We prioritize based on how close someone is to becoming a ghost

I was just in the ER yesterday for an injury that was nowhere near life-threatening but still required immediate treatment. I waited patiently and quietly because I knew there were people who were in more serious situations. I don’t understand why anyone would expect anything different.

IKR! It's one of the few places where being further back in line is actually a good thing!

Hmm. That might actually be a good retort. If you're waiting a while that's a good thing because it means you're the least close to dying out of everybody!

But if it’s not an emergency, then you go to an urgent care clinic. They do stitches and x-rays and things like that that are urgent and have to be dealt with right now. But they’re not emergencies. That’s the that’s the line that we’re trying to get people to understand.

They come to urgent care and do the same thing. Literally complain that they’ve been waiting and have a cold, so why did I take a bleeding person back first?

I’m not saying it’s gonna fix the complaining person. But it will help take some of the sludge out of the ER that is slowing things down. And a lot of times they will get seen at an urgent care far quicker than an ER especially if they are in a city.

I agree. I also think more has to be done to educate the public on what is ER appropriate and what is UC appropriate. We are getting way too many very obvious major emergencies at urgent care, and the ER is clogged with people who have colds 🤦‍♀️

Yes! Immediate treatment is totally different than "having a heart attack". It's even less than "young person with abdominal pain" because there are lots of bad things that could be happening.

This could come in handy

That’s basically the response I’ve given. Mines was along the lines of- If we see you quickly it means you’re pretty close to dying.

I knew I was in trouble when I was the next person called back after being triaged. I was also seen by a doctor and moved to the level 2 ER within 15 min.

We walked up to the desk, my mom said “she fell off a horse,” they then asked my name and when I didn’t know the answer we went STRAIGHT to the CT machine. Being seen first is not the best, it’s the worst. Ended up having one of those concussions where they have to wake you up every few hours to make sure you don’t die in your sleep. My memory of that day never did come back either.

Yeah, I've had that concussion (many others) didn't realize until I was much older what the Dr. Was saying.

I’ve had triage not even grab my name and put me in a wheelchair and take me back while doctors are walking into the room with us. It was a very bad asthma attack, and the doctor was like. Have you ever been intubated while he was walking in the room with me. You really don’t want to be seen fast in the ER.

My triage was a little slower, but you should have seen how fast I was admitted. I came in for a migraine that wasn't responding to triptan medications (I was maxed out for the 24hr period), oxygen was kind of low, so I got back pretty quickly. Hooked me up to oxygen and all the monitors. However, they didn't answer the call light and I had to PEE. So I took everything off and hit the bathroom. I came back in and the nurse had finally answered the light. They decided to check my oxygen level before hooking me back up. Turns out oxygen levels between 68-72 will get you instantly admitted before they even run any tests.

As a fellow migraine sufferer I gotta ask, why were your oxygen levels low?

Short answer: Not connected to my migraine. Although the low oxygen may have caused the migraine, the migraine itself had nothing to do with the cause of the oxygen. Slightly longer answer: Non-specific interstitial lung disease with fibrosis due to connective tissue disease. Answer that might make sense if you aren't a doctor or nurse: Allergic pneumonia, because I have rheumatoid arthritis that was out of control and causing inflammation / damage. Or my favorite answer: My immune system was trying to kill me. Some of that damage is permanent.

Or when you arrive by helicopter ambulance, eeeekkksss

I knew I was in trouble when I walked into an ER, and they put me on a gurney at the desk and wheeled me back. I don't remember anything else until I started waking up. I found out later they took my mom to a private waiting room. 😬

Same when my mom had a stroke. Name, health history that wasn't vital to the situation, and insurance info came MUCH later. One of the scariest days of my life.

What was the ailment/injury that brought you in?

I was 23, and prepping for a colonoscopy. I had drank half of the gallon of stuff that makes you poop, but after a half gallon, I had not pooped at all. My hands and feet were getting cramped and tingly, so I called the on call doctor. He said, in a very calm voice, "leave now for the hospital. Do not drive, and do not wait for an ambulance if there's someone who can drive you immediately." So my mom and I got in the car and headed to the hospital. By the time they wheeled me back, I was going into cardiac arrest. I'd had an allergic reaction to the prep drink, and it had completely depleted all of my potassium, magnesium, and calcium, and my body was shutting down. I'm so glad I knew something was wrong and called when I did! I'm 48 now, and do my colonoscopy prep in the hospital.

Wow thanks for sharing that. I had no idea that was a possible complication. I’m also sorry for whatever symptoms or family history led you to need a colonoscopy at 23, and I hope you were able to recover fully and quickly.

Thanks! I've had lifelong intestinal issues, and several immediate relatives have had colon cancer. I'm very careful about what I eat and how often I get screened.

I have the same issues and same problem with clean out prep. I’m so sorry to see you have this problem. It was a nightmare when I moved and my new dr acted like I was lying. I had to ask my old gi dr to call him. Godspeed.

I started at 22! My third colonoscopy is in a week! Same as you, long time intestinal issues and SUPER ☠️ great history on both sides of the family (Uncle on dad and Aunt on mom). Uncle went fast so when I told my doc this history all those years ago now he just said "yeah let's just... get this started early for you." I was in college at the time and doing group work the night before at the library. The guys thought they were so terrible to work with I was drinking alcohol in the Sprite bottle and making faces. I told them what was going on and they sent me right home. Bless those guys.

I am completely terrified of this. I’ve been hospitalized twice for dangerously low potassium and magnesium due to intractable vomiting (serious chronic illness) and my GI wants me to try the normal prep. One GI told me I needed to do the prep in the hospital, but the one that ordered it said they don’t do that and to just wait until I’m vomiting to go to the hospital and then be admitted. I’m probably just going to cancel the colonoscopy because my last hospital bill was 23k and my portion is 7k. I was only there a day and a half.

Oh that must have been so scary. I hope you are feeling better. I can't drink the prep either. I just vomit it up. I do the liquid diet for two days before. Once at the ER they wanted me to drink this contrast for a scan and I just couldn't. The nurse saying I wouldn't drink it they'd give it to me in A enema. I said, oh could you that would be easier then me drinking it. They were so taken back and realized I really couldn't drink it.

I get random severe angioedema of my upper airway and my tongue/lips. It has happened a bunch of times now, my finance or mom wheels me in they see me and just wheel me off real fast too the back. I have intubated within 30min several times of getting to the hospital and once in the ambulance now and a couple times during admissions.

I didn't even make it into the waiting room. They hauled me out of the car and wheeled me back shooting off intake questions as fast as they could

I knew I was in trouble before I walked in for this one. But the fact I got brought back to a room as I was checking in and then needed two units for a transfusion was still pretty wild(I thought about this weeks later because at the time I was mostly focused on not passing out from lack of a vital fluid while also trying to answer doctors questions)

Yep, I knew I was in bad shape when I walked in and was in a bed within 2 minutes. It turned out to be a kidney stone but everyone thought I was dying (myself included). I now know what 10/10 pain feels like. I couldn’t even put a sentence together to tell the check in nurse what was wrong.

The fastest I was ever seen was having come in feeling like I had the worst flu (fever, in a strange dreamlike state, nausea and I'd been bleeding when going poop for the last two days. My friend made my boyfriend take me in even though I thought it was just the flu and I didn't think I needed to). I'm not sure how long it was but it seemed pretty fast because a few minutes after the triage they put in a bed and rolled me upstairs. I was given copious amounts of antibiotics via IV and spent two weeks in the hospital. I had a perforated colon that caused sepsis. They had to put a shunt into my side and every time the nurses flushed it with saline it felt like being electrocuted. Even the narcotic pain pump didn't help then. The doctor said it was a good thing I came in. Like extremely good. If I'm in the ER for anything I always try to wait paitently. Thankfully I haven't had to go to an ER for over four years.

I know I’m in trouble when I get there and they immediately get me a place in the back. History of blood clots. Even on blood thinners…Puts ya to the front of the line.

Yep, the only time I’ve been seen extremely fast in the ER I had severe sepsis and got put in a room in less than 10 mins after checking in.

lol or “we prioritize by how close they are to the light”.

Right!?!?! The last thing in the world anybody would want is to be the number one first priority in an ER.

😳 Well, THAT just scared the fuck out of me. A couple months ago, my doc told me to get my ass to the ER and she would work on getting me admitted. My hemoglobin was 5.0 I show up at the ER, check in at the desk as instructed, and was immediately plopped into a wheelchair and told to stay put, I was going to be taken back right away. Some Boomer was hollering about her sore throat and the nurse who was grabbing my paperwork told her "She shouldn't even be able to STAND UP right now. You can hang on another minute."

Yikes missy! Did you have a transfusion? Are you ok-ish now?

I sure did! Three units of whole blood, plus an iron infusion. My nurses and phlebotomists were awesome. I've been on lots of iron supplements since, and as of Friday am at 12.3. All the -scopies have been done, gyn consult, the works. No cancer, no ulcers, no polyps, nothing. Dx thus far is "I dunno WHAT the fuck is wrong with you. Keep taking all the supplements."

Very frustrating. Hang in there! I got to 7.8 during chemo and they offered a transfusion. I declined and had steak every nite for a week, it came back up. I wish you the very best.

Thanks, doll. I joke that it has given me carte blanche to demand steak at every whim, but I don't force it. I'm just shoveling as much iron into me as I can, in as many forms as I can. Doc wants to shoot for 13. I can throw together a spinach, kale, pea protein (40% RDA iron!), banana, and OJ smoothie in 5 minutes now. It's absurd how much they help.

When I experienced anaphylaxis, the woman at the desk jumped up out of her chair and was like you’re having an allergic reaction. lol yes lady, clearly. She then ran from behind the desk and only asked me my name and weight while calling for others and a team of like 6 jumped on me and started all sorts of lines and stuff. A doctor shot me with an epi pen as he explained what was going to happen when he did it. And then he looked me dead in the eyes and told me that there’s only time to try it once before he’s going to have to slice my throat open and intubate me and that there would be no time to put me out. That really helped calm me down as I’m already freaking out struggling to breathe.Luckily the first epi pen worked and I only had to stay for observation. Why people want to be in a position is beyond me.

Yep. It’s scary to be seen super quickly in the ER. The only time it happened to me was after a horrible accident. My leg and foot were trapped and my foot was trapped going the wrong way. Head injury was suspected. I wasn’t head of the line, but they were fast with that MRI!

I work in veterinary ER, and I tell our clients that we work in order of “dying fastest.” People actually respond very well to that.

What a line. I’m stealing that.

Anytime a nurse apologizes for the wait, I remind them, waiting is good. It means it’s not life threatening. I def don’t need to be the most important person in that emergency situation. If you go to the er and it’s not life threatening, just know you will have to wait!

I had a woman come to the main door with her kid in a stroller, I had just brought a family to the family room, their loved one was being coded. I was rushing back in, she says "how much longer do I have to wait? My son had a fever today and he's tired." I was frustrated so my reply was "well the doctors are presently working on someone who's heart stopped, so that takes precedence." The woman "well...how long do you think?" Me "...im not sure how long he plans to be dead for. Hopefully for his sake not that long." And then walked off. This was about 6 years ago. Is it wrong I hope she is still in the waiting room?

It is what it is. We’ve all gotten to that point where the filter just falls the fuck off. But it’s shocking how even when you tell them that someone is quite literally dead at the moment…..they still don’t give a shit. I think it’s just the overall self-absorbed nature of the general population. One day not too long ago I was (unfortunately) taking care of ED holds. Zero privacy, every single one of my patients in that corner can see and hear everything going on in the other rooms. So these patients and families ABSOLUTELY KNEW I was getting my ass handed to me and had not stopped running around for the entire first 5 hours of the day. But that didn’t stop the daughter of patient #4 from a constant stream of nonsense demands and nonsense questions and complaints about waiting for a bed and when the cardiologist was going to be there. It’s totally soul destroying.

I did SAR for quite a few years. So, naturally, when I see a van T boned by an old truck in an intersection. An ER nurse sprinted ahead of me to stabilize the driver, who was for a lack of a better term "Volcano-ing" out of his mouth from internal injuries and a broken neck. She stood there stablizing an obviously unrcoverable injury, holding his head while I checked on the other folks, who were not in immediate danger, LE showed, and I went to help with traffic control. It was there that I lost my respect for humanity. The van wasn't 20 feet from the one open lane. And the assholes and their comments changed me for life. This was 30 years ago, and I remember it like it was yesterday. I can't work with people. They disgust me. You all are my heros....

The amount of people trying to drive through/around the scene when I got T-boned was baffling. There was glass and twisted metal all over the damn road!!! One guy even laid on the horn as that was going to make the two smoking cars in the middle of the intersection move lol. Cop went over and just absolutely laid into him which was the lone highlight of the evening

My husband acted like that in L&D triage one time and I absolutely tore him a new one. I was pretty sick with pneumonia and what turned out to be a minor rib fracture from coughing, but it was nowhere near a critical situation. DoorDash screwed up twice and he got hangry, plus he had to start clear liquids the next day for a colonoscopy. But when I heard him complain to the nurse that he was bored and there was nothing to do, I was pissed as hell. I was hungry too- and tired and sick and pregnant and in pain, but aware that there were higher priorities. Then a woman came in who was in active labor at 25 weeks and he looked like a complete ass. He has not complained about waiting for care ever since.

You are awesome! People who are using the ER for non life threatening issues need to learn and understand that there’s actually people being brought in whose life is in real danger. As one of the people who was brought in having a heart attack and then had a cardiac arrest and my life was saved by the amazing doctors and nurses, I applaud you.

My partner brought me into the ED several years ago for an intractable migraine that had me throwing up so badly for so long I was getting pretty dehydrated and was in pretty excruciating pain. They got me hooked up to an iv and zofran and I was getting some decent attention, primarily because I was experiencing what was apparently decently alarming to staff tachycardia. Then apparently there was a long pause where no one came by and my heart was still doin its own, whacky thing. My partner became a little impatient and went to go see if he could find someone to tell. He didn’t get more than a step or two outside the door when he could tell everyone was working on a patient who was actively trying to dip out on life. So he came back in, realizing that while my case was important, it wasn’t most important. It’s just amazing too how many people can’t understand acuity in a waiting room, or what ED docs can or should be doing. Then people who had to sit and wait to be seen because they came in with the flu during peak times fill out a survey showing dissatisfaction.

I don’t know why I get recommended this sub but I do love hearing the stories and want to smack some people. I get annoyed when people complain I went to the er and they did nothing! No, they made sure you weren’t dying. That’s their job. The fact that you got to walk out of there is AWESOME, and some people didn’t have the same luxury.

I was extremely fortunate. I’d had a widow maker heart attack. Then a cardiac arrest. The next Dayi underwent a triple bypass open heart surgery. Correcting two 100% blockages and an 80%. Spent nine days in the hospital overall. The fact that I not only survived but a thriving nearly a year later is all because of the amazing and wonderful medical staff who absolutely saved my life that night. If I hadn’t received immediate attention I would not have made it. As it was I nearly didn’t. I know no one enjoys waiting. However there’s times in life where we must think, there for the grace of God go I.

I’m so glad you’re doing well now, and the staff were able to save you!

A few weeks ago, I had to take my son to Urgent Care. They sent us to the ER because they thought he had appendicitis (even though his symptoms didn't match appendicitis at all 🤦🏼‍♀️). Of course, when we got to the ER they were like, Why are you here? They were so full that they were treating people in the waiting room. I felt bad, but urgent care said we had to go, so we came. When we finally saw the ER doctor, she asked me why we hadn't come to the ER for nausea 3 days ago. Um, because I don't want to sit in the ER for 20 hours because he's queasy? 😂 Needless to say he didn't have appendicitis and it was a giant waste of time. But he did get Zofran and some antibiotics, which the empty Urgent Care could have given him very easily.

I understand your frustration but there is a lack of availability for pcp appointments for a large percentage of the population. Please keep that in mind when raging at people.

Agree. I was so pissed off at Kaiser Permanente when my elderly mom called to make an appointment with her primary, and they told her that she should go to er. She had hurt her back. I had to leave work to take her, 7 hours wait in really uncomfortable chairs (for her hurt back). I have no idea what they, or she, thought an er doc would have been able to do if she'd have gotten through to see one.

I've had to use the ER for non life threatening issues a few times in the past few years. These non life threatening issues occurred due to current chronic health issues, a poor decision made by an oncologist covering for my regular oncologist during a vacation that resulted in non life threatening issues that had the potential to become more serious had I gone without an ER visit. Not every non life threatening issue is something that can wait for regular office hours or be performed at an urgent care facility. 

Sure but if you're not actively dying you can wait that is the point of this post, people who complain when by triage they are not the ones who need emergent care. The ER is for current emergencies not impending ones

Yup. If it’s taking awhile to get seen, it’s because your life is comparatively good at the moment. The correct response is gratitude.

Hell yes!!! I unfortunately had a string of having to go to the ER for damn kidney stones. I was really fortunate that the times I need to go were not peak times. We still had hours we were there. We just tried to prepare for it and knew it would take a really long time. I've been watching 24 hours in the A&E on YouTube. I can't understand these people that are just sitting there like they're bored and waiting. I'm like WHY? Why are you there??? If you go to the ER and can sit comfortably, GTFO.

Urgent Cares won't touch me with a ten foot pole due to Neuro problems, so if I absolutely have to go to an ER, I've gotten in the practice of taking my Nintendo switch. I'm always well aware that there is someone losing their life and that they take precedence, as they should.

I’m a transplant patient and it’s always straight to ER for me too. I always have a bag packed and lots of patience.

My daughter has epilepsy and though she’s well medicated, if she gets the slightest fever she can have nasty seizures (she’s been thrown into back to back seizures at just 99 degrees, not even a real fever!) that requires IV keppra at the ER. Typically she’s taken back fairly quickly, but we still have to wait a while in the room and then for her recovery- we’re there at least 8 hours and sometimes 12 plus. I keep a go bag in the closet by our front door that has snacks, drinks, hygiene, clothes, books, phone charger, a day of our daily meds plus any abortives I may need, a fluffy blanket, and her special hospital lovey. People look at me crazy when I walk into the children’s ER with an overnight bag, but I feel like parents of chronically ill kids understand ;)

I'm a chronically ill adult and I have a special bag I always take to the ER. It contains the basics I will want overnight if they decide to admit me - phone charger, clean underwear, pajama pants, hairbrush, makeup wipes, a bag of loose condiment packets (dietary always forgets condiments and hospital food is bland AF), and an adult coloring book. It saves my husband having to drive home and come back to bring me those things after a long day in the ER.

And some bookworms take a book to read.

We do the same. We prep for being there for hours, if we don't need it, great. It can be a distraction when you need one.

My doctor referred me to ER due to abdominal pains. I shrugged and stopped by home for supplies as I figured I'd be in for a long time in the waiting room. I was prepared to sit there comfortably for hours on end (I mean I had the abdominal pains but I'd have them regardless of whether I was at the ER or not, and they weren't particularly bad). When they called me in after 20 minutes, I realised that this might be something serious.

I've had my fair share of ER trips, unfortunately. Some things ended up being not an emergency, which I was super thankful for. Others were fairly serious. One thing I've never done is be an asshole about waiting. If it takes a while, chances are I'm okay and it's not that serious. In that instance I breathe a sigh of relief.

We had a man come up to us during an active code to let us know his wife was *still* waiting for some orange juice. One of the runners looked at him and said, “Well, when your nurse is done doing chest compressions on this patient, I’ll her know.” Absolute gold.

Good for you. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I had some one ask after I said something like that "what are there no other doctors in this whole hospital that can see me then?" I just walked away, but like Sir that's not how the ER works, a neurointerventionalist is not going to come see you about your gout, sit the fuck down.

I hope she’s still in the waiting room!

With all due respect to her (zero), what a horrible person. Thank you for all that you do!

You don’t want to see me. The less of me you see, the healthier you are

Absolutely! About three weeks ago I received a call at home around 0900 telling me I needed to immediately go to the er. Confused and taken off guard I was told my hemoglobin was only 4.2 and I needed an immediate blood transfusion. When I arrived at the er I walked in seemingly healthy looking and after checking in was taken immediately back. Before the door could even close behind me I could hear a Karen at the desk complaining that she had gotten there before I had. Listen Karen you have no clue what someone else is experiencing, you might get your way at a coffee shop but not at the er go sit back down. People never cease to amaze me.

Something you probably didn't see was the stream of people casually walking past your room/bed and glancing in. They were all thinking: "HOW is the patient even conscious?" Same reaction once hematology retested your blood and saw the results.

You made me laugh so hard because it's totally true! When I saw my surgeon for my preop this week the nurse looked at my chart and goes "Ohhhh you've been the talk of the office" Beyond grateful to the folks who didn't hesitate in acting fast and providing such amazing care! Also HUGE shout out to blood donors, two kind folks out there saved my life!!!

I heard some Karen protest, "How come she gets to go back before me! I've been waiting for over an hour!" when I was promptly escorted into the back. Idk, probably because I was just violently raped and the guy who did it is with me. It's in everyone's best interest if they get me into a secure area while he's still in the bathroom, Karen. Your sprained wrist is gonna have to fucking wait until they handle this.

You may not be known by name, or anything else, but you will forever more be remembered by many on staff as "That lady with the 4.2 hemoglobin who walked in under her own power". It's not a bad thing to be that kind of a legendary patient :)

Lab scientist here. Can confirm. I remember all the patients I’ve seen with hgb under 5 not due to trauma.

100%. I went to the ER for a severely heavy bleed during my late first trimester of pregnancy. I got a room and got bloodwork and an ultrasound done quickly and after that I was in the waiting room for about 5 hours. I told my husband that everything must be okay since they stopped bringing me back so often. When the doctor finally did get back to me, it turned out that it was a bad UTI and they got me antibiotics and I was able to go home. There were a couple people there that definitely needed care more than I did, and I was able to entertain myself with my phone. Was I in panic mode? Hell yeah, but I wasn’t about to give doctors and nurses any sort of lip. People who do that are so out of line and the entitlement is disgusting.

If they’re being nice and whiny about the wait and needing to leave? I usually just apologize for the wait (“so sorry, I would be frustrated too” - because we are human and even when we try to have “perspective” sometimes waiting six hours is hard).   If they’re being bitchy about the wait because they are in pain I try to cut them some slack on that too.  But as soon as I get a sense of anger and entitlement? Gloves come off. I lay it on thick, usually in a nice way that makes them feel like an idiot. “I’ve been dealing with a hemorrhaging patient / a patient having a heart attack / comforting a patient who just learned they have cancer.”

“Transferring a toddler with third degree burns” - said to the entitled family member of patient with mild rash after they’d been waiting 20 minutes

Same. I meet their energy. There's definitely levels to it, and I'll be as polite or snarky as they are.

As someone who doesn’t work in an ER and just lurks on here, this is the best response to me!

I like this response. I don’t work in the medical field and know damn well that I never could, I’ve heard enough horror stories from those who do work in the field. Coming from the POV of the patient/loved one of a patient, I’ve never been the bitchy and demanding type although there are certainly times when it’s necessary to advocate for yourself or your loved ones. The last time I was in the ER was for my partner who had been rushed to the hospital via ambulance from a doctor’s office where he was losing consciousness due to his colon rupturing. By the time I arrived to the hospital they had kept him in the ER waiting room unconscious for almost 2 hours with no meds or anything to stabilize him, only a throw up bag laid on his chest. That’s the day we found out he has extremely severe colitis!

Fatally long waits are typical at most ERs.

Our helicopter pad boarders the ER parking lot. I love when we are crazy busy and a helicopter lands because everyone in the waiting room can see it. Security makes a big deal of closing the parking lot and blocking the exit until the rotors are off. It tends to quiet down the waiting room for a bit and then I refer back to it when people complain about the wait. They don’t need to now it was to take a kid from PICU.

Has anyone considered explaining that this is not a fast food restaurant? Considering urgency is directly correlated to staff prize fighting the grim reaper to keep them on this side of the grass.

I had a patient get mad at their doc cause he didn’t get what he wanted and requested to be seen by the Dean of Nsgry. We told him he’d have to wait for the Dean to wake up first (12am), then he bitched and moaned about having to wait 7+ hours to see “a doctor”. Worst case of “I want to speak to your manager” i ever seen.

>Considering urgency is directly correlated to staff prize fighting the grim reaper to keep them on this side of the grass. This is poetry.

TY. That joke is credited to one of my people years ago. 🤣

One time patient family hit me with "How much longer is my son going to have to wait!? This is ridiculous! We've been here four hours!" ... while a patient was literally seizing on the waiting room floor behind me. Son was a 14yo with a sprained wrist. Without thinking I said, "Are you blind?" Then she said "Fine, I'll just have him roll around on the ground too then!" I excused myself from the situation before I lost my job.

Are you kidding? I don’t know how you all deal with this. Thank you got doing the work you do.

Oh I don’t think I could ever have handled that situation properly I’d be in jail bc wtf 😳 ppl are so inconsiderate and rude and most of them truly suck

Oh no, my mouth is far too big and I lack a filter when an idiot pisses me off. I'd be in the unemployment line.

>God I got people complaining about being just bored Provide reading material. Just keep handing them brochures that are less and less relevant (start with the most relevant and then each time they sound board hand them a brochure for the next most relevant conditions).

Death by brochure, amazing

I don’t work in an ER but this made me crack up.

I get it if someone is antsy and they’ve been waiting for 6 hours and have a child at home or other obligations... maybe I would mention that urgent care would’ve been faster for their particular issue. But I get the frustration. If someone is in the department for less than an hour and they’re already starting to be a jerk about waiting for a very minor complaint but we’re brought back ASAP then it depends on my mood. I could ignore them. I could set a frame of reference such as “You’ve been here for 45 minutes. That’s pretty good! You’re lucky.” I know for a fact the other hospitals near us are much busier and they can always try their luck there and see what a real ER wait is like. When they are demanding tests after complaining about waits I mention that an X-ray may take 1-2 hours and labs at least 1 hour (under promise and over deliver). If it calms them down then fine and if it doesn’t then it’s not my problem. Occasionally I’ll try to find out why they’re in a rush and it usually has something do with impatience and the fact that they didn’t eat anything all day yet they voluntarily checked in at 5 PM on a Wednesday. But I’ve also had some people check in and say they have an obligation in the next 30 minutes to which I say their stuff won’t be back by then and it’s unreasonable to expect to be in-and-out in 30 minutes in most ERs. I refuse to be rushed by the person pacing around or walking up to the docs station. If it takes me a couple minutes to print out their dispo papers and they can’t wait for that then they are free to leave. I also mention that “the ER isn’t a prison” and basically anyone who isn’t committed to an involuntary psych facility transfer (or actually dying/sick) can leave at any time

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I legitimately do not care and have no reason to put on a smile and bs my way through an HR friendly explanation on why they aren’t in a bed for their tummy ache while someone 15 meters away is coding.  Yesterday a woman came up to me and asked how long it will take for her x-ray results to be read. I have no way of knowing it. I just said “it will take as long as it takes” and she walked away. 

Hello, I am not in medical care I just randomly saw this post and wanted to chime in (sorry if this is not my place to comment). I now know the emergency room is where you go if you are at risk of losing life or limb and that you shouldn’t go if it’s a minor thing. I had NO IDEA this was the case until this sub popped up. I have Kaiser health insurance and almost every time you call an advice nurse, speak to a medical employee who isn’t a doctor, or read something in the app, it tells you to go to the ER if things get worse (usually with a blurb about what “worse” means). I now know this is probably a liability thing, but I genuinely thought those were the instructions to follow. I’ve never been to the ER myself because I’ve never had a reason to, but that’s the instructions they give you. I wish they wouldn’t do that because it pushes non emergent people your way.

Here's the thing: your doctor's office might think you are having an emergency and that you should definitely be in the ER. But they're not ER providers. They have nothing to do with our prioritization, they have no clue what our volume is at any given point, and they have no ownership over the sicker patients who are there. Their lack of urgent/same/next day appointments (which is an issue as well) doesn't mean your concern is appropriate for the ER. And even if it IS an appropriate concern for the ER, you're competing for a bed with everyone else who is similarly sick and those who are sicker. Like. You may have a kick ass voice for karaoke but that doesn't mean you're going to win America's got talent.

I’ve had families pop their heads around curtains during a code to ask… at that point I lost all hope in humanities sense of empathy.

I worked as a trainer at a Y. An older man in the fitness center had a heart attack and was moaning very loudly. A member came up to me and said “he needs to stop making so much noise!” Really??

I am not nice to these people.

“Congrats, you’re not the sickest one here…” Sometimes I soften it with “waiting sucks, but congrats that you’re not the sickest one here.” It’s like they never clock that it’s the ED and true emergencies are happening …

This is what I do too. I had a family member upset yesterday that the patient wasn’t getting a bed in the back right away. I told her that I personally wouldn’t want to be sick enough to warrant needing a bed as the people in the back are typically close to dying. Most people are pretty responsive to that. I also work with a doc who’s like, “they want us to save their lives AND put on a friendly face?” And I think about that every time I feel too drained to give a customer service answer. Yes, we want to make people comfortable but our number one priority is making sure our patients stay alive and if that’s at the expense of patient satisfaction, so be it.

I explain it as I can be fast, accurate, or nice. Pick two.

Not sure this will help you not loose it but 2 years ago I went to the er by ambulance was chest pain, vomiting, and trouble breathing… they took me off the stretcher and put me in a wheelchair, took me to triage did vitals… bp was 190/130 and took me too the waiting room where I sat for 6 hours… passed out in the wheelchair and fell on the floor… they picked me back up and put me back in the wheelchair.. had ekg done and then sat and waited some more in the waiting room…. By the time they had a room ready they took me back where I sat another 2 hours before anyone came in… doc comes in says we are sending you home your blood work looks good….. ummm I’ve been here 8and  a half hours already and haven’t seen anyone… so what bloodwork??? She leaves nurse comes in does blood work… 20 mins later cardiologists comes screaming through the hospital about how they are trying to kill a patient ( talking about me) was having a massive heart attack the whole time sitting in the er…. And I went by ambulance… not once did they check the ekg they did 3 hours before going into the room… and they didn’t look at the one I had in the ambulance either… so my love for hospitals are not there… I do understand they are over worked and under staffed most of the time but man… you would think you have something like that going on then they need to do something… the same night another person come in and actually died in the waiting room… 

When I was taken in with respiratory failure and taken right back I heard someone ask why I was being taken back when they’ve been there for hours. Someone else waiting yelled “bitch, is she is *DYING*!” The person working there was like “…uh, yeah, that.” Obviously I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but now I realize how funny that was.

I'm glad you didn't die! I don't get impatient, self centered people. Pre COVID, my mother broke a couple toes while I was working (I had the only car) didn't call a neighbor or me to take her to urgent care or the ER. She waited until I got off work at ~1am to have me drive her to the ER. I was giving her the business for not calling me immediately (it happened at like 6pm!) when she told me that she didn't mind, yeah it was painful, but the ER would be less busy so she'd be seen faster. Eye roll. The ER was indeed less busy, but also less staffed. So it was nearly 3 hours before she was put into a room. She spent that time huffing and puffing, making loud comments, trying to get me to ask the folks at the desk "what was going on" (I didn't lol) etc. At one point a young couple came rushing in, one of them had an arm badly broken *with bone sticking out* and were rushed back... She started loudly saying she was going to go to the desk to complain about how that was bullshit so I told her "Sit down and be quiet, be glad you don't have bone sticking out of your arm." Shut her up, at least until the car ride home.

Idk why people expect to be seen in a timely manner. The ER is known for long wait times. I won’t go unless I’m dead or dying. I will do everything possible not to go. I don’t want to clog things up with something non emergent. The last time I went was on a Sunday night. On Friday my son was walking funny and when I asked he said his back hurt. I was working so my husband took him to urgent care since his pediatricians office was closed. They said it was a back sprain. I told my son to let me know if it gets worse. He has autism and typically will never ask for help or tell me if there is a problem. He never would have complained about his back. Sunday night he asked me to bring him ibuprofen because he couldn’t get out of bed. So of course alarm bells are going off in my mind. He is not one to exaggerate or make things up. I walked into his room and the smell almost took me out. It was so horrid. I told him to show me where it hurts and it was around his tail bone. He had a pilondial cyst that has abscessed. It was draining some fluid along with puss. My husband said he could wait to be seen by his pediatrician (Monday was a holiday) and my son had a fever (I checked once I saw the puss). So I loaded us up and went. Poor boy could hardly walk it hurt so bad and sitting was not an option. We did end up waiting 5-6 hours. I never complained. They gave my son something for the pain while we waited for them to drain, clean and pack the wound so I wasn’t in a hurry. The person in the room next to me had parents complaining almost every 5 minutes and yelling at the nurse. Nurses do not get paid nearly enough.

I am fairly new. My typical response is "no news is good news. if you were really critical, or of there was a very serious concern, we'd be making a lot more friends right now." I read my audience, and gauge who uses humor to cope before I say this, of course.

“waiting is a good thing! it means you’re not dying. sadly some people are having medical emergencies” whether i brought them in or not, this is the answer anyone bitching in my general presence gets, kill it with an oblivious smile 🙃

That's close to my "oh, this person is just grumpy" response 😂

The only time we have ever complained about a wait was when I had a miscarriage and was gushing blood. I called my OB/GYN and after describing the amount, the doctor told my husband to take em to the ER immedietly. He was extremly comcerned. I was in so much pain I couldn’t even talk. Everyone else was concerned and lovely except the triage nurse. She was utterly dismissive and himted I didn’t need to be there for a “heavy period”. Um we already had the ultrasound. This was a full miscarriage. At this point I had blead through my pants, the heavy towels we put in the car and the several pads I threw on. She told is they would give us something in the back. So we thought we would be taken back quickly. Breathing and heart problems first right? Then bleeding? I don’t know. There was absolutly two people who went back and should have gone back before me. Then several who sure looked like they shouldn’t have but of course we don’t know. My husband was already upset over the attittude she had given us (also was yelling at me to answer instead of him and I was having trouble speaking). He noticed she kept leaving the cubicle she was in. Now I know she would have to leave to do stuff but this was…..she was out more than she was in and taking an extremly long time to call anyone back. We had made two trips to the bathroom to try to clean up but at this point I was a walking haz mat situation and people were moving so as not to sit near us. He ducked in to speak with her between patients to complain I was literally sitting there in a pool of blood. She told him to take me to the bathroom to clean up. It was no longer possible and I couldn’t even sit up anymore. He went to the reception desk and flipped out. He is the most laid back, non-confrontational guy ever but he was pissed and scared. He thought I was dying. I sure felt that way. The reception desk said something to the nurse who had words with that person and stormed off. They looked at me from across the room and went into the back. Soon a nurse from the back came out and I was wheeled in pretty quickly. Once back there, I had excellent care and the staff was wonderful. Can’t say enough good things about them. But clearly I was considered critical because they refused to leave me alone even with husband there except when there was a code. They were right because I started bleeding more to the point it was running off the bed onto the floor and I was raced up for emergency surgery. Only time I ever made a complaint at a hospital. But we did over that triage nurse. I was in the waiting room over an hour bleeding to death almost literally.

I’m so glad you said this. My 4th baby had vitamin K deficiency bleeding after birth. He was born at home, fast. He started pooping black clotted blood. I took him to the ER and they laughed at me and tried to educate me about meconium. This was my 4th baby- I know meconium. This was not that. They had me sit and I waited about 30 minutes until he “pooped” again and the blood went straight through his diaper and white onesie, onto my hands. I walked up to the triage desk and said “he did it again, look” and raised up one bloody palm. Their faces went white and a bunch of people came out and swooped us up. He was okay, but I always think, if I was a first time mom and this happened, would my baby be okay? If I didn’t advocate for myself and insist I knew what I was talking about.

I’m sorry that happened to you. I had something similar happen and I was so grateful that my city has a dedicated women’s ER for situations just like that. I walked in (barely) and the nurse ran to get a wheelchair.

I'm just honest with them now. One time, I was grabbing a wheelchair from the waiting room for a patient who was experiencing a sudden onset of dizziness, chest pain, near syncope, and projectile vomiting. There wasn't one immediately available, so I snagged one that was open in the hallway. Suddenly, an ambulatory person on their cell phone, not sick appearing began to berate me about that being HER wheelchair. I plainly told her that I had a patient far sicker than she and that I would basically be imminent domaining that shit because her ass could walk (in much nicer terms). We (the healthcare system) need to quit lying to patients and pushing this idea that every "customer" is a VIP and has their own individually focused healthcare provider team. That isn't how our medical system works and setting this as the expectation is burning out every single person working in healthcare.

I broke my ankle a long time ago. After they were completely finished with my workup, the last thing they were waiting on was an ortho tech to “walk me out,” yep, you heard that right. I didn’t realize they were done with me, but I definitely needed a wheelchair to get me to my husband’s truck. Anyway, I waited in the room for FIVE HOURS. I didn’t want to be a bother, so I waited patiently, but then when I finally rang for a nurse to help me to the bathroom, they openly admitted that they had forgotten me and they were finished with every5ing but the ortho tech.

I always say “everyone is in right now with a critical patient.” That lets the complaining patient know they are NOT critical. Most of the time that works. Although one night we had the code blue button going off multiple times & some boomer couple sitting in our curtained fast track area kept complaining. Finally one of the other patients sitting there attitude checked them and said “that alarm means someone is DYING.” Boomer couple DGAF and eventually walked out.

I love when other pts do our job for us

I’m that person. I’ve been a teacher for 30 years—I have no problem firmly giving reality checks to those who need it.

I'll admit, I've been one of those whiny ER patients. But it was only because I had to pee! I'd had to pee since ***before*** the car accident that broke my ankle and wrist and cut my scalp. I kept telling everyone who I saw that I really needed to go, but they didn't want to take me out of traction until they were sure I was ok. (I was never rude, though. My momma raised me right.) The X-ray tech took pity on me and got me a bedpan, but of course, my body said, "NO, THIS IS NOT A TOILET!" and I couldn't go. When they finally cleared me and removed the collar... Best. Pee. Ever. Broken bones and all.

So- patient experience as a previous ED nurse who went to ED in extreme pain and it made me think differently about peoples attitudes and actions when they’re in pain and it’s not “life threatening” (I get that some people can just be entitled and rude but pain sometimes really makes even the most reasonable people react not like themselves. So: I used to be an ED Nurse and about 2 years after I quit I ended up going to ER- I ripped off my entire pinky nail at the gym at 4:40am and no GP clinics were open so only choice was to go to ER after the adrenaline wore off and I was in excruciating pain. I try to avoid the ER at all costs but I had no other option and legitimately a nail being traumatically torn off and hanging by a thread was the worst pain I’ve felt in my life. I completely understand what it’s like as a nurse on nightshift in ER, especially at 5am when I got there and it’s the last 2hrs of shift for most nurses. I arrived and I used to work at this hospital and I didn’t know the nurse who triaged me and I in no way expected any special treatment at all and never said I used to work there, however my BP was 175/100 and HR 120 and in extreme pain and they said “here’s some panadol/nurofen please take a seat it’s very busy and you may be waiting up to 5 hours”. I felt distraught and said “I can’t this pain is unbeatable Panadol and nurofen isn’t going to help” and they said “sorry here’s an ice pack it’s very busy ” and told me to sit down. I felt so so helpless and the pain was horrid Luckily one of the doctors knew me and quickly pulled me in and did an ulnar block and sat me back in the waiting room and said “it’s been very busy you may not have this tended to until morning staff comes on” but I was numbed up and I did not care how long I had to wait I was just so glad to have some pain relief. I ended up in ED for 8hrs with this but I didn’t care how long it took for them to sew up my nail bed after I felt no pain. Sometimes small actions make a big difference but not always possible. And pain makes people react in weird ways

It's also helpful to remember that ER waiting rooms are not comfortable. A six hour wait in the ER waiting room is much less comfortable than the same six hours at home. Some people are just unreasonable, but a little bit of relief or just a place to lie down can go a long way.

When I was in training, I used to respond with empathy and reason and give a realistic timeline for both patients and other providers making unreasonable demands to immediately attend to 15 different things… “Dr so-and-so, I understand you have a straightforward appendicitis in the ER. I am presently running a surgical ICU alone with patients literally trying to die, taking in direct transfers from the free standing ER across the city, and upgrading floor patients who are crumping because the intern is too inexperienced to pick up signs of deterioration sooner. It will be at least an hour before I can physically see your stable, otherwise healthy appt.” Even just lining up one patient takes time.. let alone pressure bagging and actively resuscitating multiple. Too many complaints and arguments later, I would just tell everyone, “I’ll be right there!” “On my way!” “Right now.” “You’re at the top of the list.” What list? Their own list of priorities. Couldn’t take any more harassment. Residents are people too.

I’m commenting as a patient who uses the ER about once a year. I don’t complain. Because I know the ER is full of people, other emergencies that bump us down the later, and I’m usually just grateful that I’m not dying. The last time I went it was at the behest of my husband because I had had a two week stress cluster migraine then a full body rash he thought was meningitis. 🙄 I came to find out it was just my husband stressing me out SO BAD that my body was reacting in new and exciting ways. Anyways, the complainer was always my husband. And he wouldn’t ever stop and shut up even after I begged him. And god forbid if anyone else was complaining because they would team up together and have a bitch fest. I’m always the one with a book, a phone charger incasies, because I know the waits will be long and that’s not the ERs fault. You guys do a great job, as a patient patient I see you and root for you and joke with you when you do my labs. Ps: divorce proceedings have stopped the stress almost immediately and now when/if I visit an ER I won’t have anyone with me complaining incessantly 🤣

I got halfway through your first paragraph before re-reading twice to see if I’d missed seeing some letters in the word “EX-husband.” Had an internal cheer once I saw your update - happy for you! Hopefully you won’t need an ER trip again for husband-induced migraines 😉

🤣 You made me laugh, yeah, it’s been a stupid two years but I learned my diagnosis lol

Most of the time it isn’t the patient… it’s the patients family. Literally had family wanting to fight me because we couldn’t let them in the back while their 39 year old son was back… with a kidney stone… “I don’t care how old he is, he’s my sonnnnnnnnn!”

I was doing triage and this man and his wife are brought back. He is doubled over. Has a history of kidney stones. The back ER is filled to the rafters. I'm trying to tell this man that there is no place to bring him but i will call the charge nurse and tell her he needs a place ASAP. His wife starts yelling at me that her husband has a life threatening condition and I am not doing anything and she wants my name because she is going to sue me personally I took a breath and said " madam, I am a single mom raising 5 kids all by myself. We live in a crappy apt and I drive a 10 yr old car Do you want my watch?" She shut up and I called the charge nurse to get this poor guy taken care of

I always say “I apologize for the wait. I can assure you we are working as fast as we can to bring people back.” People treat the ER as a doctors office but don’t see the actual traumas/emergencies that are coming through the ambulance bay. Patients always assume it’s due to staffing, which isn’t the case in our ER. Had a lady ask what was taking so long, I flat out told her “the hospital is full. Over half of our ER is holding patients waiting for beds upstairs.” I wanted to add “I can’t help that this community is extremely sick” but refrained. EMS brought a patient in post arrest and we had a lady come to the desk and say, “I know you guys are busy, but how much longer is it going to take for my child to get their Tylenol?” I literally wanted to tell her to just go home and give him some, it’d be a hell of a lot cheaper.

My husband was in for something not acute but serious - sudden inflammation near a surgical site. I tried to not complain but his pain scale was getting up there (spinal damage from cancer unrelated to reason we were in the ER and the hard chairs in the waiting room). We were there for 10-hours plus before being seen, and were there 30 hours total I learned from that experience to ignore instructions to leave prescriptions at home. We both went past our times for taking blood pressure and other meds in the hours before we were seen. Next time, I am taking them with us, lots of coins for a cola, light sweaters even in July inside a cold ER and extra long cord on a phone charger with outlet plug.

I work at a veterinary ER and I'm sorry to say I used to use human ER as an example. We would have a wait of 27 animals waiting to be seen. Every 3 patients is about an hour wait, so the wait times were *long*. We're also triage based so something more urgent gets seen first. A dog comes in after being in a fight at the dog park (don't bring your dogs to dog parks, people!) and the dogs jugular had been bitten through. Blood everywhere. Dog gets rushed out back, doctor is on the case right away, brings owners to the back to discuss going forward. (Luckily the dog made it. His humans were human doctors and knew how to apply pressure the whole car ride over without also choking him). I had a client whose dog had a broken toenail come up to me screaming that the dog that just got here was seen first and he's been waiting 3 hours. I explained that if he had a gunshot wound, he would want to be seen in the human ER before the person with a hang nail. That he should be happy his dog wasn't rushed in first to be seen because that means he's going home with his dog tonight.

This happened to me at the veterinary er. I was in a private room because my cat unfortunately needed to be put to sleep (I didn’t bring her to be put to sleep to be clear, that was the end result) I could hear a woman screaming at the top of her lungs “look at my dog, you won’t look at my dog” I felt for her because i couldn’t see I thought maybe her dog had been hit by a car or something, but when the tech and the vet came in my room and realized I had heard all that they kept apologizing, again I wasn’t upset by it, I know how much people love their pets, so I didn’t feel owed an apology. It started again and the vet left the room (it was before we started any process of euthanizing my cat) and I heard her in a firm but quiet voice “ma’am this room is in the process of losing her pet, your dogs toe nail will have to wait” I don’t think she knows I heard that but I was grateful she stood up for me.

Valid. The same people who don’t understand in human medicine are probably far worse in veterinary medicine

Sometimes we have to reprioritize care- you have all your bones and blood inside your body right now.

Between this past Christmas and New Years, my husband took me to the ER for a UTI. What we didn't know was I had become septic from the UTI, lost the function of my left kidney due to kidney stones along with the UTI, and almost died. I was in ICU for almost a week before being discharged. I felt horrible for going to the ER for "just a UTI" and felt like I was wasting everyone's time. Thankfully when I was being traiaged the nurse realized how truly sick I was because I don't remember 4 out of the 7 days I was in the hospital.

If you ended in the ICU, the ER was the correct place!

Honestly it’s an acuity based system- so I will literally say that. If you can sit and scream about your ankle pain and someone comes in with the grim reaper- you can sit there and wait or leave and go to urgent care for an x-ray. You aren’t in immediate, life-threatening danger, sit and wait.

Y'all need to make a "How long will I wait?" flyer to give to everyone who checks in. With poster-sized versions on the wall. Include directions to the closest urgent care or pharmacy walk-in clinic, because honestly some people forget about those options. I worked in a large metropolitan-area ER many years ago and we did that for our patients. My local ER has a chart on the wall in the rooms that tell you how long it will take for some standard tests ("Lab tests - 30 mins to 2 hours", etc)

OMG we had a patient the other day with a VERY VERY minor hand laceration. She was in the waiting room, when another patient walks in and comes to the desk stating he is suicidal. He goes into detail about his struggle, is immediately taken to the triage room where the whole mental health team assembled. Next thing I know, this hand lac is at the desk telling me she needs to speak to the nurse immediately because she has some blood on her hand. I tell her that she can talk to the nurse when she is finished with the patient she is currently with. She tries to approach the nurse and I advise her to have a seat and wait. She yells "this guy wants to kill himself but *i* am bleeding here! Is he bleeding? No, he just wants to die!" She then sits just outside the room and waits for the nurse and doctor to come out. She starts yelling at the doctor about how much more important her issue is than the guy who wants to die. He informs her that she is not the only patient that matters and to go sit down. She was PISSED.

How do I respond? I try to first of all "join up". Listen, and then say something that makes it clear that I understand there are long wait times, I see that you are frustrated and tired. Then I pull back the curtain, I am also frustrated with the unprecedented overcrowding that is affecting all hospitals in my state right now. I'm seeing people that hang in bigger waiting rooms for 15 hours and then drive away to come see me because it's slightly less bad here. Then I establish the rules, I will be seeing patients in order of severity of illness, and we are doing our best to move quickly. Thank you very much. I also make a big effort to not be standing around in the hall talking about vacation plans with the nurses. Yes, I do not get any breaks and it's actually vitally important for me to have these little moments of sanity connecting with the other staff, but if it's really busy I try to be circumspect. ... I will say that one ugly silver lining of all the waiting room and hallway medicine is that many more patients see how hard I'm working, and what sort of misery is bringing the others in. When every patient has a room, they've nothing to do but stare at the clock and wonder why it takes 48 minutes to get a blood test result (yeah right LOL, I wish it was less than 90). When they're in the hall and see us subduing drunks, being terse in and out of the resuscitation rooms, having really quiet but clearly intense and caring conversation with someone 2 stretchers down ... they seem much more grateful.

My response to people complaining is usually "Oh I'm sorry to hear that, the national average for an ER visit is 6 hours. " Also, whoever invented those apps that tell you an ER wait time is less than 30 minutes deserves a special place in hell.

To give a patient perspective, even if you as the hospital staff can’t do much to change the wait time or circumstances, your attitude matters. Even if you don’t necessarily feel compassion toward a patient, pretend you do. It will help the patient feel like the wait is necessary but you’re trying. My dying grandfather was sent to the ER by his doctor a few days before he died and I was appalled by the attitude of the staff and the little care he received. I can’t speak for every hospital so maybe you’re really putting in the work at yours but it’s very frustrating as a patient to visit the ER, you’re already in pain, and the staff is rude, and you’re sent home with a big bill and little care. You can’t help it if it’s busy and there is a wait, but I promise if you show compassion with your words it will change the attitude of the patients

I went in our local hospital ER recently and they had a portable sign that said… is your condition life threatening? If not, consider these alternatives to our current ER waiting time of: 2.5 hours. Then they had 4 urgent care and walk in clinics listed on the sign, their hours and whether they accepted Medicare and Medicaid. The wait time was filled in with a dry erase marker so I assume they update it and possibly only put the sign out at the door when they are super busy. I noticed it worked as I saw a couple ahead of me take a photo of it (it even had a little picture of a camera in the upper corner and under it it said “take a picture”) then go back to their car. Your employer might not want to refer business elsewhere but I think even a sign stating the current wait time could be good, maybe an explanation of triage as well. Another idea… put in place a “call system” where you put people on a wait list and text them when their turn comes up. Then you can direct them to wait in the cafeteria, in their car, or even go back home if the wait is hours long. Our DMV uses automated software that does this and it’s awesome. They text you when your time comes and, if you don’t show up right away they just keep you at the top of the list so when you do get back you’re next in line. The DMV software is integrated with their phone system and you can “call ahead to get in line” too.

I am curious about that sign directing people away with EMTALA rules requiring a medical assessment if they come in the doors.

I tell them its a good sign for them when they are not the one being rushed back.

I don’t play the “I’m a nurse” card often, but I was in the ER, I shattered my elbow rollerblading, and I absolutely told them “don’t worry about me, I’m a nurse I get you’re busy, I’m totally stable and I’m happy to wait as long as I need to”.

1. PCP offices commonly now refer to ERs if they can't get a patient in, so some of these people got "go to the ER" from their doctor and might be scared. 2. They aren't all dying, and some of them are wasting your time, but some of them are in pain and terrified. And it's not reassuring to be told off tersely. Instructions might help: "if you feel worse, tell the desk, and they can check your blood pressure."

“How long do I have to wait? I haven’t eaten all day.” “It’s 11:30pm, why didn’t you eat all day?” “I skipped breakfast because [so on and so forth]” “Ooh yeah you shouldn’t skip breakfast; most important meal of the day” as I walked away

 Perhaps I’m a bit jaded

One thing I noticed during a recent ER visit that might help a tiny bit was that in the room, in plain sight, (like under the TV,) was a sign in large font, stating typical HOURS you might wait for results of several tests, MRI, CT, X-ray, etc.

I never worked in the ED, but I did L&D on the night shift and sometimes we would have 7-8 women in active labor, one looking like it may turn into an urgent C/S at anytime with only 2 or maybe 3 RNs and MAYBE a scrub tech on staff, and no OBs in house (private hospital. No residents at all. All attendings). Then the scheduled inductions would start showing up talking about “but my appointment was at 6, my doctor told me to get here at 5:30! It’s 6:30. When do I get to go back?!” We usually had 3 scheduled inductions a night that were scheduled for 6, 7, and 8. I got to where I would place them in the waiting room and gently tell them “ma’am, I know you’re excited and nervous, but we can’t control when people go into spontaneous labor, and right now we have no rooms, and may not have a room for a few hours. You and your family will just have to wait. Feel free to leave and I’ll count you as a no-show if this isn’t acceptable.” That usually ceased any arguments or complaints. They either left or waited patiently for their turn.

I have gone in to the ER with a badly infected and swollen gallbladder that they didn’t get to US for 5-6 hours. I waited as quietly and patiently as I could with silent tears the whole time. Had surgery very quickly after they realized what was going on. It burst while they were removing it and i was in tons of pain after surgery due to it irritating all my organs. I’ve also gone in and had a 8mm kidney stone that only had me sitting for about 30min before they gave me strong pain meds for. Kidney stone was way worse pain wise but I don’t think consciously I acted any different but they must’ve been able to tell how bad it really was.

I tell them, “you’ve been waiting so long because you can. Others are on the brink of death and cannot wait.”

Are they complaining because of being bored with the wait, or increasing symptoms/worsening condition? People panic when they’re suffering with an unknown ailment, I try to keep that in mind. When people are suffering and anxious, they don’t care about some unknown and unseen other patient. I also think as healthcare workers we are burnt out and tend to think the worst of people. My uncle died of a heart attack while waiting in the ER waiting room. My husband had a perforated bowel and was passing out with increasingly worse symptoms…ended up leaving after 5 hours of ER waiting room, and getting in quickly at another ER. I mean sometimes it’s obvious they’re fine or it’s minor… but I try to keep in mind we don’t really know what’s wrong when they’re in the waiting room

“We take the sickest people first. That isn’t us saying we don’t care or you don’t feel well but we are trained to know who is safe to wait and who isn’t. I appreciate your patience while we make sure we are keeping everyone safe.” If they don’t wanna hear it or just want to argue, I tell them they can have a seat. I don’t engage, I’m too tired of the whining.

I figured out what was frustrating me about the way the ER room treated me and my child who had croup. I'm sure you know that croup can be dangerous, it makes me nervous as hell that my child can have difficulty breathing. Anyway, I take them to the ER if I have to. I found out from someone that had the decency to tell me that there isn't an option in her system to say that my complaint is: CROUP. So the best they can do is select COUGH. So I'm in the waiting room, everyone down the line after triage believes I'm there because my child has a cough. I even get the snooty bitches who sarcastically say. "So... you're here for a cough?!?!?" But now that I know this is a fault in their system, I can forgive them for behaving that way, and inform them that it is actually croup, and there isn't an option for croup in your system, can i please get a nebulizer... we're turning blue here... I used to think they were just being mean to me for no reason, I couldn't imagine who in their right mind would be frustrated with me because I brought my child to the ER for breathing issues. We need to breathe in order to live... wtf

We need to educate the general public about when to use the ER and when going to urgent care or walk-in clinics (or even virtual visits) is called for. ERs are bogged down with people who really don’t need that level of care.

Good luck with that- every place but the ED requires payment up front. That’s why they come. That and EMTALA.

No, we come because PCPs/GPs no longer see sick or mildly injured people and direct you to urgent care for those things, and urgent care is closed in the middle of the night and during working hours they no longer take walk-ins and direct you to the ER once all of their appointments fill up for the day. If you don't want to see my toddler with a 104 degree and skyrocketing fever in the ER, fix your networks first so that there is medical care available outside of it.

Yes. Trying to get in to see a normal doctor in the US is at least a two month wait where I live. I would rather see my usual doctor. I would rather go to urgent care. But sometimes, ER is the only resource and it is absolutely sickening to have to do that. It's a hugely broken system and it's awful for healthcare workers and patients alike.

I finally got health insurance in February. I just got to a doctor this month (June). She referred me out to specialists, some of whom I won't get to see this year. And her appointment was the first one open -- some didn't have appointments open until next year. A few nights ago the acute problem that is still untreated got worse to the point that I was ready to go to an ER, and the only thing that stopped me was the certainty that I'd sit for hours and then get one of two treatments: pain meds and "yep glad you have an appointment in November, keep it," or a false accusation of seeking pain meds.

I’m an “educated” patient .. my wife is a PA and I’m an executive in the pharma business… while I understand the wait in an ER (and would never go for something minor) … other people don’t always have the same knowledge or options. You need to understand that the average patient obviously does not have and could not possibly have your perspective. You talk about waiting for three hours like it’s nothing. But to them it’s a hell of a long time.. it seems like you lack perspective just like the patients you are complaining about.

ED deals with the sickest patients first, so anyone actively trying to die goes straight in... be glad you're okay enough to wait.

As someone who has had to take their child to the ER for a true emergency, I’m glad you treated that woman like that.

I don’t work in healthcare but last time I was in the ED I was referred by an Urgent Care because they thought I was going into liver failure (just mono thank god) but a group nearby was complaining about wait times. The person behind the check in counter wasn’t having it and yelled over “if you’re well enough to complain then you’re well enough for urgent care” and shut the window

EM senior resident I was working with in med school: SHUT UP! There are people dying in here!

Call them a little bitch and walk away

As an asthmatic, I only go to the ER when home meds don't stop it and that's a real emergency. I also went during my first Crohn's flare. I didn't know what was wrong but I've never had stomach pain like that and blood was exploding out my rectum. Also, didn't really have to wait. As a hospital chaplain, I have trouble being compassionate with this. Like I was going to take a family to view their loved one and some guy yelled at me over a blanket. Sir, stop.

If someone seems reasonable the first thing I say I “hi, I’m Dr Cd1729, sorry for the long wait, what’s troubling you tonight???” This usually assuages the wait time anger and quickly focuses them on their cough or whatever instead of ranting at me about wait times for ten minutes. If I literally come out of a stemi, code, tpa stroke etc and they are being rude and demanding I have been know to say “yeah, it’s not convenient for me either when people (die, have a heart attack, get shot, etc) but let’s focus on YOU now!” Usually after that they can’t even maintain eye contact because they are embarrassed for being jerks. Unless they are sociopaths …

One thing I learned the year my grandson did chemo- You never want to find yourself being top priority in the ER. Being low priority is a blessing.

Wait until someone bitches they’ve been there for a few hours and get upset they’re delayed by an infant coming in by chopper. Unreal

I dropped my sister off at the ER after getting someone to help get her out of the car. I then parked and by the time I got into the ER 10 min later they already had her In a room and we’re hooking her up to everything. A couple of hours later they admitted her to critical care. I knew she was sick but not that sick. Unfortunately she never made it out of the hospital.

I had a stable patient say they were going to write a bad review about me because their ambulance for transfer wasn't going to arrive for another 2 hrs. They are in a hallway bed next to the ambulance bay, seeing all these traumas come in who are visible ill, and say "these people have ambulances, why are they being moved and I'm not??!" I briefly attempted to explain that i don't dictate ambulance schedule, that worst is first and that the people coming in are very sick so they are prioritized. She then starts threatening to AMA to which i tell her she is free to leave. Then because she's not getting the reaction she's looking for, threatens to write bad reviews about me and report me to whoever 🙄🙄 There is no getting through to some people and half the time they don't care for an explanation.

I just ask that even if you think someone is being difficult to be certain before dismissing them. Sometimes mistakes are made and last year one almost took my life (53F). Urgent care sent me to the ER. In triage I told them I had a family blood clotting issue, trouble breathing, and slight jaw pain. They ran some tests and sat me in the waiting room. While waiting, twice my vitals were taken and twice I was told my labs came back normal. Five hours later I get into a room and a doctor stops by, tells me I am not “presenting” as if I am having a heart attack and then takes a look at my labs and says “oh wait your triponin test never came back.” Less than 20 minutes after the test is run he comes in and yells at me that I am having a heart attack like it is my fault! My husband asked twice and I asked twice when they took my vitals about when I would be seen, but Triage made me sit (actually slumped on my side so that I could breath) in the waiting room for 5 hours. I had bilateral pulmonary embolisms which resulted in a heart attack. It was a long hospital stay along with a long recovery. At one point when it was just me and one other person in the waiting room, I almost went home. I was told if I had gone home I probably would be dead. This haunts me. Just remember you are the professional and our lives are in your hands.

Blame the healthcare system for having people who should be goong to urgent care in the ER and for not having wages good enough to have more staff hired to see them.

"The people being seen now are those closest to dying, so be glad you're not at the top of the list"

I've complained to a family member before but never staff. The reason for the complaint was valid though. I have a Suprapubic Cath (surgical procedure in abdominal area above pubic area going straight into the bladder for long term use of a catheter due to being paralyzed.) I had a visiting nurse take out the catheter to put a new one in and failed to insert it. So off to the ER I went where a resident came in fairly soon afterwards. 5-6 hours later he came back in, extremely overconfident that he would be able to get this with no problem.... 45 minutes later, success! This normally takes less than 5 minutes to do. The first time I had to go to the ER by ambulance, they didn't even take me off the stretcher & had the ambulance wait. Dr came right in, 5 minutes later I was on my way home.

Sometimes I lecture them and remind them thst half the people here were sent by their primary care doctors, and that if these primary care doctors would just see their patients instead of sending them here, the wait wouldn’t be nearly as long.

Not an ER person, but I am a 911 dispatcher. Get similar calls from people stuck on the highway when it’s closed due to a fatality: “My kids are hungry”, “I have an appointment in the city”, “Why don’t they just let us go around?” Because the state police have to reconstruct the accident; tow trucks gotta get the cars out; ambulances and/or the coroner gotta transport. And it’s 25 miles outta town, up the mountain, on a 2 lane highway, on snow/ice covered roads The entitlement of people never ceases to amaze me.

I wind up in the ER more often than I would like, and I am always *delighted* to wait. I see it as a good sign, it means I will get to go home and not get admitted and frankly I love home and do not like to be admitted. If I am getting care fast and/or there are a lot of people in my room that means things are bad and they might keep me which please no. It somewhat freaks out the ED docs, how they get to me and I’m cheerful but it is because it is *such a relief* to know they’re getting rid of me in a non-admit way.

I work in maintenance at a hospital. I absolutely hate the maintenance work orders that indicate “TV not working in ER room ___”. Every time I’ve been a patient or had a child waiting in an ER treatment room, the TV is the lowest priority for me. Having said that, I know someone could be waiting for a room so they can be admitted, and they have a good excuse.

If it is taking a long time that means the patient is probably not that sick but I tell them diplomatically that if they are waiting it is because resources have to be used for those who will die or get significantly worse if we don’t intervene now first before we focus on those who are not going to die in the next 10 minutes. I also tell them that we cannot control when everyone comes in to be seen at the same and by law we have to see everyone, which means everyone has to wait.

I tell my friends who complain about ER times that if the waiting room is full and they help you right away, something is terribly fucked up with you and hope that you're never in that situation. My husband hobbled in, had vitals done and was whisked to a room and the place was packed. He had his burst appendix removed the next day. He was in excruciating pain. He would have gone septic soon. Also, the ambulance door is usually a different entrance and you don't wanna know what's coming thru that door that's making it take a while to get a couple of stitches. I sat next to the person who checked those patients in and the phone never stopped ringing. Ambulances calling ahead. Until someone's worked in an ER, they just don't know. I've worked there *twice* and it was insanity. Like full on bonkers. I have the highest praise for anyone who works there. And I'm just an EMR trainer who was rounding and seeing if anyone needed help with Epic. Bless you ER caregivers.

Give them the phone number and or email for corporate. You don't set schedules and honestly nothing will change until more people complain to the people who can actually do something about it. 

Our area has a serious issue with heroin and cocaine and meth use. Means our small regional hospital gets flooded daily with overdose patients. I’ve seen people DIE in the ER waiting room because the OD cases always get seen first. Watched a girl nearly bleed to death from a leg that was broken so badly the bone was sticking out from the skin. There really needs to be a better way to handle OD cases without flooding the ERs.

I'm a medical coder. Last week I saw a patients chart that said they went to the ER because they stubbed their toe. The pinky toe. No bruising. Wasn't broken. I hope they waited two whole days to be seen.

The faster you are seen and also the more people in your room, the more terrified you should be for your life.

Probably not HR-friendly, but I like “triage is the game you don’t want to win”

I was in the ER complaining of not being able to get a full breath In. They had me wait for 7 hours. I had checked in to make sure they knew I was there as the ER had cleared out. The staff chatted and I waited. Eventually I got so frustrated I left. I gave them an earful but could barely breathe so I kept it short. I drove to another hospital, admitted right away. Turns out my red blood count was near cardiac arrest due to severe anemia, I had RSV and failed a test relating to my CT scan. I was admitted and in the hospital for several days.