emergency room nurses

[Trigger Mike]

I know nurses do a thankless job handling gross body fluids, irritable patients, hard to handle panicky family etc but sometimes they give off the idea that the patient is a bother and interruption to their day and yet on the same shift others treat you like you are the only one on the floor. My wife still gets bad stomach problems from time to time and for the pst two weeks has been fighting off diarrhea , but finally last night after 8 episodes in 20 minutes and almost fainting again(the other day she fainted and hit her head n a cabinet) she relented for me to take her to the emergency room. I kept trying to explain her problems but they kept ignoring me. i told her nurse that along with the exit she was also nauseas and needed something. he blew me off and casually said they were working on her medications and then 30 minutes later he strolled in about to let her go home to see her filling 2 vomit bags and finally got it and hurried out and 5 minutes later brought something for that as well. i heard some of the nurses getting onto patients and since my wife was tied to the bed with the non portable IV they brought her a portable toilet only she could not reach the sink. i had asked for wipes but all they brought was kleenex and sitting on the counter was the wipes for the counter marked not for human use. the nurse was condescending to me for her using those wipes to clean her hands. the aid that was tasked with emptying the toilet did so with contentment and pleasantness. we thanked her several times. the nurses did seem better as the night wore on, but still it took 5 1/2 hours for my wife to settle down.

[J-BAR #18287]

Most hospitals, at least the better ones, have on staff an ombudsman or patient representative to investigate instances in which employees did not perform their duties responsibly. Sounds like you should contact that person.

[Michigan Slim]

We had to get a Patient Advocate involved while my son was in the hospital. If we were not there he wouldn't get his pain meds or food. We had to hunt down a nurse every single time and as often as not they were in the break room. Kid screaming in pain because they missed his meds and then late with the next dose too. He is an EMT and remembers the poor care. He won't treat folks that way because he was.

There were some mighty fine nurses working that hospital but the poor ones overshadow the good majority. A shame.

[Calamity Kris]

I completely understand your wife's plight, TM. I pray she gets better soon.

 

A few months ago, an ambulance picked me up from work because they thought I was having a heart attack. They took me to the closest hospital in the area because of that. Unfortunately. that one has the reputation for being the worst hospital in the city. After hooking me up to lots of monitors, they left me there. For hours on end. They came back in the room four hours later and told me that they were considering admitting me. They were then gone for another two hours. All in all, I was in that hospital for nearly 13 hours with very little attention, no food and no information. The only reason they released me is because they couldn't find a room for me. They were quite busy. They had several drug overdoses, and quite a few ambulance deliveries, however the level of neglect was terrible. I hope I never have a reason to go to that hospital again.

[Noz]

Most hospitals, at least the better ones, have on staff an ombudsman or patient representative to investigate instances in which employees did not perform their duties responsibly. Sounds like you should contact that person.

I've had occasion to contact said patient representative once. That's all it takes.

[Utah Bob #35998]

Some hospitals are better than others, like anything else.

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

I was being attacked by a pair of kidney stones and they were winning.

ER was big enough nurses were assigned to zones.

This nurse came over from her zone and said "I recognize the wriggle, I've had kidney stones and children both and stones hurt worse."

No one had done squat with me for a year and a half since I got there (read less than a minute but with kidney stones it seems longer) and she said "What can I get you that will help?"

She was expecting me to say poppy juice, high test corn squeezin's or morphine.

I said "Send down to Central Supply and have them send up the biggest rubber mallet they got."

Now I'm in pain, I'm gasping out my words and I'm twisting as I talk, and she looks at me suspiciously and says "Why should I do that?"

I look at her and grab the side rails and grate, "I want you to take it in both hands and swing it hard as you can and belt me right between the eyes!"

To her credit she tried really hard not to laugh as she said "I can't do that!" and I said "It's like shootin' in amongst us when I'm rasslin' a wild cat up in a tree. One of us gots to have some relief!"

[Dorado]

I guess I've been lucky with my nurses. After my accident when I first went to the hospital I had a long wait but they were attentive to me. I've not been neglected. Worst I had to deal with is a nurse that couldn't put in an IV she tried seven times in one arm and six in the other before handing it off to someone who knew what they were doing. The last overnight stay I had a nurse come in sometime around 3am and just to sit and talk with me.

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217]

The last time I was in the hospital, my nurse was very rude to me. The woman in the next bed even mentioned it to another nurse. Finally, I said I want another nurse. The head nurse came in and said I couldn't have one. I said, then I want to talk to Tony. Tony had introduced himself shortly after I was admitted. I'm not sure what he did there. Tony never came; but, I got a new nurse. In fact, every shift, another nurse came in to see how I was. They all were very nice.

 

Shortly after I asked to talk to Tony, the resident nun came by to see if I was okay as she'd heard I had trouble with my nurse. She asked me if I punched the nurse's lights out. I just laughed and said no.

 

My entire time there, just a few days, was full of bad experiences, including the doctor. I've found a new doctor.

[Seldom Seen #16162]

The wait times at Immediate Care Clinics before being seen by a Doctor are usually shorter. Getting in and out most of the time is one hour or less. Since the nurses are not as overworked patient care is more one on one.

 

Lab work and X-rays can really slow things down. Which means that room is unavailable for other patients sitting in the waiting room. In addition there is a flu-like virus going around that has E.R.'s and Clinics swamped with patients. I came down with it and called my Doctor about being seen. She told me that since it was a virus there were not any antibotics that will help so there was no reason to come in for a Office Visit. However folks without a family Doctor going to the E.R.'s and Clinics. The Immediate Care Clinic I work at has frequently had waiting times of over two hours.

 

The toughest call is what to go to I.C. for and what ones to go to E.R.s for. Patients that do not have a regular Doctor or health insurance and go to Hospital E.R.s for such things as the flu really clogged up the system.

 

I am totally unimpressed with the major hospitals where we live. One year plus one month ago I had a total knee replacement so it was impossible to avoid the hospital. Plus they kept me a couple of extra days because of my heart bypass. Except they put in on General Surgery Unit instead of a Cardiac Unit. Go figure. If my heart had quit working it could on easily been several hours before they would have discovered my lifeless body.

[Warden Callaway]

Our youngest son is an emergency room nurse. His pet peeve is the large percentage of people that come in to the emergency room for non-emergency treatment. Whole families will come in with a kid with a trivial illness and expect to be feed and provided items like diapers for the baby. There is a large population of Samali refugees that have some card that affords them free medical services and they abuse it to the max.

[Eyesa Horg]

Haven't had very good luck here either at a major teaching hospital, neglect, charges that weren't delivered, the so called Doctors are usually Duggie Houser and don't even know how to do a digital exam! If you try to complain about the billing your connected to "Pakistani Mike" ( no matter who answers is generally Mike or Mary and an accent I can't figger) whom just tell me they can't change billing as they aren't at the hospital or in this country for that matter. Then my Primary care physician can't understand why I don't come in for every little butt ache. I'll be in debt to the hospital til I die and I supposedly have excellent insurance!

[Tom Bullweed]

I have travelled far and wide for work, just some of you.

In the USA, we see our doctors for minor things and have urgent care centers.

In many other countries, the ER is the first place to go for many things that we consider trivial. The ERs often have the most available pharmacies. The hospitals have the insurance centers where patients can file paperwork and get answers. It is one-and-done health shopping for anything from colds to heart attacks. Doctors are used for follow up exams.

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

I am totally amazed at the total lack of competence in the medical profession, We were in the hospital for 3 days a couple weekends ago. Started in ER and then to children's hospital. All the doctors were imbeciles that simply wanted to send us running around to every department for every kind of test looking for every kind of exotic, life threatening, life-altering condition requiring lifelong treatments and hard core narcotics and psychodelic drugs. In the end, they still couldn't conclude anything or a treatment, that I thought was pretty simple, and I stand by my own diagnosis. They just wouldn't acknowledge it or treat for it.

 

But what the heck do you do? Have something go wrong and be imprisoned for neglect, or go to the "professionals," let them screw up and watch them get away with it with little recourse.

 

Doctors, lawyers, politicians, judges and TV evangelist.....I pretty well hold the same view towards all of them. Surgeons and EMT's are another matter, and veterinarians I respect.

[Fast Tracker]

The doctors staffing most hospitals are called hospitalists. Their main job is to get you out of the hospital in the time frame called for by the insurance companies. If a hernia operation calls for one day you are gone in one one day. They don't look any further than necessary.

I developed a fever after a stem cell transplant and had to go to another hospital. They ran some standard blood tests and didn't find anything. They started pumping me full of various antibiotics that didn't help. My personal physician would check on me every day,usually between 11pm and 3am, after his other rounds. He called in a infectious diasese specialist after three days. The specialist did a spinal tap and found fungal meningitis. I was in the hospital for 48 days. I lost 90 pounds. Without MY doctors I would have died.

All of the nurses were wonderful. They would come within a minute or two after I pressed the call button. They seemed to actually care.

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

I was being attacked by a pair of kidney stones and they were winning.

ER was big enough nurses were assigned to zones.

This nurse came over from her zone and said "I recognize the wriggle, I've had kidney stones and children both and stones hurt worse."

No one had done squat with me for a year and a half since I got there (read less than a minute but with kidney stones it seems longer) and she said "What can I get you that will help?"

She was expecting me to say poppy juice, high test corn squeezin's or morphine.

I said "Send down to Central Supply and have them send up the biggest rubber mallet they got."

Now I'm in pain, I'm gasping out my words and I'm twisting as I talk, and she looks at me suspiciously and says "Why should I do that?"

I look at her and grab the side rails and grate, "I want you to take it in both hands and swing it hard as you can and belt me right between the eyes!"

To her credit she tried really hard not to laugh as she said "I can't do that!" and I said "It's like shootin' in amongst us when I'm rasslin' a wild cat up in a tree. One of us gots to have some relief!"

 

I've had a dozen or so stones. After the first one, you know exactly what it is when it recurs. I believe that hospital E.R.'s have a manual that advises staff to ignore kidney stone complaints; put them on a gurney in the hall, and they will either pass the stone on their own, or give up and go home. During one particularly brutal attack, after a long delay with no assistance, I let out a scream of agony in the hall that sent other patients scurrying for cover; a nurse actually came over and told me to "keep it down". That was it for my wife; she unloaded on the nurse, demanding either immediate meds or a face-to-face with the hospital administrator. I got my morphine and slipped into La La Land.

 

I understand that ERs are often overloaded; but a bit of triage in the admitting area would be greatly appreciated. Beyond that, I have a great deal of respect for most ER nurses and docs. They work hard, under some very trying circumstances, and deal with folks who are often at their worst.

 

LL

[Dorado]

 

I've had a dozen or so stones. After the first one, you know exactly what it is when it recurs. I believe that hospital E.R.'s have a manual that advises staff to ignore kidney stone complaints; put them on a gurney in the hall, and they will either pass the stone on their own, or give up and go home. During one particularly brutal attack, after a long delay with no assistance, I let out a scream of agony in the hall that sent other patients scurrying for cover; a nurse actually came over and told me to "keep it down". That was it for my wife; she unloaded on the nurse, demanding either immediate meds or a face-to-face with the hospital administrator. I got my morphine and slipped into La La Land.

 

I understand that ERs are often overloaded; but a bit of triage in the admitting area would be greatly appreciated. Beyond that, I have a great deal of respect for most ER nurses and docs. They work hard, under some very trying circumstances, and deal with folks who are often at their worst.

 

LL

Kidney stones suck. I've had two so far and I'd sooner get shot than go through that again. First one I passed within an hour or so. It wasn't that bad. The second one took over a week. I had to go to the ER for that. I showed up at 6am. The doctor there, Dr. Helmi (Heal Me), knew exactly what I was there for. He gave me some Torodol and a prescription of pain meds and said "Good Luck, come back if you don't pass it in a week or so." He was a good doctor but there's only so much he could do. We have great nurses here. I think that's because this is a big enough city to warrant a large hospital, but small enough not to be that busy.

The one I went to in Ft. Worth had bad wait times. I'd have an appointment there at 7am, It'd be near noon before I got in. And if I had an 8am or later appointment, it'd be the afternoon before I was seen. Nurses were non-existent. They used to have some decent coffee on a cart but they had to get rid of it when someone complained about it.

[Warden Callaway]

Seeking of stones, anyone use chanca piedra to treat stones?

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217]

I'm sure Kid Kneestone would have some stories to tell.

 

I couldn't help that. I don't mean to make light of something so painful.

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

I'm sure Kid Kneestone would have some stories to tell.

 

I couldn't help that. I don't mean to make light of something so painful.

 

!!!!!!!

 

Wait...you are joking, right???

 

LL

[Allie Mo, SASS No. 25217]

Nope that's his alias and his bout was really painful. Here he is. this man,

 

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

Nope that's his alias and his bout was really painful. Here he is. this man,

 

 

 

OMG. I thought you were just getting inventive.....well, if you can't beat it, make it part of your identity...I guess!!

 

LL

[El Hombre Sin Nombre]

Having a wife that's a nurse affords me a unique perspective. As others have said, it depends on the hospital, but it also depends on the State. In some places like Texas, it's not unheard of for a nurse to have 20 or more patients to take care of per shift. That's just impossible, so they do what they can and try to take care of those that need it the most. As bad as the politics can be in California, we have mandated nurse staffing ratio. I believe in the emergency room the ratio is 1 to 4. It makes a huge difference in regards to service, but more importantly every study so far has shown much better mortality rates. So it doesn't just make patients happier, but also saves their lives.

[GunHack]

Hi .. Just wanted to say .. as counterpoint .. went to the Medical City's McKinney, Texas ER Saturday afternoon due to a high BP issue .. was evaluated, treated and admitted for 24 hrs observation .. everyone from reception to floor nurses and in between were caring, pleasant and attentive .. facility was spotless .. private room was comfortable .. food and coffee was excellent .. I would have happily stayed there for a week if I could .. don't know if it's a result of it not being the "big city" or what ..

[Trigger Mike]

ours is the only hospital in town seeing we are fairly small. other than fast food the only sit down chain we have is shoneys and ruby tuesday. there are 18 beds in our emergency room. i saw a couple of aids, a couple of nurses and nurse practitioners and 1 doctor as well as the nurse for triage and 2 receptionist . the nearest other hospital is 40 minutes away . I'm not complaining about the service as much as i am the attitude behind it. plus the dr she saw today said what was prescribed at the ER was not needed, and the other was not working.

[Grumpy Old Man]

Not complainin about ER Drs and nurses. When I was admitted in Oct, spent the night. Was told at 9 AM I was to be released that day, nobody came in to take care of me. About 1 PM buzzed nurse to ask her. She had to go to lunch. Did not get released till 2PM. They did not get a good review.

[Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438]

Seeking of stones, anyone use chanca piedra to treat stones?

 

According to Web MD, insufficient evidence to say that it is effective EXCEPT MAYBE for helping to flush blasted stones after wave therapy.

 

Just about everything my docs told be about stones 30 years ago has been disproven. As best as I can tell, there are no firm answers. I've been on meds for 30+ years that are supposed to resist stone formation; I still get them. I'm carrying a dozen or so right now, according to my latest x-rays. All I can do is pray that they remain attached and don't start migrating.

 

LL

[Finagler 6853 Life]

I was reading this the other night as Miz E was next to me in Urgent Care trying to pass her kidney stone. She got a shot of Torodal as she is allergic to morphine based drugs, an IV drip and something to relax the utter and enlarge it so the stone would pass easier. The nurse was attentive as she could be. Checked on us every half hour or so or if the buzzer on the IV went off. Miz E got an ultra sound showing the stone. Dr. came in after we first got there and then just before Miz E was discharged to give us the prognosis we already knew about. This isn't the first time. The staff was pretty attentive. Urgent Care/ER was pretty quiet. Miz E was the second patient there that afternoon. Mid way in her stay they brought in another person who was having some major pain issues as she was quite vocal about it. I just read the SASS Wire Saloon on my tablet and played solitaire.

[Warden Callaway]

According to Web MD, insufficient evidence to say that it is effective EXCEPT MAYBE for helping to flush blasted stones after wave therapy.

 

Just about everything my docs told be about stones 30 years ago has been disproven. As best as I can tell, there are no firm answers. I've been on meds for 30+ years that are supposed to resist stone formation; I still get them. I'm carrying a dozen or so right now, according to my latest x-rays. All I can do is pray that they remain attached and don't start migrating.

 

LL

 

You can find any number of testimonials on the WWW. I've read many of them before trying it. I tend to take Web MD with a grain of salt. Anything that is not prescription drug is automatically suspect and cautioned it does no good and could be hazardous to your health. Same on information about apple cider vinegar - you can get glowing testimonials from many users and others will caution you that it will eat your teeth off and burn holes in your stomach.

 

I was hoping someone is actually using chanca piedra could give their opinion. I have been since the first of the year and it seems to help.

[Maddog McCoy SASS #5672]

First, Let me say that I don't go the emergency room or the doc unless I am in really bad shape. Back in maybe 2005 or 2006, I was shooting Mule Camp and had a heat stroke which cause me to also have a migraine headache . The crew at Mule camp had been watching me and when I finished the last stage they asked if I was ok, and I said "sure, I am fine" and then fell over. They loaded me into a gator and took me up to the ambulance and the EMT hooked to am iv and gave me some fluid. They took me to the hospital and took me straight to a room and the old doctor come in to see me. (grey hair, walked a bit bent over, carrying one of those Walgreen reading glasses, the ones that just half-glasses)He looked at me, asked how I felt and I told. He told me don't worry, I can fix you up. He left and nurse came in and hooked a new bottle and shot something in in and 2 or 3 minutes later, I felt as good as new. The nurse came back in and started unhooking me and said "that was quick, I feel much better" She kinda growled at me and said "you have been asleep 3 hours, we could hear you snoring out in the waiting room". I guess I had been disturbing everybody else. She then wanted to know who was picking me up and I told her I was alone but the guys from Mule camp had brought my car so I would just go back to my hotel. She informed me that they were discharging me but I could not leave until 8 hours were up since they had given me drugs and I was to sit in the waiting room until the time was up. I went to the waiting room and she was sitting at the station watching me to make sure I stayed put. After about 20 minutes, I told her I was going out to get some stuff out of my car so I could clean up and she said ok but watched me all the way out to the car and back. I went in the rest room and cleaned up then watched until she went in the back to do something and snuck out and hopped in the car and left. Since my mom was an RN, it felt like I was being watched by her and I was in trouble as always. I can't complain, two quarts of fluid and a tranquillizer really fixed me up and I made it back to Mule Camp in time for supper. I even played in the card tournament that night, but I stayed away from the bar.

 

The next time I went to the emergency room, was July 2015, and the nurse at work made me go. I was feeling sick and my blood pressure was 150/100 and I told her I would just go home and rest and I would be fine later, but she was not having any of it. She gave me a choice of an ambulance or having a manager drive me to the emergency room. Once I got drove over there, they checked me and left me in the waiting room for about an hour and then took me in the back. They came and took some blood and checked my pressure and hooked me to a monitor and ran a 30 second ekg, and then left me in the room. About an hour later, they came back, told me they did not see anything wrong with me, that blood pressure was not really high enough to worry about and told me to go home and that I should follow up with my own doctor. I am not a small guy, but my blood pressure has always been normal or a bit low 110/70 and I really did not feel any better that when I had got there. They told me I was at like 135/95 when they sent me home and I was not impressed. They did nothing for me other than send me a bill for $600.00. I had just moved to Alabama and once I got back to work, I was told by several of the guys not to go to that hospital as it was known for poor service.

 

I guess some places are good and other lacks in service, but I hope not to spend any more time in a hospital than I have too. I have had 2 physicals since then and other than my blood pressure doing funny things every now and then (it goes high and I get a migraine headache that I have to sleep off), the doc's have not found anything wrong with me.