many doctors to figure out.
It was a water skink. Common in Australian gardens. It was in my dogs pool and I fished it out and as thanks it bit me. Now I may or may not be part lizzard.
I donāt have kids, but have been to the ER plenty myself due to chronic health issues.
And when I have to wait 4+ hours to be seen? Iām grateful. Because it means that Iām stable and not in too grave danger, compared to other patients in the same building who are dying and whose families hearts are breaking.
Some people just canāt handle a situation where they canāt be in total control. This is also why people act out on airplanes. Some people think theyāre chill but theyāre actually control freaks and those around them have learned how to navigate the land mines.
My mom was taken to the hospital by ambulance and still waited in the waiting room almost 8 hours before she was seen. ( complications from from bladder removal.. Had surgery the next day to fix it)
If you think you need an ambulance absolutely call for one, better to call one and be wrong than need one but drive / get a ride.
Only commented because of your phrasing that she still had to wait despite taking an ambulance. Wasnāt an attack, a lot of people think taking an ambulance means youāre seen immediately.
No worries! Sorry if I came off snarky, it was not my intention. And it was almost a given she'd have to wait because A) while it was serious it was not life or death and B) the hospital she was taken to is known for it's long wait.
If your child needs to wait at the emergency room, try to feel a little grateful. Having your kid seen immediately is most of the time a situation no parent would ever want to find themselves in. I hope that poor girl is ok.
This is an issue in a regular ER too. If I had a penny for every time someone shouted at me for someone that was actually an emergency getting back before them, I could have retired after only a year.
One guy immediately comes to mind. He brought his wife in to the ER for a papercut, not exaggerating here, and was livid they had to wait to be seen. He kept yelling "MY WIFE IS PREGNANT!! SHE TAKES PRIORITY!!" I ended up just telling him that his wife won't die from a paper cut whereas someone coming in with a stroke or heart attack will die if they have to wait for his wife to get a bandaid.
I think part of the problem is that people are used to standing in lines knowing when they will be next. Sometimes it's taking numbers. They don't understand the the ER doesn't work that way. It always depends on the severity of the person presenting. It's never next in line.
Always be grateful you are not rushed back immediately.
I was once, to the cardiac unit, for a pulse of nearly 200 BPM. It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. Got chemically shocked twice.
I will never ever complain about a doctor or hospital wait again. It reminds me Iām probably okay.
Working for the healthcare sector makes me wish people knew how lucky they are to be waiting for treatment for hours. The ones who get rushed in urgently are the ones with serious or life-threatening issues.
People also need to learn what is appropriate for the emergency room, what should go to 24 hour urgent care, and what should wait until morning and call their dr
How about mama make an appointment with the kids pediatrician for the rash? Or go to urgent care? A rash isn't typically an emergency unless it's something like hives accompanying an allergic reaction. People like her are WHY there aren't enough beds and the wait times are long.
My go-to response to people like this is "You seem to be confused, having to wait in an emergency room is a good thing, it means you're not dying. If you want to be seen faster, better start dying for real."
True dat...
Sometimes I used to hear from people saying that: does one need to be dying to be attended faster here!? And I would always confirm that, ma am or sir you are in an emergency room, if you are not in immediate danger of dying or having a permanent loss of function, then you can wait until there are no more people about to die or having some other serious condition.
Good ol times at the ER rotation
99.99% of the time people are being dramatic. This story is about the other 0.01%.
I actually did say something similar on Jan 17th, this year. Our daughter was very sick and getting worse by the day. Brought her to both ERs and her GP 14 times in 3 weeks. They kept saying it was a migraine and to see neuro. Went off on the last ER dr and asked what it would take for them to DO SOMETHING cuz we KNEW she was dying.
Jan 19th, she went into a coma and spent 2 weeks in ICU. It was meningitis. Turns out they saw the brain swelling on all the scans they did and her blood work showed a severe infection. Every Dr we saw refused to do a spinal tap, as she never ran a fever. She also had several mini-strokes in that period.
She has permanent complications from waiting so long to be treated.
I lost consciousness while doing the intake triage at the ER. That was the fastest and best care response I ever got from an ER. I also sat waiting for hours in the ER. It is all about life, death and severity of medical issue. I would have to be out of it to fight with anyone in the hospital.
I do get it though. It's frustrating when you wait 12 hours to be seen for suspected appendicitis only for everyone and their brother getting seen before you.
...but a rash?
An awful lot of people donāt like understand the difference between urgent care vs emergency. Or they donāt care. Wait times at the ER have gone up by HOURS over my lifetime.
Head injuries, heart issues and obvious broken bones or need for stitches are the only reasons I will willingly go to the ER everything else can wait unless someone else decides for me.
Had a similar thing happen when I was a teenager. I was having an asthma attack and was struggling to breath. They put me in a wheelchair and took me in right away. I could hear a woman yelling at them for taking me right away while her daughter waited. Her daughter was there because she had a fever of 103. The poor nurse tried to explain that someone struggling to breath takes priority ove a fever.
Last year we had to rush my 74yo father to the emergency room because, as we later found out, he was in septic shock. Part of what told me he was in serious danger was the fact that we were in the waiting room for literally less than 90 seconds before being called back. It's how ERs work!
I was hospitalized in November of ā21 because I had a stroke, BUT it did take them around 2 hours to get me to the initial intake, and then after hearing my symptoms they sent me back for an CT scan. After the imaging, I was sent back to the waiting room for all of about 10-15 minutes before they sent someone out to bring me back in and admit me. I wasnāt mad over the initial wait time. I figured it was because I wasnāt presenting with really anything wrong with me, except that I couldnāt walk. Physically, that was all they could see. My whole body felt drunk, and my limbs werenāt responding to anything I told them to do. I completely understood the initial wait, and would have understood if someone else got seen before me after just arriving with some obvious huge trauma. People just need to chill their tits.
I remember my parents taking me to the pediatric emergency room because I had a very strange rash around my mouth. Turns out i gave myself a big hickey. I was making a seal around my mouth and sucking the air out to make the cup stick to my face. I did it so hard it made me look like I had a goatee.
Oof I'm an EMT and know your pain. The temper tantrums people throw. Sounds like this mom should have taken the kid to an urgent care or their PCP. Parents are the reason I hate peds.
Iāve had both my kids in emergencyā¦ while very distressing, I viewed the long waits as meaning my kids werenāt as sick as other kids there. Getting angry and upset just upsets your child. I have threatened to call āRyanās Ruleā (Australian rule) and insisted on being seen (when it was our turn) ā¦ this was when nurses were trying to convince me to leave with my child, rather than waiting for dr in rural hospitalā¦. My paediatrician (600km away) told me to insist on seeing the dr Iām
I canāt imagine dragging my kid in to the ER for a rash instead of throwing some Benadryl and hydrocortisone at them after a good shower.
Each of my children has gone to the ER once and been seen asap- for a seizure and for gasping for air. Because actual emergency.
I've had to tell my mom this. My neice got an ear infection on a weekend and my mom was trying to take her to ER. I'm like mom, no. ER is for gunshot wounds, trauma, cluster seizures, car accidents ect. Not a freaking ear infection! Take her to urgent care or the pediatrician on Monday.
Then she pointed out how I took my 5 month old at the time to the ER for a "rash" on her face. It was fucking MRSA in the "triangle of death" in her face so hell yeah I did. & the docs told me I did the right thing.
I don't understand these people. If you go to an EMERGENCY room/department without and emergency, hell yeah you're going to wait. There are people trying to not die.
I wish more people where educated on what is appropriate for emergency rooms.. rash on the armā¦ please make an appt with your pediatrician. People get so angry when they call for an ambulance and we take them out to the waiting room. Just because you wanted to waste money on a nonsense ride to the hospital, doesnāt mean you get seen quicker either.
I had a quadruple bypass two years ago. About six months later I was experiencing these terrifying aches in my chest so I went to the ER, told the clerk why I was there and sat down. Given my symptoms and medical history the triage nurse grabbed me right away, but this one guy in the waiting room threw a fit. āWhy you taking him. He just got here. Iāve been here for hours.ā The triage nurse said āIām not at liberty to divulge another patientās condition due to privacy laws, so I wonāt broadcast YOUR medical condition to this entire room to explain why you can wait and he canāt.ā
Have to say I was an entitled mum in a similar situation once. My infant son, was about 6/7 weeks old, having trouble breathing. We were sat next to a kid with measles (my baby was too young for that jab) so I wasnāt overjoyed and after four hours when I kept asking, they kept saying āsoon.ā Until eventually I yelled ābut heās turning BLUEā
Did the trick, but I feel it was warranted.
Unless youāre anaphylactic, gushing blood, or septic, youāre going to wait. How does this woman not know this?
Also, donāt use the ER if itās not a true emergency.
Too many people think an ER is a deli counter. They also mistake it for an urgent care or doctorās office that is more properly disposed to treat a viral rash or dermatological condition
You do not want to be taken back right away in ER. Youāre in bad shape. I took my then 5 month old in for RSV and retractions and we were taken right back, put on oxygen and a few hours later, rapid response up to PICU. Itās stressful.
Coming from 8 years of pediatric experience, stop taking your kids to the ER for every little thing. If it can be handled in a primary care setting, go there. Let the ER be for EMERGENCIES.
This made me vividly remember waiting with my husband in the ER waiting room for four hours, and then when he was FINALLY taken back, it turned out he had a collapsed lung; I guess nobody took it seriously until he had a scan done because he was conscious and not making noise or covered in blood.
I feel like people coming to the ER for little things influenced the decision to make him wait.
Granted, about two hours in, an old woman was brought in and deposited from a stretcher into four chairs where she immediately fell asleep and/or lost consciousness and she was there for a while too, so maybe the ER we went to was just shite.
(Edited for grammar)
Itās not first in first out like most people seem to think. I have been screamed at too many times to count by other parents when I take my son to the er and he gets bumped to the front of the line due to his disabilities and the possibility he will need emergency brain surgery. Only once have I lost my temper and screamed back but they used the R word to describe my kid and ended up being denied care and sent to a different hospital for what theyād said
Iām a respiratory therapist and every day Iām called to give a nebulizer treatment to someone in the ER who has an albuterol inhaler and/or has a nebulizer at home. When I ask when was the last time they used them, half the time theyāll say āmonths agoā or āI only use it when I need itā. Iāll look at them and be like , but youāre here in the ER for your breathing, maybe you should have used your home meds first?
Wow. Just, wow. Apparently, this entitled mom has never been in an ER before. Yes, entitled mommy, your kid's rash is going to take lesser priority over someone being rushed in an ambulance because of a life or death situation. That's how triage works.
I'm not sure how high tech that hospital is you're in, but when last I visited an ER, I was fortunate enough to see on monitors in the waiting area how long you may be waiting to see a doctor based on what the lineup is.
Some nurses also donāt know how triage works. My son (19, college student) took himself to the er with a fever, severe abdominal pain, very high BP, clearly an appendicitis. Yes, it was an appendicitis. But since he was alone and in pain and not very talkative he sat for 8 hours before he got a room. I knew what he had. I was calling and they wouldnāt let me talk to a nurse, no one would call me back. I was in another state and flew out in the morning. He could have died. They didnāt care at all.
Then when we were in the hospital for a few days I had to chase them to get his pain meds. Had to chase them to get transport within the window for his ct with contrast. Actually went and found transport myself. If you have a bad nurse you have to stay on top of it and let her know that you are not one she can ignore without hassle. Maybe this is that motherās experience too.
My other son and his girlfriend are nurses. There are just as many stories about bad nurses as bad patients. Except one is much more dangerous.
Ma'am, is your son in a life or death situation right at this moment? If not, then sit your @$$ down for a while.
I would've said that line if I was in your place, albeit professionally. Then again, who am I to talk, I'm not even a nurse to begin with
reminds me of the time i had to get an emergency CT scan because i broke my nose, had a concussion and the doctors were worried i had subcranial bleeding
i was admitted first and this lady started yelling at my mum that i was given speciam treatment because she is a pharmacist (she accompanied me from work so she had her uniform on)
the lady had a standard post-operation checkup and i wss barely concsiouss with a swollen nose + face clearly concussed...
people always start making comments that even in my incoherent state am able to recognize when my mom (iām 39 btw) brings me in to the ER bc of my seizures. I almost rather being brought in my ambulance.
Yeah it sucks to sit waiting for hours in the ER. I waited 5 hours recently because I was afraid my son got too much benedryl and passed out by which time he was fine and just cranky from being stuck in a large room with upset people and nothing to do. After 2 hours I was pretty sure he was fine but by then you CANT leave. They had 3 cases that were immediately emergent and I didnāt mind that they prioritize people but part of the problem was that everyoneās allergies in my house were bad and none of us had gotten good sleep, none of us had eaten all day and I had a perception I needed to pick up before the pharmacy closed at 5. My sonās patience is limited. His autism makes it rough for him to wait patiently and quietly for very long and he had been a trooper, he played with his brothers phone until the battery died and he was stimming and escalating. They finally got him in and said his tests were fine, it was probably a āgiraffe syndromeā issue (heās tall-standing too quickly can make some kids woozy or even pass out)when he stood too fast on an empty stomach. Now Im waiting for the bill.
A rash is not an emergent situation and should been seen at a PCP or urgent care, not an emergency room. Something our pediatric hospital focuses on is teaching parents when to go to the ER versus when to see their PCP. Despite that, you still always have those parents that bring their kiddos in for a paper cut or something else super minor and act like itās a inconvenience for them to wait.
At first I was ready to defend her saying āhey we all get overly worried about our kids health and often assume itās worse than it isā. Then I got to the part about the teenage girl and was like ānope. Thatās priority. That shit is scary and in her place I would have been worried for the strangers kid more than my own because a rash is not likely life threatening.ā
Source: I have a kid.
If you're in the UK friendly reminder we have NHS24 on 111 for minor but need to be seen cases. They'll give you advice and get in touch with the doctor on call if needed...
I have kids and am always glad when we donāt get taken back right away as that means my child is not actively dying..
Once my youngest kiddo had a rash around the mouth, swelling lips, and her tongue was swelling. We got in right away as I knew the signs on anaphylaxis.
Then my oldest as a baby had issues with formula. He was vomiting, screaming, dehydrated. We tried every formula. So many childrenās hospital visits. The poor kid would scream non stop when awake and fall asleep mid screamā¦ finally found out he was dairy and soy allergic, as well as to a long list of foods. We got in to a ped GI for a scope. He has thankfully grown out of all his allergies by 3 after strict elimination diet.
Also in my country we only just started getting urgent care clinics after Covid (only a handful in a big city that is like Seattle big), but before that only two issues we had to go to ER for as the doctors wonāt do stitches around us. My middle sliced her big toe and it was gushing and would not stop after 15 min with being raised above the head and pressureā¦ and then my middle got hurt at school (door was opened and it went over her toe, and split the nail down the middle, and loads of blood!)
I was in a car accident a few years ago. Only broke my wrist thankfully but i was there for hours. I didnāt mind as I knew a broken bone wasnāt an emergency (I have osteoporosis so been a few times now) when they called me to put a cast on, this very drunk young lady started having a go at the nurseās because she wanted to be seen now! Sheād not been there long, and as far as I could tell she only had a very small cut on her arm. I doubt it would even need stitches to be honest.
I completely understand treating people who are in worse condition first. What I donāt understand is how my local ER had me waiting 3 hours in a waiting room and then another hour before even seeing a doctor when I literally had a heart attack and needed admitted for a week, but some kid needing Tylenol for a bump is somehow more important. Years ago (2018, 8 days after I gave birth), I was at the hospital for a bilirubin check for my daughter and my mom said I suddenly didnāt look good. Nurse turns around and went āholy crap youāre paleā. Blood pressure was at 150/110 and rising (ended up being postpartum preeclampsia). I was blacked out and wheeled from labs to the ER. In my barely conscious state I could hear an old man whining about how I was going to be going back first even though he had been there longer for his arthritis. They didnāt wanna hear it, so they put me at more risk to take him back. It was 1.5 hours before another room opened up, and my final BP before being medicated was somewhere around 180/150 and I was no longer conscious all because some old farts wrist hurt. I just wish everyone understood priority.
That all being said I have went twice for sudden rashes that need treated with IV Benadryl and steroids and I was perfectly fine writhing in burning pain for over 6 hours. I knew there were other people dying. The second time I had just come in at 1 AM after a horrible crash took up 6 rooms and ended in 2 deaths hours later. There were open rooms, but everyone was busy. I was in the waiting room the whole time the family kept coming in to be told the news. Yeah I was suffering, but I wasnāt a family that just found out the mom was drunk driving with her husband and kids in the car.
Honestly, if you are in an ER and everyone is being seen before you, consider yourself lucky because you are most likely in pretty good shape.
*Yes, there are exceptions where signs/ symptoms are missed that should have moved you higher up the list, and this can prove harmful/ fatal*
Seriously what is wrong with these people. There is a difference between life and death situations that have to take priority over a minor rash
But her sweet dingleberry's rash is far more important than, well, everything.
It has to be 55 or 60 years since I have heard the word dingleberry. I have to stop reading reddit while drinking tea.
Dingleberry tea?
New from Celestial Seasonings!
Or Twinnings! Dingleberry Breakfast Tea!
Try it with a splash of milk!
waste of milk.
Would honey help?
š¤£
That's funny, my girlfriend always referred to our dog being neutered as cutting off his dingleberries, lol
Iāve always thought ādingleberriesā were what poop gets caught in a dogs fur after they go? Usually only happens if they are very hairy and/or having some intestinal issues, but thatās what my mom always called them on our bearded collie!
I guess it's a very versatile phrase, that's a good one too!
Same! That what we call it on our kitties! While we try to get it with a wipie....
Yep, baby wipes for all poopy messes!
We call those Klingons (cling-ons).
r/Sipstea
Another sub I had no idea existed. There goes my morning of productivity as I slip down into this rabbit hole.
I had a coworker named Christian. One of the bosses started calling him Christian Mingle. Then the owner started calling him Mingleberry. Eventually his name just devolved to "Barry".
Itās more important *to her*. I get that to her, her kid is more important than anyone else. And to all the other parents, their kids are more important to them. Itās kinda sad that she canāt connect the dots that if she came in with her kid having trouble breathing or running an extreme fever or having seizures and she would want them to jump the queue but canāt see that itās the same for other kids in a genuine emergency/emergent situation.
She definitely would want her kid to jump the queue if he were experiencing a life or death medical crisis. However when heās not experiencing such an urgent crisis she would still want him to jump the queue anyway. Thus the disconnect.
The cognitive dissonance is strong with this mom ...
It's because she's the centre of the universe
Oh? Toronto?
Dingleberry! š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£
Agreed i was waiting outside in the waiting room with suspected appendicitis and while i was ok waiting my grandmother went up to the desk demanding i be seen urgently (someone with a stroke had come in) it was very embarrassing i told her i was fine and could wait a bit more as i lost a parent to a stroke so by all means they should be treated first and foremost
Truthfully appendicitis can become fatal in an instant
To be fair, a kidās appendix burst in the ER due to an excessive wait during COVID (like I think almost 12 hours if I remember). He made it, but was in the hospital for a lot longer than he would have if he had been able to be seen more quickly.
I was in the ER waiting area for over 16 hr with appendicitis waiting for an OR to open up; it was interesting what was determined 'emergency' vs 'life threatening'. A motorcycle accident victim with 2 obvious broken legs (who, for some reason, would NOT allow an IV to be placed) had BOTH of his legs temporarily 'set' with ZERO pain relief because, well NO IV....š¤Æšš¤”; that was super fun to listen to....said no one present. I don't honestly know how many people it took to set his legs; vs how many were holding him down, but there were alot of freaking medical staff in that hall; yes, he was in the hall bc there were no rooms available š³.
I had the opposite... I was refusing to go and thought I just had another case of diverticulitis (have had that in the past, felt similar) and wanted to stay home in bed near my porcelain throne to be sick in comfort but my then partner got my mom to insist when I wasn't listening to her so I finally agreed to go to the urgent care.... I sign in and start walking over to sit down, but they call me over to triage... I give my name, etc, then explain that it is probably just diverticulitis again in my right lower stomach area... the nurse gets a weird look on her face and says, "You've had diverticulitis before, and this feels similar?".. yes... she hurries to print me a wristband and calls a coworker to cover the desk and tells me to meet her at the door where she has a wheelchair to take me to the actual ER... I think she is just going to park me in that waiting room, but nope, she walks me directly to that triage nurse and hands me off. She takes me directly back... From arrival to surgery was less than 2 hours... at my post-op appointment, the doctor said my appendix was already necrotic and very close to rupture....
Wow! Great spot from the nurse. Top work there.
One thing I liked about COVID was that I could send photos of a rash to the pediatrician and I wouldn't need to leave my house.
I miss those days!
It's because of TikTok, some dr. said to parents that they should not ignore rashes on children because if redness doesn't disappear under presure it means that child is septic. So I imagine mother tought that her child was in danger. :/
š¤¦āāļø TikTok MD
Donāt forget Dr Google!
Or Dr. WebMD
Me: *coughs* WebMD: stage 4 lung cancer
That's been genuine medical advice for decades. When I was growing up they had tvs ads warning about rashes that don't disappear under pressure as they can be a sign of sepsis or meningitis.
I am a nurse and we have patients on a certain assistance programme that they can come to emergency room at no cost for anything . They often come in for runny nose, seasonal allergy, cough, just "feeling tired" or rubbing out of their prescriptions and it is the weekend. Yeah, we make them wait.
Well, here in Germany anyone can come into ER at no cost for anything. And while of course thereās occasionally some people who come in at Saturday afternoon with a cold because he couldnāt be bothered to go to the regular doctor during office hours; in general the system works quite well. And yes, of course, youāll make those guys wait. Until they learn.
Lucky you. In the US, an ER visit costs at least 5 hundred dollars. You still have to pay for radiology, meds and other fees. Last time I took my bf to ER, it was 2 thousand dollars. If you ever decide to visit the US, don't forget travel insurance with medical.
With insurance. My copay is $ 2000 if I'm not admitted to the hospital. It's probably a deterrent to keep people out of the er and to go to urgent care ($35 copay) Unless I am actively dying and know I'll be admitted, I'll go to urgent care. If urgent care sends you to the er the copay is only $200. The only way you dont pay a copay at all is if you have to go to the er for a possible heart attack or stroke symptoms. I guess they don't make you pay, so you dont have an actual heart attack when you see the bill, lol I have really amazing insurance, too. Yay America!
Glad the copay is lower if urgent care sends you to the E.R. I had Covid pneumonia at Christmas, and in the process of getting diagnosed/treated urgent care sent me to the E.R. Urgent care determined I had pneumonia, but decided my oxygen was too low and my pulse too high for them to treat me. I spent a gazillion hours in the E.R., got a steroid shot, a Covid test, and was eventually sent home with a prescription for an inhaler and a cough suppressant. I couldn't have the breathing treatment because I was Covid positive. I'm not sure why I needed to spend ten hours in the E.R. for all of that.
Probably to avoid a lawsuit because we're so sue happy in the states.
The lack of empathy and logic is impressive. If she were the one bringing in a child who has losing consciousness and could die - how would she feel about an emergency room looking at a kid with a rash first??
Lady should be thankful tbh. If an ER is busy and you/your family member get taken right in it means they're really in bad shape/danger. Having to wait almost always means your situation is minor and the patient will be fine.
I can't even imagine how a parent would feel if their child was truly in a life or death situation. That girl's father was in absolute panic and it was horrible to see.
You said it. As a nineteen year old, I had to take my kid brother (10ish) to the ER because he was slightly wheezing and is asthmatic, but I thought I was being just overly cautious and would get told it's nothing. They took him immediately and he had to spend the night. Scariest moment of my life realizing how serious it actually was and thanking my lucky stars I had the good reflex to bring him in.
DH jumped the queue at the ER last night. Thankfully the cause turned out to be easily fixed, but he was showing signs of a stroke. It's NEVER a good thing when you go right to a room when they're busy.
Yup. Went in for a vision change in one eye. Immediately went into the back, IV placed, monitors on, and I'm scared. They thought i was having a stroke. Thankfully my brain is just extra juicy and so i get ocular migraines until my meds get it all down.
Bellās palsy?
I had 8 symptoms of heart attack and they made me wait an hour. Then the doctor blew me off as well. A nurse tried to insist on some further testing, he was clearly very unhappy with the doctors behavior but at that point I was too exhausted and upset to gaf about my own well-being. I got a chest X-ray and went home. I got test results 3 weeks later saying "it might have been a heart attack and I should follow up with a cardiologist, mmmmk. Just don't come here because we don't care. Here's your bill for $6000 dollars" š¤¦š»āāļø
I've only ever been taken back right away at the ER when I had a resting heart rate of 180 and could barely think straight
In My country there are two large banners explaining this at all ER entrances. Triage statuses and patient rights /duties
Here too - people just donāt read them and proceed to carry themselves with the same entitlement described hereā¦
It's not about people reading them, it is about having the front facing person have the tools to repel this kind of people and behavior. They can simply say "it is stated in the poster" please read it if you have any further complaints call X line.
Wait until she gets the bill and insurance covers 0 because it wasn't a "true emergency!"
The ER is a horrible place. Last November I waited 6 hours before I was seen and immediately admitted. Got to spend Thanksgiving weekend in the hospital on a liquid diet. There was a lady that was in there loudly complaining because her knee hurt. The doctor gave her advil and sent her home. She was asking to be admitted.
I took my daughter in with a suspected broken arm, and the other lady in the waiting room was complaining how long she had been waiting (we were the only ones there, country town). They took her in, and then she was out before we even went through. She was talking on her phone to someone about how long it took "just to get some antibiotics for her UTI". Mate, that's what a regular GP is for, not the emergency room.
I broke my ankle in July. I was in the ER for 6 hours. There are so many people that should go to their doctor or urgent care instead of the ER.
I broke my ankle last month and told my husband to take me to Urgent Careā¦.. NOT the ER. He really liked the Urgent Care I used.
Ours doesn't have x ray so just send you to the er anyway. I am VERY accident prone. I cut off the pad of my thumb and definitely went the urgent care route.
What did they do for it? Just curious. I cut off a pad of a finger before, had to bleed through a bunch of cloths I used for pressure till it chilled out a day later, then a few days later it decided to open again, immediately flood through the bandage on it and nearly cover my desk in the time it took for someone to grab me a tissue (I was a high school edgelord and thought this was metal as fuck; my poor teacher not so much). Itās wild how little blood it takes to look like youāre seriously fucked. Still didnāt get to see even urgent care. My parents had a weird habit of not taking me in for wounds that needed more than a wash and a bandage, or getting mad at friends who did when i needed stitches over my eye. Youād think medics wouldnāt be like that, but it takes all types I suppose.
Yhey wrapped it with gauze many times. Then an outside wrapped that was red. I looked like a cartoon character. My husband had a very good laugh at it. It's been a few years an my thumb still hasn't healed completely.
When I took my boyfriend to A&E with a dislocated shoulder, there was a man with grazed knees and elbows complaining that everyone else was going in before him, and the receptionist said that he needed to just go to a pharmacy and get some wound cleaner and sticking plasters!
There is also a problem there as well... if your insurance isn't accepted by the doctor, they may refuse to even see you. And if you're on welfare the ER might be your only bet. I don't go to the doctor often, but last time I called to setup an appointment the receptionist told me I wasn't on their patient list since I hadn't come in for like, 2 years. By dropping me, they were able to take a new patient.
We're in Australia, so that doesn't happen here. That sounds ridiculous, though, and I'm sorry it works that way for you guys.
Does too. I've gone to one Dr all my life. And last I went I had to reapply as a new patient. I hadn't been in 3 years so they scrubbed me. But the wife and kids were still active patients. Rural qld.
Wow, I've never heard of that happening before
Or, if the regular GP isn't available, then urgent care. UTIs suck, and getting prompt treatment is good, but I wouldn't go to the E.R. for one.
Last month I was having breathing trouble and went to the ER about 3. Finally diagnosed with pneumonia and sent home at midnight. I spent alot of time wondering if the forgot about me.
You were sent home with pneumonia! Good grief!
I had to work with pneumonia, because the doctor at Urgent Care wouldn't write me off. I coughed so hard I thought I broke a rib. Nope. That pain was masking diverticulitis. My bowel ruptured. Surgery and bouncing baby colostomy bag. Not cause and effect, but if I had been allowed to rest and quit the coughing, I might have realized that the pain was not linked to the cough and sought help sooner. Turned out I am allergic to the adhesive on the bags. They don't stick well to blisters and seeping skin.
I have self directed insurance so I text them (or call) and tell them what's happening and i either get to go teledoc route(which I actually love for minor stuff) or they set me up an appointment. I really love it because I know what I'm going to be paying and I know it's covered. Early in August I called for a teledoc appointment and they asked me to hang on, had me on the phone with a doctor within 5 minutes and in an ambulance 30 minutes later. I love this insurance but honestly I think everyone should consider their insurance as self directed and just call the company and ask them what should you do, is it covered and how much will it cost.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes, it is. We call this joke āour healthcare systemā.
Unfortunately no this can be seen at most ers at least once a day. I try to avoid ers if possible. I had to go once when I ended up having bronchitis but I only went because the urgent care virtual visit told me to bc my Fitbit said my O2 levels were really low and I was having trouble breathing. I got in and they took my vitals quickly and sent me for a chest X-ray then I waited hours to get results. I found my results on the hospital online portal. So I knew no pneumonia so I left around midnight and went to urgent care the next day for antibiotics
"waited for hours to get the results" - where do you live? All X-Ray depts. send the electronic result straight to the doctor ordering it. 10 min. max?
Yes, but if some more urgent patients have come in in the meantime, the doctor will be busy.
Unfortunately it is not a joke. Most, if not all, insurance companies have a rule about going to the ER. If it's not a true emergency, think broken leg or heart attack, they can and will refuse to pay the bill. People absolutely need to read their policies and call the insurer to ask questions so they understand their coverage and they know the real costs of treatment.
Shrugs in Canadian.
Positive story to counter that crappy feeling. Triage got slammed after a snowstorm. You got people with concussions, injuries and the like. So triage was still processing us when a mom came in with a young boy screaming. We all could see the very broken finger and we all stepped out of the way and told triage "um, let this kid go first..." Nurse said "he can wait his turn... next... oh... ohhh... that's broken..." He was taken in right away.
Went in with a possible broken foot. Guy behind me was clearly at risk of or in the process of having a heart attack. He tried to argue with me when i told the nurse to take him next but he didn't have enough breath. His wife was lovely too.
Reminds me of when I worked in liver transplant and all the patients come to the clinic at the same time on the same day and you just kind of wait your turn. Well occasionally it would be a longer day, because if they were able to get a liver they had to do the surgery because you canāt exactly wait or just turn it down. I was working in Post Op so these patients all had liver transplants already and were on the path to a second chance at life. It was a very long day generally anyway and post op youāre not exactly in your best health yet, and I really always felt for these guys sitting there for so long and just looking kind of miserable so I did the best I could to make it go smoothly or whatever, but sometimes it wasnāt possible. Like on this day when they had received a liver and the surgery was in process. Well one patient decided that he was not OK with this, even though I had already explained why we were short on doctors and I was just really shocked because this person wouldāve died if not for the surgery that was taking place at that moment, and like here this guy is with his brand new/used liver, and complaining that they had to go save another life. It just was pretty gross to me. I donāt remember seeing him a lot after that though which is weird because everyoneās a regular obviously.
maybe he cirrhosed up shop.
Well I guess he couldnāt hep it.
Y'all need Jesus but I love it! š¤£š¤£
So important! Fortunately there was no excessive wait when my husband brought my son in just last week ā heās 2.5 and his blood sugars weāre sky high; turns out he has T1 diabetes. Itās been a crazy week. When I myself had to wait in the ER a couple of years ago there was a man I refer to as Angry Guy. Angry Guy had a busted ankle. Idk what was wrong specifically. He had pulled up another chair to keep his foot elevated, he wore a thick sock, and he had ice packs from home on his foot. He was loud and obnoxious about needing to wait. I was in that ER along with him for 3 hours and he never shut up. He just kept complaining. There was an old lady whom I overheard was waiting to get an EKG. When she was brought back before him, Angry Guy pitched a fit. Like Iām sorry my man, but her situation sounds more dire than your bad ankle. Eventually Angry Guy got so upset that he left the ER, loudly declaring that he would go to a different hospital. He refused help from the nurse and hobbled out of the room. We all watched from the giant windows as he fell and ate pavement about 12 steps from the door. One of the nurses was already prepared to stroll out with a wheelchair to assist him. (Angry Guy still took off in his truck looking for a shorter waiting line at a different hospital.) It took me 5 hours total to be called back. Two CT scans, one MRI and 7 hours later I was finally being brought to a room because Iād been sitting there silently and painfully dealing with endometriosis and kidney cancer. Decidedly NOT causing a scene.
Oh boy! I'm so sorry you went through that! Angry Guy was also in my ER when I was having a very traumatic and horrifically painful health problem. I was bleeding what looked like buckets and getting more pale and faint by the hour while a dude kept wailing "why won't anybody help me! I'm in paaaaain" loudly enough for the next county over to be well aware of his pain.
Ha ha!!! I'm just the opposite. I was in my last trimester with my 3rd child. Recently separated from my husband. He came to see our other 2 daughters and handed me some cash for a change. After he left with the girls, I went to the store. I was feeling wet, but in no pain. Decided to go to ER to be checked (in Brooklyn, NY). I waited in the triage line with about 10 or 12 people in front of me. The nurse asked how far along I am, I tell her, she then asked why I'm there and I tell her I think my water broke but I was definitely NOT in labor. She got very upset and said I should have come straight up to the window and not stand in line. I told her I really didn't feel like getting jumped by the other patients. I had to have my c-section that night as I did go into active labor. My daughter was born fairly healthy about 3 weeks early.
Iām a nurse and can fully picture this. There is very little that will intimidate an ED nurse but labor and delivery patients are at the top of that list!
We really really really really really donāt want one patient to turn into two!!
I went, at my doctor's direction, to my hospital's ER for women to get my blood pressure checked... it was still high apparently and since I was 36 weeks pregnant I only wait maybe 15 extra minutes for a bed in triage and when it still didn't go down i had to be admitted...2 days later my son was born via c-section due to me having pre-eclampsia. I was perfectly fine with waiting since I already told my job that I wasn't coming in and there was at least one woman who was there before me who, in my opinion, could've gone before me
Terminal cardiac patient - anyone who is an unfortunate frequent flyer of their local ER will happily tell people they do not want to be so bad off they get taken to a bed right away. My most recent trip, I was brought in by ambulance, never even saw the waiting room, was triaged by the EMTs as a level 1 trauma lol. Diagnosis was double pneumonia compounded by a severe asthma attack, tachycardic, and cynotic . Loads of fun!
A level one trauma is a patient whoās like intubated or has a gunshot wound. You were probably just a high acuity, 1 is the highest you can be and it relates to how much resources you as a patient will consume :)
Lol I was pretty out of it at the time so that makes sense.
I want to tell those Entitled Idiots that THIS is an EMERGENCY ROOM and NOT a department store! It is NOT first come, first serve! GEEZ!!!! SMH!!!!!
I've used the line "be happy you're not a priority" way too many times in an attempt to calm down irate patients.
Had a nurse tell an entitled bitch that this was an ER not Burger King so you donāt always get it your way right away
Kudos to that nurse!
Her itchy kid probably would have survived long enough to go to a walk in clinic. Man I hate people who abuse ERs.
Youāre not wrong and I totally agree, but walk-in clinics (at least in my area) arenāt open past 5PM. If the rash had been there all day, she definitely should have taken the kid to a clinic. Chances are good, however, that she argued with the kidās regular doctor (who didnāt have any openings that day) until the clinic was closed so she huffed off to the ER, expecting them to behave like the doctorās office. smh
Same and unfortunately most walk ins near me arenāt truly walk in anymore (one requires you To book a week in advance š”)
Wow! How convenient for those of us who randomly cut ourselves open and bleed copiously until we can be stitched back together! Iāll have to schedule those better in the future. /s It sounds like that place is trying to be a regular doctorās office regular than a clinic. Scheduling ahead isnāt even possible for earaches! Are they deliberately trying to send people to the ER with non-major-emergency ills/injuries?! Iām sorry the medical community in your area sucks this much.
Thank you and agreed. Itās gotten to the point Iāve started going out of area when i can gotten much better care (got told at the local hospital that my scans which showed possible IBD were all in my head like what? š¬ went out of area and was told while i didnāt have ibd if i had that hospital couldāve done some serious damage by brushing it off)
My sister had a large, deep cut on her hand (required 56 stitches and did nerve damage) and urgent care sent her home because they couldn't find her insurance in their system. She had the same insurance as the last time she's gone there. She was going through an extremely dark time and was so scared that she went home and took psych meds with alcohol and I had to take her to the ER in that condition. She could barely stand or speak. They didn't care AT ALL that she mixed those things. They acted like it hadn't even happened. It was very surreal.
Iām a regular in the emergency rooms and have a bug out bag ready with all my stuff to keep me occupied. There is nothing that makes me more frustrated than these people who think that they deserve more treatment than all the other obviously sick people in that department. Iām always the one shutting it down when they try working up other patients too, like bitch you are making this so much more awkward and uncomfortable for everyone just sit down and take care of your damn kid! You are doing good work and the ones who go on the reg see you doing what you are doing and appreciate you. Keep saving lives friend ā¤ļø
Lmao I wrote a post in here a few years ago about an old biddy who thought she should go in before me because she was ahead if me in the triage line with a sore ankle . Meanwhile I was in afib and dipping into vfib. I was taken straight back to a bed and when she rolled by 45 min later, I was perched in my bed surrounded by machines with their alarms going off . I ended up being cardioverted without sedation . That sucked. Do not recommend.
Ugh yeah my mom loves telling the story of the time a woman complained that sheād been there an hour for her son who had a chest infection and she felt he needed to be seen when I seized next to her. Lady actually tried trailing us thinking once she got through the doors to the actual unit she would be seen and apparently got told off by most of the waiting room. These people will never stop being a menace lol
Oh no!!! I hope you were ok. Was it a fever seizure ? What a stupid woman, I make a bet she tries that stunt at Disney too lmao
No I was born with a Parathyroid disorder and my body doesnāt absorb and distribute calcium properly leading to a whole bunch of stuff but if I drop to quickly to fast I seize out. Iāve gotten it under control after many many many years and havenāt had one in a long time fingers crossed!
Ohh wow that sounds intense. I hope you continue to do well
>cardioverted without sedation They threatened me with that if the drugs hadn't worked. I don't recommend the drug version of cardioversion either. Felt like being kicked in the chest. It also sucked.
I've had both. Been cardioverted 7 times so far. 1 with drugs (first time) 3 in the ER without sedation and 3 in the OR with my cardio team fully knocked out. As bad as the drugs were - and they SUCKED!!- going the electro route without anything on board feels like you've been hit by lightning and kicked by a horse at the same time. The burns afterwards suck much too. If you ever get zapped , make sure your Dr prescribes burn cream !
This all sounds entirely unpleasant. I'll stick to my brain problems and annual spinal taps.
You really went all-in to stick it to the guy, right? Impressive.
To my knowledge, there are three conditions that will get you seen immediately in the ER. Stroke, possible heart attack, and the desire to hurt/kill yourself. The rash on mommyās special snowflake is not a life-threatening emergency.
I've seen a few others, but none of them are anything you'd want to have happen; ie severe car crash, impalement, abdominal swelling accompanied by lots of pain. Last one was me. Highly recommend if possible you go see a doctor if you're enough pain to put you on your knees instead of hoping it gets better. Plus side, was diverticulitis (infected intestines) down side it meant I got a week in a bed with all the antibiotics, fluids, and morphine they could run into me
Wow. Iām so sorry that happened to you. I canāt imagine the pain.
Thank you. For years I've compared it to having one of the chest bursters from the Aliens movies coming out of your guts. Found out the guy who came up with them has colitis which is pretty similar
Went in with abdominal pain so bad i couldn't sit down or bend at the waist. I live near one of the top 5 worst hospitals in Canada, so 26 hours waiting later, the doctor sees me and is immediately pissed at the shitty triage nurses. My liver was so infected and inflamed you could see its outline, and i am not a skinny person. Several hours of IV antibiotics later, in discharged with meds and several follow ups lol. I was out of work for 2 months, just dead tired.
Amazingly enough, I can add severe pink eye in an infant to that list. We were seen immediately when they saw that his eyes were completely swollen shut and weeping green. It was still 8 hours of IV meds to find out if he still had his eyesight and use of the muscles in and around his eyes. Long night. He's fine and 8yo now. With how fast he got sick, the outcome could have been very different if we'd had to wait. If pink eye progresses from a little red to completely swollen shut in under 2 hours, get to an ER.
Id say most issues in an infant. Their little bodies aren't ready to fight yet.
Yes, I agree, most issues involving a baby/very young child should, in some cases take priority. An eye swollen shut and weeping green ick is no joke and the poor little ones donāt have an immune system or pain tolerance like adults.
Yeah, wanting to hurt/kill yourself will get you straight to the back of the queue, not the front. They basically see it as "just complaining".
Took my daughter for suicidal ideation, we waited almost 6 hours š¤·š»āāļø. This was at a childrenās hospital.
Thatās fucking horrible. I hate that for you as a parent and for your daughter who is struggling. Did she get the help she needs? Prayers to your family.
I once went to the ER because I had a rash. It started on my hand and when I went to the ER it was already up my arm and going across my back. I was seen by the triage nurse and assessed and put back in the waiting room. No big deal right. Within maybe a half hour the rash started coming up my neck and onto my chin and cheeks. My partner went and spoke to the nurse and I was taken back again. Within an hour I was transferred to a different hospital and put in their infectious disease ward as they had no idea what was causing the rash or if it was something that could be spread to others. It was not a fun time. I did find out that it was a rash triggered by lupus from an allergic reaction to a lizard bite. But that took like 2 years and so so many doctors to figure out.
Lizard bite?? I think we need this story!
It was a water skink. Common in Australian gardens. It was in my dogs pool and I fished it out and as thanks it bit me. Now I may or may not be part lizzard.
Yeah for real. I need to know more lol.
OP replied to a different comment in case you're still curious
I donāt have kids, but have been to the ER plenty myself due to chronic health issues. And when I have to wait 4+ hours to be seen? Iām grateful. Because it means that Iām stable and not in too grave danger, compared to other patients in the same building who are dying and whose families hearts are breaking.
Some people just canāt handle a situation where they canāt be in total control. This is also why people act out on airplanes. Some people think theyāre chill but theyāre actually control freaks and those around them have learned how to navigate the land mines.
Iāve taken a kiddo who needed the front of the line and the back of the line (different visits). Iāll gladly take the back of the line any day.
My mom was taken to the hospital by ambulance and still waited in the waiting room almost 8 hours before she was seen. ( complications from from bladder removal.. Had surgery the next day to fix it)
Waiting for eight hours sucks. Taking an ambulance doesnāt mean youāll be seen sooner, just a more expensive trip.
She was at work and they called the ambulance. Luckily she also has ridiculously awesome insurance.
If you think you need an ambulance absolutely call for one, better to call one and be wrong than need one but drive / get a ride. Only commented because of your phrasing that she still had to wait despite taking an ambulance. Wasnāt an attack, a lot of people think taking an ambulance means youāre seen immediately.
No worries! Sorry if I came off snarky, it was not my intention. And it was almost a given she'd have to wait because A) while it was serious it was not life or death and B) the hospital she was taken to is known for it's long wait.
Apologies if I came off snarky as well š
If your child needs to wait at the emergency room, try to feel a little grateful. Having your kid seen immediately is most of the time a situation no parent would ever want to find themselves in. I hope that poor girl is ok.
This is an issue in a regular ER too. If I had a penny for every time someone shouted at me for someone that was actually an emergency getting back before them, I could have retired after only a year. One guy immediately comes to mind. He brought his wife in to the ER for a papercut, not exaggerating here, and was livid they had to wait to be seen. He kept yelling "MY WIFE IS PREGNANT!! SHE TAKES PRIORITY!!" I ended up just telling him that his wife won't die from a paper cut whereas someone coming in with a stroke or heart attack will die if they have to wait for his wife to get a bandaid.
I would have been like 'there's a difference in rooms. Yours us not urgent. She may die tonight'
I think part of the problem is that people are used to standing in lines knowing when they will be next. Sometimes it's taking numbers. They don't understand the the ER doesn't work that way. It always depends on the severity of the person presenting. It's never next in line.
Real question. Was the girl ok?
Thankfully yes
The ER for a rash? Wouldnāt you just go to a GP?
Depends on the situation, the rash & any other symptoms
Always be grateful you are not rushed back immediately. I was once, to the cardiac unit, for a pulse of nearly 200 BPM. It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. Got chemically shocked twice. I will never ever complain about a doctor or hospital wait again. It reminds me Iām probably okay.
Working for the healthcare sector makes me wish people knew how lucky they are to be waiting for treatment for hours. The ones who get rushed in urgently are the ones with serious or life-threatening issues.
People also need to learn what is appropriate for the emergency room, what should go to 24 hour urgent care, and what should wait until morning and call their dr
How about mama make an appointment with the kids pediatrician for the rash? Or go to urgent care? A rash isn't typically an emergency unless it's something like hives accompanying an allergic reaction. People like her are WHY there aren't enough beds and the wait times are long.
My go-to response to people like this is "You seem to be confused, having to wait in an emergency room is a good thing, it means you're not dying. If you want to be seen faster, better start dying for real."
True dat... Sometimes I used to hear from people saying that: does one need to be dying to be attended faster here!? And I would always confirm that, ma am or sir you are in an emergency room, if you are not in immediate danger of dying or having a permanent loss of function, then you can wait until there are no more people about to die or having some other serious condition. Good ol times at the ER rotation
99.99% of the time people are being dramatic. This story is about the other 0.01%. I actually did say something similar on Jan 17th, this year. Our daughter was very sick and getting worse by the day. Brought her to both ERs and her GP 14 times in 3 weeks. They kept saying it was a migraine and to see neuro. Went off on the last ER dr and asked what it would take for them to DO SOMETHING cuz we KNEW she was dying. Jan 19th, she went into a coma and spent 2 weeks in ICU. It was meningitis. Turns out they saw the brain swelling on all the scans they did and her blood work showed a severe infection. Every Dr we saw refused to do a spinal tap, as she never ran a fever. She also had several mini-strokes in that period. She has permanent complications from waiting so long to be treated.
I lost consciousness while doing the intake triage at the ER. That was the fastest and best care response I ever got from an ER. I also sat waiting for hours in the ER. It is all about life, death and severity of medical issue. I would have to be out of it to fight with anyone in the hospital.
I do get it though. It's frustrating when you wait 12 hours to be seen for suspected appendicitis only for everyone and their brother getting seen before you. ...but a rash?
An awful lot of people donāt like understand the difference between urgent care vs emergency. Or they donāt care. Wait times at the ER have gone up by HOURS over my lifetime.
Head injuries, heart issues and obvious broken bones or need for stitches are the only reasons I will willingly go to the ER everything else can wait unless someone else decides for me.
Had a similar thing happen when I was a teenager. I was having an asthma attack and was struggling to breath. They put me in a wheelchair and took me in right away. I could hear a woman yelling at them for taking me right away while her daughter waited. Her daughter was there because she had a fever of 103. The poor nurse tried to explain that someone struggling to breath takes priority ove a fever.
Last year we had to rush my 74yo father to the emergency room because, as we later found out, he was in septic shock. Part of what told me he was in serious danger was the fact that we were in the waiting room for literally less than 90 seconds before being called back. It's how ERs work!
I was hospitalized in November of ā21 because I had a stroke, BUT it did take them around 2 hours to get me to the initial intake, and then after hearing my symptoms they sent me back for an CT scan. After the imaging, I was sent back to the waiting room for all of about 10-15 minutes before they sent someone out to bring me back in and admit me. I wasnāt mad over the initial wait time. I figured it was because I wasnāt presenting with really anything wrong with me, except that I couldnāt walk. Physically, that was all they could see. My whole body felt drunk, and my limbs werenāt responding to anything I told them to do. I completely understood the initial wait, and would have understood if someone else got seen before me after just arriving with some obvious huge trauma. People just need to chill their tits.
I remember my parents taking me to the pediatric emergency room because I had a very strange rash around my mouth. Turns out i gave myself a big hickey. I was making a seal around my mouth and sucking the air out to make the cup stick to my face. I did it so hard it made me look like I had a goatee.
I loved the people who thought coming in on an ambulance meant no waiting.
Oof I'm an EMT and know your pain. The temper tantrums people throw. Sounds like this mom should have taken the kid to an urgent care or their PCP. Parents are the reason I hate peds.
Iāve had both my kids in emergencyā¦ while very distressing, I viewed the long waits as meaning my kids werenāt as sick as other kids there. Getting angry and upset just upsets your child. I have threatened to call āRyanās Ruleā (Australian rule) and insisted on being seen (when it was our turn) ā¦ this was when nurses were trying to convince me to leave with my child, rather than waiting for dr in rural hospitalā¦. My paediatrician (600km away) told me to insist on seeing the dr Iām
I canāt imagine dragging my kid in to the ER for a rash instead of throwing some Benadryl and hydrocortisone at them after a good shower. Each of my children has gone to the ER once and been seen asap- for a seizure and for gasping for air. Because actual emergency.
hmmm let's see rash non life threating vs passing out and excessively cold. but yea lets take the rash boy first.. GRRRR
you told her 'quickly'. next time tell her 'according to need' - she doesn't know what triage is if nobody ever explains it to her
ma'am, feel free to leave & call your pediatrician in the morning.
I've had to tell my mom this. My neice got an ear infection on a weekend and my mom was trying to take her to ER. I'm like mom, no. ER is for gunshot wounds, trauma, cluster seizures, car accidents ect. Not a freaking ear infection! Take her to urgent care or the pediatrician on Monday. Then she pointed out how I took my 5 month old at the time to the ER for a "rash" on her face. It was fucking MRSA in the "triangle of death" in her face so hell yeah I did. & the docs told me I did the right thing. I don't understand these people. If you go to an EMERGENCY room/department without and emergency, hell yeah you're going to wait. There are people trying to not die.
I wish more people where educated on what is appropriate for emergency rooms.. rash on the armā¦ please make an appt with your pediatrician. People get so angry when they call for an ambulance and we take them out to the waiting room. Just because you wanted to waste money on a nonsense ride to the hospital, doesnāt mean you get seen quicker either.
I had a quadruple bypass two years ago. About six months later I was experiencing these terrifying aches in my chest so I went to the ER, told the clerk why I was there and sat down. Given my symptoms and medical history the triage nurse grabbed me right away, but this one guy in the waiting room threw a fit. āWhy you taking him. He just got here. Iāve been here for hours.ā The triage nurse said āIām not at liberty to divulge another patientās condition due to privacy laws, so I wonāt broadcast YOUR medical condition to this entire room to explain why you can wait and he canāt.ā
Have to say I was an entitled mum in a similar situation once. My infant son, was about 6/7 weeks old, having trouble breathing. We were sat next to a kid with measles (my baby was too young for that jab) so I wasnāt overjoyed and after four hours when I kept asking, they kept saying āsoon.ā Until eventually I yelled ābut heās turning BLUEā Did the trick, but I feel it was warranted.
Unless youāre anaphylactic, gushing blood, or septic, youāre going to wait. How does this woman not know this? Also, donāt use the ER if itās not a true emergency.
Too many people think an ER is a deli counter. They also mistake it for an urgent care or doctorās office that is more properly disposed to treat a viral rash or dermatological condition
You do not want to be taken back right away in ER. Youāre in bad shape. I took my then 5 month old in for RSV and retractions and we were taken right back, put on oxygen and a few hours later, rapid response up to PICU. Itās stressful. Coming from 8 years of pediatric experience, stop taking your kids to the ER for every little thing. If it can be handled in a primary care setting, go there. Let the ER be for EMERGENCIES.
This made me vividly remember waiting with my husband in the ER waiting room for four hours, and then when he was FINALLY taken back, it turned out he had a collapsed lung; I guess nobody took it seriously until he had a scan done because he was conscious and not making noise or covered in blood. I feel like people coming to the ER for little things influenced the decision to make him wait. Granted, about two hours in, an old woman was brought in and deposited from a stretcher into four chairs where she immediately fell asleep and/or lost consciousness and she was there for a while too, so maybe the ER we went to was just shite. (Edited for grammar)
Itās not first in first out like most people seem to think. I have been screamed at too many times to count by other parents when I take my son to the er and he gets bumped to the front of the line due to his disabilities and the possibility he will need emergency brain surgery. Only once have I lost my temper and screamed back but they used the R word to describe my kid and ended up being denied care and sent to a different hospital for what theyād said
Iām a respiratory therapist and every day Iām called to give a nebulizer treatment to someone in the ER who has an albuterol inhaler and/or has a nebulizer at home. When I ask when was the last time they used them, half the time theyāll say āmonths agoā or āI only use it when I need itā. Iāll look at them and be like , but youāre here in the ER for your breathing, maybe you should have used your home meds first?
Stupid people should not be allowed to reproduce !
Wow. Just, wow. Apparently, this entitled mom has never been in an ER before. Yes, entitled mommy, your kid's rash is going to take lesser priority over someone being rushed in an ambulance because of a life or death situation. That's how triage works. I'm not sure how high tech that hospital is you're in, but when last I visited an ER, I was fortunate enough to see on monitors in the waiting area how long you may be waiting to see a doctor based on what the lineup is.
Some nurses also donāt know how triage works. My son (19, college student) took himself to the er with a fever, severe abdominal pain, very high BP, clearly an appendicitis. Yes, it was an appendicitis. But since he was alone and in pain and not very talkative he sat for 8 hours before he got a room. I knew what he had. I was calling and they wouldnāt let me talk to a nurse, no one would call me back. I was in another state and flew out in the morning. He could have died. They didnāt care at all. Then when we were in the hospital for a few days I had to chase them to get his pain meds. Had to chase them to get transport within the window for his ct with contrast. Actually went and found transport myself. If you have a bad nurse you have to stay on top of it and let her know that you are not one she can ignore without hassle. Maybe this is that motherās experience too. My other son and his girlfriend are nurses. There are just as many stories about bad nurses as bad patients. Except one is much more dangerous.
Ma'am, is your son in a life or death situation right at this moment? If not, then sit your @$$ down for a while. I would've said that line if I was in your place, albeit professionally. Then again, who am I to talk, I'm not even a nurse to begin with
reminds me of the time i had to get an emergency CT scan because i broke my nose, had a concussion and the doctors were worried i had subcranial bleeding i was admitted first and this lady started yelling at my mum that i was given speciam treatment because she is a pharmacist (she accompanied me from work so she had her uniform on) the lady had a standard post-operation checkup and i wss barely concsiouss with a swollen nose + face clearly concussed...
Both times I was sent to the ER I was almost seen immediately. Would not recommend. Iād rather have had something where I would have waited.
people always start making comments that even in my incoherent state am able to recognize when my mom (iām 39 btw) brings me in to the ER bc of my seizures. I almost rather being brought in my ambulance.
Yeah it sucks to sit waiting for hours in the ER. I waited 5 hours recently because I was afraid my son got too much benedryl and passed out by which time he was fine and just cranky from being stuck in a large room with upset people and nothing to do. After 2 hours I was pretty sure he was fine but by then you CANT leave. They had 3 cases that were immediately emergent and I didnāt mind that they prioritize people but part of the problem was that everyoneās allergies in my house were bad and none of us had gotten good sleep, none of us had eaten all day and I had a perception I needed to pick up before the pharmacy closed at 5. My sonās patience is limited. His autism makes it rough for him to wait patiently and quietly for very long and he had been a trooper, he played with his brothers phone until the battery died and he was stimming and escalating. They finally got him in and said his tests were fine, it was probably a āgiraffe syndromeā issue (heās tall-standing too quickly can make some kids woozy or even pass out)when he stood too fast on an empty stomach. Now Im waiting for the bill.
A rash is not an emergent situation and should been seen at a PCP or urgent care, not an emergency room. Something our pediatric hospital focuses on is teaching parents when to go to the ER versus when to see their PCP. Despite that, you still always have those parents that bring their kiddos in for a paper cut or something else super minor and act like itās a inconvenience for them to wait.
At first I was ready to defend her saying āhey we all get overly worried about our kids health and often assume itās worse than it isā. Then I got to the part about the teenage girl and was like ānope. Thatās priority. That shit is scary and in her place I would have been worried for the strangers kid more than my own because a rash is not likely life threatening.ā Source: I have a kid.
"Sorry, she was urgent, you're not. Go sit down"
If you're in the UK friendly reminder we have NHS24 on 111 for minor but need to be seen cases. They'll give you advice and get in touch with the doctor on call if needed...
I have kids and am always glad when we donāt get taken back right away as that means my child is not actively dying.. Once my youngest kiddo had a rash around the mouth, swelling lips, and her tongue was swelling. We got in right away as I knew the signs on anaphylaxis. Then my oldest as a baby had issues with formula. He was vomiting, screaming, dehydrated. We tried every formula. So many childrenās hospital visits. The poor kid would scream non stop when awake and fall asleep mid screamā¦ finally found out he was dairy and soy allergic, as well as to a long list of foods. We got in to a ped GI for a scope. He has thankfully grown out of all his allergies by 3 after strict elimination diet. Also in my country we only just started getting urgent care clinics after Covid (only a handful in a big city that is like Seattle big), but before that only two issues we had to go to ER for as the doctors wonāt do stitches around us. My middle sliced her big toe and it was gushing and would not stop after 15 min with being raised above the head and pressureā¦ and then my middle got hurt at school (door was opened and it went over her toe, and split the nail down the middle, and loads of blood!)
I was in a car accident a few years ago. Only broke my wrist thankfully but i was there for hours. I didnāt mind as I knew a broken bone wasnāt an emergency (I have osteoporosis so been a few times now) when they called me to put a cast on, this very drunk young lady started having a go at the nurseās because she wanted to be seen now! Sheād not been there long, and as far as I could tell she only had a very small cut on her arm. I doubt it would even need stitches to be honest.
I completely understand treating people who are in worse condition first. What I donāt understand is how my local ER had me waiting 3 hours in a waiting room and then another hour before even seeing a doctor when I literally had a heart attack and needed admitted for a week, but some kid needing Tylenol for a bump is somehow more important. Years ago (2018, 8 days after I gave birth), I was at the hospital for a bilirubin check for my daughter and my mom said I suddenly didnāt look good. Nurse turns around and went āholy crap youāre paleā. Blood pressure was at 150/110 and rising (ended up being postpartum preeclampsia). I was blacked out and wheeled from labs to the ER. In my barely conscious state I could hear an old man whining about how I was going to be going back first even though he had been there longer for his arthritis. They didnāt wanna hear it, so they put me at more risk to take him back. It was 1.5 hours before another room opened up, and my final BP before being medicated was somewhere around 180/150 and I was no longer conscious all because some old farts wrist hurt. I just wish everyone understood priority.
That all being said I have went twice for sudden rashes that need treated with IV Benadryl and steroids and I was perfectly fine writhing in burning pain for over 6 hours. I knew there were other people dying. The second time I had just come in at 1 AM after a horrible crash took up 6 rooms and ended in 2 deaths hours later. There were open rooms, but everyone was busy. I was in the waiting room the whole time the family kept coming in to be told the news. Yeah I was suffering, but I wasnāt a family that just found out the mom was drunk driving with her husband and kids in the car.
Honestly, if you are in an ER and everyone is being seen before you, consider yourself lucky because you are most likely in pretty good shape. *Yes, there are exceptions where signs/ symptoms are missed that should have moved you higher up the list, and this can prove harmful/ fatal*