Just because your primary doctor called ahead to the ER to announce your impending arrival, and just because you fancy yourself some sort of super important patient, don’t think we are going to drop everything we are doing and roll out the red carpet for your Excellency. In fact, you are going to have to sit with the plebs (God forbid, the common man!) in triage and then the waiting room while you wait your turn to be seen. Throwing a miniature tantrum out there is not going to get you seen sooner.
Oh, and if you are that important, perhaps you might want to invest in a new toupee. That dead squirrel on your head is garnering our interest more than your supposed medical emergency.
Canadian Pharmacy
Anyone in the waiting room that is screaming and yelling is usually not the sickest person in the room and should be triaged appropriately…..
My favorite person is the semi-psych patient who walks up to the triage nurse and after not being helped immediately throws them self down on the floor. I always say good acting skills, now go wait in the chair, the floor is dirty. Somebody urinated where you are lying and they haven’t finished cleaning it yet.
I always appreciate the person who says that they are leaving if we cannot get them a room immediately. Look around Jerk, the rooms are all full of sick patients that were here before you. Take a seat and if you leave take some other people in the waiting room with you, we are busy. You never coming back will not affect my job in the least.
It’s hard not to look at a picture of Marv and not think of the cross-dressing sex scandal he was involved in.
This is something Primary Care doctors need to explain to patients.
A while back I had a kidney infection. I went to primary care and they sent me to the ER and said they were going to “call ahead”. I thought that meant it was kind of a big deal and that by the doc calling they’d see me faster. Obviously, not the case. I got to the ER and it was standing room only. By the time I was finally seen, they placed an IV, hooked me up to antibiotics and sent me back to the waiting room with the 10 other people sitting there with fluids running.
Now, I’m not the type to make a scene or insist I go before Mr MI so it wasn’t a big production. But, it would have been nice if the PCD had said “I’m going to call ahead, which will make no difference in how fast you’re seen or what treatment you receive and is really just a big waste of time for me and whoever answers the phone in the ER”. At least I’d have been prepared for the wait LOL.
June, so true. The only point in calling ahead would be to give the ER pertinent info. that we won’t get from the patient. I always tell the PMD to warn his/her pt. that it will be a long wait if we’re busy.