5 Hours in the ER today

[red-beard]

My Father was replacing a pedestal sink with a regular sink with under sink cabinet. We bought a metal wheel for the dremel. Think mini, 1.5", circular saw.

As soon as I assembled it, my first thought was, man this looks dangerous. I guess I said it out loud and my mother freaked out. I calmed her down, said we'd be safe, blah, blah, blah. She and my wife went off for the ballet as the men did man stuff. Yeah! Man Stuff!

Anyway. long story short, he cut one side of the base-board to fit the cabinet. He turned off the dremel, put it down with his right hand, and reached for a chisel with his left...and touched the dremel blade as it was slowing down.

Not bad, just a slice between the thumb and pointer. Anywhere else, it would have been very minor. Unfortunately, a pocket was opened and needed stitches.

Run to the ER. Check in. Sit, wait.

20 minutes later, intake.

Note to self, when checking in at ER, note how much pain you are in, say you feel faint, drip blood on floor. Well, we did none of these...

2 hours later, finally taken into a room.

1.5 hours later, a Nurse Practitioner (very professional I must admit) stitched his hand. Then 45 minutes later, a nurse FINALLY brought his dressing and neo-sporin and in 2 minutes we were done.

Then 20 minutes waiting to check out at the end, and done. Yep, 5+ hours at the ER, maybe 15 minutes actual care.

Question for the docs. If a kid has been knocked out during a baseball game, isn't it a bad idea to feed him a BK burger while he is waiting to be seen in the ER?

Oh, and the couple that checked in ahead of us, they were in bad shape. 3 yr old fell backward hit his head on a sharp piece of furniture. The parents were in worse shape than the kid. Both of them were visibly shaking.

Other characters? Gang banger with something in his eye, came in with his posse. They got bored and left. Chinese girl in flip flops, I think she dropped a knife on her foot.

[trekkor]

Are you going to post pics?


KT

[artplumber]

Two words "Urgent care".

ER's are for heart attacks, big accidents, and drug overdoses.

It doesn't matter where the food is from or how the kid got unconscious, it's not the brightest idea to feed him. Even worse, if he's throwing up or lethargic.

[Schumi]

I have had a few incidents in the ER..

The worst was once I was splitting some wood for my father at his place with a small ax.. Came down on a swing and when I struck the log I hit it square in a knot, the ax handle broke clean of at the ax head and the ax head bounced off the log, straight up, and into my forehead. Not even joking, I don't even know how it happened. In fact I don't remember as I blacked out, but when I came to laying on the ground it was pretty obvious what had happened. I had a rather large gash to the bone in the center of my forehead. Rushed to the ER with a towel wrapped around my head.

Got there and explained that I needed stitches and maybe some sort of surgery to close the wound. A nurse barely looked at it and told me to sit and wait. 30 minutes went past by which time I had the entire bath towel red. Finally a doctor was strolling by, saw the towel, and asked what happened. I just took the towel off my head and I'll never forget the look on his face.

Long story short, I was in the OR within 5 minutes, prepped for surgery. A doctor, two nurses, and a plastic surgeon worked on it for nearly an hour and a half trying to close it up and make it 'pretty'.

I had a nice scar for several years but thanks to a damn good plastic surgeon and a lot of scar removal cream you can't even tell now. It's been about 8 years.


Hospitals can be amazing places to just people-watch. The s*** that happens around those places is just ridiculous. You gotta remember, no one sitting in an ER is having a good day.

[azasadny]

Whenever we visit the local ER, it's always at least 4-5 hours, but we're treated well.

[widgeon13]

pain in the chest always gets a rather rapid response!

[pavulon]

when in question, don't eat or drink...BK in the lungs is bad (perhaps fatal) BK.

[competentone]

If we get socialized medicine in this country, expect a wait of five hours to become five days!

[onewhippedpuppy]

We have several smaller clinics in the area that offer basic emergency services, one of them advertises "we'll see you in 15 minutes". Because they're not dealing with stabbings, gunshot victims, and heart attacks, they're quick and relatively painless to deal with. We've taken our kids there several times on the weekend, in and out in one hour or less.

[red-beard]

There is a new ER north of us. I used that one about a year and half ago, when I had my "Christmas party" slip and fall.

My dad just had some prostate surgery three weeks ago, so he wanted to go back to the same hospital, just in case.

The whole thing seemed very disorganized. And again, we never saw a doctor. For what we needed, a PA or a NP was fine. But the NP didn't finish the job. I'm going to find out if there was some sort of Union issue, division of labor. But it also seemed to me that there just wasn't enough staff there and that they needed to get one thing done, before going on to the next thing.

[Schumi]

Originally Posted by red-beard

The whole thing seemed very disorganized. And again, we never saw a doctor. For what we needed, a PA or a NP was fine. But the NP didn't finish the job. I'm going to find out if there was some sort of Union issue, division of labor. But it also seemed to me that there just wasn't enough staff there and that they needed to get one thing done, before going on to the next thing.

That's been my experience on some occasions too. It's never like the TV show ER... multitasking is not something nurses do well in real life...

[Rikao4]

having worked on the other side of the ER entrance for many yrs...
your right it's not like TV..some folks die..some get saved...
but the area is jammed with folks who think their sore throat or twisted ankle is critical..
we refer to them as GOMERS..
get out of my Emerg. room..
so you wait..
why hurry..not like your going to pay...
triage is the key...
a good trauma team is worth every penny..
so a little understanding please...cause
sooner or later..
they will look down at you..
and..you up at them..

Rika

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by artplumber

Two words "Urgent care".

ER's are for heart attacks, big accidents, and drug overdoses.

It doesn't matter where the food is from or how the kid got unconscious, it's not the brightest idea to feed him. Even worse, if he's throwing up or lethargic.

That's for sure. I got 4 stitches last summer at the EC. In and out in 30 minutes in the middle of a weekday. The last time I went to an ER was over 20 years ago on a weekend, late on a Sunday afternoon. Again, I needed about 4 stitches, but I had cut a capillary and it was pumping a bit. You should have seen the weekend warriors in there. Sports injuries and homeowner stuff. I was lucky to get out in 1.5 hours. I think they just needed the space after letting me inside from the waiting room.

Both times I got a real doc.

[red-beard]

Again, my choice would have been a different location.

Anyone have any experiences with the "Urgent Care" facilities?

[Oh Haha]

My broken foot experience was very easy in the ER. heck, I had barely signed in and was being taken to a room.

I was in and out in about 3 hours with a cast. I was pretty impressed.

[bivenator]

I used the Katy area Kelsey-Seybold urgent care for a insect bite on my daughter. Took about 45 mins and cost 125 dollars. Good care provided, were you at the Cypress North Houston or whatever it is called off of 290?
When chosing hospitals I go with ones not owned by Tenet healtcare.

[TechnoViking]

I've used urgent care for kids' fevers, a possible allergic reaction, and stuff that when I'm kind of on the fence to go to ER or not.

The waiting area is nicer than most ERs. Less junkie weirdos lurking around. But you still wait.

The main risk is they won't be able to handle your "emergency" at the urgent care. A fireman who tought our CPR class told me urgent care is like your doctor's office open 24-7.

If you have a heart attack, or other trauma in urgent care, guess what they do? You got it...they call 911 and wait for the ambulance to show up.

[red-beard]

Memorial Hospital, off of I-10 and Gessner. The area around Gessner, north of I-10 is pretty sketchy. South of I-10, in both directions, is really nice.

[red-beard]

OK, so I'll ask the docs on the board, if you have a non-lifetreatening cut, but one that will require stitches, should I go to:

A) ER
B) Private
C) Urgent Care
D) Screw it, soak a needle and thread in bourbon and go to town.
E) Chuck Norris doesn't need stitches. He stares at his wounds and wills them to heal.

[Rikao4]

one upside to the Dr. in-a box places..
you must have $$ or insurance..
that really cuts down on the gomers..
Rika