ER - the Reality of the Waiting Room

[DaisyDay]

Video: The Waiting Room | Watch Independent Lens Online | PBS Video

This is a day in the life of an emergency waiting room in Oakland California. The film maker interviews staff, doctors, patients and family members. It's not nearly as sexy as the tv show.

 

[DaisyDay]

I'm thankful I have insurance.

 

[wing2000]

....the GOP solution to health care. Shew the uninsured to overwhelmed Hospital ER's.

 

[USincognito]

Wait times in ERs shoud, even in a big city, ostensibly be quite short. But with the poor and unisured using them as sources of primary care, no wonder they are overburdened.

 

[DaisyDay]

Wait times in ERs shoud, even in a big city, ostensibly be quite short. But with the poor and unisured using them as sources of primary care, no wonder they are overburdened.

Of course, it depends on what you're there for, how many beds are available and who else is there.

 

[AvilaSurfer]

ERs here have digital billboards that show the current wait times. I don't think I've ever seen one over 25 minutes.

 

[ProudMomxmany]

ERs here have digital billboards that show the current wait times. I don't think I've ever seen one over 25 minutes.

Must be nice...we've waited upwards of 3 hours just to be triaged at a larger city ER. My husband has a chronic illness that periodically would send us to the ER for "big gun" pain control and hydration. We have waited up to 6 hours just for a doctor to give the OK for IV and meds.

 

[wing2000]

ERs here have digital billboards that show the current wait times. I don't think I've ever seen one over 25 minutes.

....the hospitals who turn away the uninsured.

 

[KitKatMatt]

I'm getting a video playback error no matter how many times I refreshed :/ so I will share my own experience with the ER:

I had to be rushed to the ER a few years ago. I was having a nosebleed that wasn't stopping, and the local doctors office was closed.

The ER was totally empty but I had to wait an hour and a half. By that time I had fainted and awakened two times and a clot finally started to form, they brought me back to see a doctor.

He looked up my nose with a light and said he couldn't do anything. He sent me home. The whole visit took about 3 minutes.

We have insurance but it doesn't cover ER visits. We were charged 500 dollars for the visit. The only thing that was used the entire visit was one of those plastic covers for the light that looks in noses/ears. They didn't even use the paper on the bed because they had me sit on a chair instead.

Something is wrong here.

 

[Joykins]

ERs here have digital billboards that show the current wait times. I don't think I've ever seen one over 25 minutes.

I waited 3 hours with an infected gall bladder. Got to a bed another 8 hours later. They said it was really busy that day.

 

[MyOwnSockPuppet]

My worst A&E (British version of ER, stands for Accident and Emergency) experience was listening to a junior doctor and a senior radiologist arguing loudly outside the cubicle I was in whether three of my fingers were broken or were just badly bruised. Honestly, if one of them wasn't broken more-or-less on the knuckle I'd have buddy-strapped them myself and just dosed myself with ibuprofen.

Little tip, if you have the option avoid the place on Saturday afternoons in the rugby season.

 

[DaisyDay]

I'm getting a video playback error no matter how many times I refreshed :/ so I will share my own experience with the ER:

I had to be rushed to the ER a few years ago. I was having a nosebleed that wasn't stopping, and the local doctors office was closed.

The ER was totally empty but I had to wait an hour and a half. By that time I had fainted and awakened two times and a clot finally started to form, they brought me back to see a doctor.

He looked up my nose with a light and said he couldn't do anything. He sent me home. The whole visit took about 3 minutes.

We have insurance but it doesn't cover ER visits. We were charged 500 dollars for the visit. The only thing that was used the entire visit was one of those plastic covers for the light that looks in noses/ears. They didn't even use the paper on the bed because they had me sit on a chair instead.

Something is wrong here.

Did you ask them for the self-paying discount? Some ERs have that - the one in the video did.

They charge you a portion of what it costs to keep the ER open, not just for the particular service you received. If other patients came in by ambulance, you wouldn't see them in the waiting room.

It does sound like your experience was pretty dismal and expensive. It sounds like a really bad option for people without insurance, especially if they are not indigent.

 

[KitKatMatt]

Did you ask them for the self-paying discount? Some ERs have that.

They charge you a portion of what it costs to keep the ER open, not just for the particular service you received. If other patients came in by ambulance, you wouldn't see them in the waiting room.

It does sound like your experience was pretty dismal and expensive. It sounds like a really bad option for people without insurance, especially if they are not indigent.

I don't know what a self-paying discount is, so no.

I know there may have been patients that I couldn't see, but it didn't help my feeling that I was going to sit there and bleed to death before I got to see the doctor.

I would figure if someone is bleeding so much they are passing out that it would be pretty high on the "important" scale. I have a history of nosebleeds and before that incident I had been rushed to the doctor for an emergency cauterization because I was losing so much blood (something my grandma mentioned to the nurse).

 

[DaisyDay]

I don't know what a self-paying discount is, so no.

That's for people who are paying the bill in its entirety themselves with no negotiated discounts like insurance companies get. It's worth asking for, if it's not too late.

I know there may have been patients that I couldn't see, but it didn't help my feeling that I was going to sit there and bleed to death before I got to see the doctor.

I would figure if someone is bleeding so much they are passing out that it would be pretty high on the "important" scale. I have a history of nosebleeds and before that incident I had been rushed to the doctor for an emergency cauterization because I was losing so much blood (something my grandma mentioned to the nurse).

Sounds really bad and scary.

Are there any 24-hour outpatient clinics near you? It sounds like this may happen again.

 

[KitKatMatt]

That's for people who are paying the bill in its entirety themselves with no negotiated discounts like insurance companies get. It's worth asking for, if it's not too late.

Sounds really bad and scary.

Are there any 24-hour outpatient clinics near you? It sounds like this may happen again.

It's been a few years so I think it would be too late Thanks for the info though, I'll remember it if it ever happens again.

There was one that was just built but it's 45 minutes away, and the closest ER is 8 minutes away. If it ever happens again I'm not sure if I'd take the chance of driving that far, but I'll have to see when/if that day comes.

 

[USincognito]

Of course, it depends on what you're there for, how many beds are available and who else is there.

Hence my use of 'ostensibly'. I was going to list some variables like time of day or whether there's an epidemic, but felt the one word was more succint.

 

[Provision]

I live in a State where it is mandated that you have health insurance. Other than the bureaucratic mess that one has to go through, it works out pretty well.

Also, as one who has had many ER visits recently due to various ailments, depending on the severity of your diagnosis, it can take several hours before the nurses and Dr's. treat you. Actually, they triage you fairly quickly, but if what you are going through is not considered a severe emergency, you can wait up to 2 hours before they do something as simple as give you medicines or an IV.

 

[freezerman2000]

We've got a system here that works..Urgent care treats those who do not need the services of an ER..non critical.
ER sees those who have the critical situations..incoming ambulances(UC does not take ambulances),and those cases that need the services that UC can not provide.
It has cut down on the wait in the ER drastically.
Both are administered by the hospital system,so the same competence is in place at both locations.

 

[cow451]

....the hospitals who turn away the uninsured.

Typically not serving the Saturday night guns, knives and overdose crowds.

 

[Panzerkamfwagen]

Typically not serving the Saturday night guns, knives and overdose crowds.

Here's a hint...don't do drugs.

(I don't care if people do drugs as long as they pick up the tab for the results of their poor choices.)