Tag: health care

Your experience may very. I should say that I certainly hope it does. But, I am going to talk about another recent trip to the local Emergency Room. In my area, there are four hospitals that are within 30 minutes.

The closest one, about fifteen minutes is a small, feeder type hospital. I would go there for common or simple problems. Those would be things like stitches or simple casts. In fact, I would go there if I was on the fence because they will transport to the larger hospital if it is actually life threatening. But beyond clear problems, you are better off going to the larger, regional hospital (coming later as option 4).

One of the four I will skip. It is not a regional trauma center and it is the farthest of the four. I will call option 3. This is a larger hospital and is fully functional. It serves as the regional life flight location. I like this one for ER visits because it is significantly easier to get in. This is a different hospital network than the first option I talked about. It makes it difficult to cross between the two systems.

Option 4 is what I would call the preferred hospital. It is the one tied to my wife’s doctors and has the most capability. Lord help you if need to go to the ER. A few weeks ago we had a routine appointment and the nurses were worried about high blood pressure so they sent us to the ER.

I have seen unsubstantiated claims that this is one of the busiest ERs on the west coast. We sat in the waiting room for several hours before getting some attention. They do triage walk-ins and certain people were sent back before us despite arriving after. This was also a day that the waiting room was only about a 1/4 full. What I would consider a light day in my experience.

We had a second trip to the ER recently as well. In this one the waiting room was full and there was a line out the door. Even when we were discharged at 1AM it was still full. This unit was built in 2010 and there are already not enough rooms. They are now putting beds against the wall. The people that are admitted that they think are not seriously injured end up in those beds.

My point is, given that they really don’t do much well besides trauma, you are better off not going to the ER. It ends up with an expensive price tag and a referral back to your primary for follow-up. Please do go if you feel like you need to go, Just don’t expect it to be like TV. They rarely solve problems or do anything other than checklist type care. They are going to make sure you are stable and then discharge to get through the full waiting room.

There is one thing that I have learned. If you really must go to the ER, go by ambulance. Of course this adds another expense to the whole process but you will surely get admitted and immediate care. I know that I may be coming of with lack of compassion. I think that you know it when you see it and I haven’t really seen it yet. Most of the people that go to the ER go to try and cross out worry rather than solve an immediate problem.

End Your Programming Routine: By all means, the emergency room is for emergencies. Unfortunately, most people’s definition of emergency is different than mine. I would also say that you have a voice. Yes, we would have not gone to the ER if the nurses hadn’t insisted. But, you can also say no. It is not easy but it is your life.