nurses our ER system needs an overhaul.

1 those of you that work in the ER know about this. i went to the ER twice with pretty bad symptoms and was told each time that the wait would be 4 hrs to see a doctor. today i was in the ER and i was seen by a triage nurse who measured my BP which was 186/116 and my heart rate was 149. they gave me a 12 lead ECG and told me to wait. i did not want to wait that long cause i was dizzy and my head was numb. after having a close almost syncope episode,they lady at the desk yelled at me to sit down instead of taking me in to see the doctor. i left very angry. i was not gonna wait 4 hrs. i called the hospital twice to get the results of my ECG and they refuse to tell me. i still feel like crap and i have a hand held BP monitor that always shows lower results then they really are and 4 hrs after my ER visit,my diastolic BP is still anywhere from 94-99. i just wanted to vent cause i know you nurses know this experience that patients have all too well.
There's no way you're serious. And didn't you want to be a DNR, anyway?

Well I'm sure you're much safer at home posting on the internet than you would have been in the ED waiting room.

Wait so you almost passed out and decided to stand up?

Quote from nobody067those of you that work in the ER know about this. i went to the ER twice with pretty bad symptoms and was told each time that the wait would be 4 hrs to see a doctor. today i was in the ER and i was seen by a triage nurse who measured my BP which was 186/116 and my heart rate was 149. they gave me a 12 lead ECG and told me to wait. i did not want to wait that long cause i was dizzy and my head was numb. after having a close almost syncope episode,they lady at the desk yelled at me to sit down instead of taking me in to see the doctor. i left very angry. i was not gonna wait 4 hrs. i called the hospital twice to get the results of my ECG and they refuse to tell me. i still feel like crap and i have a hand held BP monitor that always shows lower results then they really are and 4 hrs after my ER visit,my diastolic BP is still anywhere from 94-99. i just wanted to vent cause i know you nurses know this experience that patients have all too well.

next time call 911 and then you may at lest make it in the back !!!

the er that i walked out of hear called me the next day so thay may call you to come back .but the watt time can be a problem if you can not sit up "witch was why I had to leave" the last time I had to wait I was able to lay down the hole time .

Quote from Trekfannext time call 911 and then you may at lest make it in the back !!!

Don't talk to the Nurses, talk to the the insurance companies and the Government, they're the one's who really provide treatment, not the Doctors or Nurses.

So at what point did you call your primary doctor to make an appointment?

Quote from LegzRNSo at what point did you call your primary doctor to make an appointment?

to that guy- i was already standing up,there was no real room,the ER was too crowded with a guy puking his guts out and a very ill neonate. to legzRN- i do not have a primary doctor. i will go to the ER again,this happens in way too many hospitals. i read about it and it sucks to have a first hand experience.

Well I'd like to complain about patients with extremely high blood pressures who think that its safer to go home with a BP 180/120 because the 'wait' was too long and 'nobody' was listening and thus they went home to have a stroke. THEN THEIR FAMILY wants to take it to the local news that the ER just let this patient die.Really?! Are you crazy? Your vitals are pretty impressive there...deadly really...and yet you chose to go home? Because of the wait? Yet it is unbelieveable that someone 'might' be a little sicker than you, not that you weren't in need of care, but that someone else needed a room a tiny bit sooner than you (active heart attack...accidental limb removal, etc) and thus you were going to have to wait a minute? I know they said 4 hours...that's a standard line, a pure estimate to get the person there with the snotty nose to go sit back down until the more acute patients are seen. The symptoms you describe are acute...I'm betting it would have been no more than 30 minutes a wait for you BUT no, you are to American to be patient. If you have a stroke it's your own fault.I agree with the statement that the whole medical system needs an over haul. I'll agree that long waits in the ER for semi emergencies are annoying for the patients. I'll even agree that ERs and floor nurses and doctors miss sometimes and someone dies because of it.BUT I will not agree that RNs/MDs/CNAs are MAKING you wait for service because we just feel like it. Waaaahhh, poor baby has to put up with other sick people waiting to be treated because he/she thinks that we are back there picking our nose.Nobody067 we know it's annoying to vist the ER, and really is there a need to make your visit to the ER a pleasent one? ER is short for EMERGENCY ROOM or ED is for EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT. What about those words makes you think that any part of your visit will be pleasent? Because I know that when I think of ER I'm thinking of a quite room with plush furniture and a buffet in the corner. Doctors, Nurses, and CNAs standing around in a prim and orderly fashion axiously awaiting a signal from me to provide service and no other customers...uh, I mean patients....to attend to.Uh, no. Emergency to me means an ATTEMPT to provide some order out of chaos. Heck, I'm not even and ER nurse and I'm aggitated with you. Are you a nurse? Have you worked in medicine? How can you not know that you need a pcp? And then have the gall to be upset to have to WAIT in an ER...you can't have worked in medicine anywhere I know.