I Have An Idea

****WARNING****

Venting about to take place

Why is it that the patients that have the biggest bull Sh*t complaints are also the biggest, most self absorbed, self important, *ss holes?!!

So this is a story of one of our most recent adventures and is in no way isolated.

This patient had a headache. OK. To be fair, a migraine. Still, it's just a really bad headache. I've had one, my wife has them frequently, I understand what they are and how bad they can be. So the patient, I'll call him John, decides to go to the ER.

Here I could make the argument that he shouldn't be going to an ER but I won't. I understand that due to economic times and ignorance people believe that the local emergency department is their only recourse for any medical attention.

My issue begins with John's visit to the ER after he gets there. John signs in and tells the receptionist about his ailment. Then, in order of importance based on threats to life and limb, he is placed on a wait list to see the triage nurse. This nurse does a quick evaluation to determine how serious someone's injuries really are. John is then placed on an ever changing and updating waiting list for a bed in the ER where he can be seen by a doctor. Not only can he be bumped down the list by someone walking in with, say, a heart attack but he also gets bumped when an ambulance brings in a guy with an amputation.

After a short wait (to be honest I have no idea how long John had to wait in the ER waiting room but I know that he went in early in the morning when ER's are generally slowest) John decided that he had waited enough. John walked across the street to the first pay phone he could find and called 911 (at least he walked out of the hospital....I've been dispatched to the waiting room of the ER). He figured that he would be seen faster if the ambulance brought him in.

Somehow I doubt that any of my readers would do this but let me dispel this rumor right here, right now. If you are not a patient with a true emergency and you are brought into the ER by ambulance, you will still end up waiting just as long as you would have had you walked in. When I worked on a box (an ambulance) there were plenty of times where I would wheel the patient in on the gurney, through the ER, straight to the waiting room and tell them to have a seat.

Luckily for me AMR showed up to meet John before I did. They waived us off as we approached. I hope they put his *ss right back in the waiting room.