First, let me say that I do really love our new ER, I love that the rooms are all walled in and mostly private. I love that it has its own departments, making wait times shorter..
However, the other day I had H1N1, and I experienced a bad reaction to Tamiflu. The new 811 service said I needed to go to the ER, so I did. They have a quarantined waiting room for flu patients – but I was never shown where it was. They just yelled my full name across the room for everyone when they were ready for me.
I was taken to an “intake” room with only chairs, where a nurse asked me 3 basic questions that the EMT had already asked and then left me alone. My friend that brought me was not allowed in with me (even though she is a nurse).
I was finally placed in a room, alone, again my friend was not allowed in. A doctor assessed me, told me he was “going to give me a needle, and then water 30 mins later”. He then left, and a nurse came in, jabbed me with a needle, and left…. without giving me a basin to vomit in, without giving me a call bell. I was totally alone after an injection for 30 minutes, in a room with closed doors, and no way to summon anyone if anything happened.
The nurse returned 30 minutes later to give me water, but again did not ask how I was doing, or provide me with a call bell or a basin to vomit in. When the inevitable vomiting happened, I was forced to use a garbage receptacle, as the room I was in did not even have a washroom facility available to me.
When I was finally released, the doctor said I was free to go. No one showed me how to get out of the maze that is the new ER, and no one escorted me out – I was completely alone again until my friend came to pick me up.
I can’t seem to find anywhere on their website that allows me to contact someone – but it seems to me that this was unsafe. Giving someone an injection and leaving them unsupervised for 30 minutes afterwards, and also letting them leave the hospital alone after an ER visit is just plain unsafe and distressing for the patient. I know nurses are busy, but this is common sense – I was terrified that I was going to have a reaction to this medication as well and no one would notice until it was too late.
—Outpatient out of patience
This article appears in Dec 10-16, 2009.
maybe you should just be grateful you’re alive.
The title of this bitch is misleading. “I could have died”? From what…impatience, loneliness?
I’m curious about what the “bad reaction” to Tamiflu was. Sometimes when the doctors don’t show concern it’s because there’s nothing to be concerned about.
The OP should have been given something to vomit in though, but she could have spoken up as well.
Um, you don’t have a mouth or command of the English language to ask questions, especially when they came back.
I had my first experience in the new emergency room last weekend. My grandmother was ill and being transferred by ambulance and I went to meet her there when she arrived so she wouldn’t be alone and afraid. She is ninety and forgets alot and becomes frightened easily. That is why she is in a nursing home.
When I arrived at emergency, I told them the situation and they advised me she had just been picked up and was en route. They told me to sit in the waiting room and they would come and get me when she arrived. I sat in a chair, right in front of their desk. After half an hour passed, I asked the girl why it was taking my grandmother so long to arrive and found out that she had been there for fifteen minutes. She said she forgot to tell me but instead of apologizing, she blamed me and said she told me to remind her because she forgets alot (she did not say that or I would have). I asked her if her boss knew she was such a moron and thanks to her an old woman is probably alone and afraid.
Fortunately, I got to my grandmother before the doctor arrived (so I could answer questions to assist in her treatment) and by the way, she was looking for her clothes so she could leave. She had been in the room for fifteen minutes, totally left alone. There were only four people in emergency when I arrived there. I know mistakes happen but this is just one example of many that either myself or people I know have experienced! If ANYONE who runs this place is reading, PLEASE do SOMETHING!!
I’ve been in emergency rooms in foreign countries. You guys have absolutely no idea how lucky we are in Canada.
I was in South Korea with a friend who had appendicitis and we were refused entry to three hospitals before I finally called the American Embassy (my friend was American). We had a doctor in 15 minutes and several other doctors following us around the next two days.
Be glad that you got in at all.
“I’ve been in emergency rooms in foreign countries. You guys have absolutely no idea how lucky we are in Canada.”
You know, it bothers me when people make statements like this. It seems like a bit of a cop-out.
I think the majority of Canadian citizens are aware that we have it a lot better than many other countries. Just because we’re better off than South Korea though, does not mean we don’t have a right to demand more from our government, our healthcare system, etc. There will always be less developed countries than ours, but that doesn’t mean that we should just be complacent with what we have. This kind of attitude seems to be a driving force behind the pervasive apathy of so many Canadians. I hear it all the time, statements about the environment, “Well at least we’re not as bad as China”, statements about silencing of protesters, “Well at least they don’t gun us down in the streets”, statements about our school systems, “Well at least we have access to free education.”
Just because we’re doing better than some, doesn’t mean there’s not plenty of room for improvement, and that we shouldn’t raise our voices when we think something isn’t right. I’m not saying I side with the OP, I just don’t think their complaints should just be so easily brushed aside.
I forgot to point out that Canadians, in general, don’t really have it much better off than South Koreans (excpet for Seoul’s appalling traffic accident rate). It’s a first world developed country. The health care syste in South Korea is actually better than Canada, except if you’re not Korean.
There’s room for improvement with everything, but if you’re going to haggle over every detail then you’re just going to go crazy. Pick your battles, and all that. The OP didn’t speak up when she should have. The guy with the grandmother has a case but just against the receptionist, which he can easily take to the hospital admins. Perspective people.
It’s a hospital, not a clothing store, you aren’t going to get the same ass-kissing customer service you are used to in other areas of life. ER staff doesn’t have the time to sit with you so you don’t get lonely and they have more important things going on than remembering to tell sammy when nanna shows up. I’ll take having my feelings hurt if it means living to see tomorrow.
I agree with meOw that there is room for improvement and there are lots of bad attitudes in hospitals, but a little perspective and understanding from the general public is needed. If you want to be coddled in the ER, you’ll have to pony up the tax dollars to hire more staff or you can sign up as a volunteer and help the ER add more of a human touch to the whole experience. I know some doctors are aware of how important patient communication is, but sitting with someone for 30min while you wait to give them water is 30 min that a doctor or nurse is NOT doing other important things.
I liked how they did it in Australia where they had a two-tier system: both private and public. The public system there is also quite good, probably similar to Canada’s, but if you want that little bit of extra care and shorter wait times and whatnot, you can pay for insurance to use the private system. I wish this is something we would look into a bit more here in Canada, but everyone freaks out at the mere thought of an “American-style two-tier” health system. Perhaps if we called it an “Aussie-style system,” people wouldn’t be as concerned.
What’s the difference with the Aussie system? 2-tier is 2-tier and it is counter to the concept of universal health care. People should receive treatment based on need, not income. If our system isn’t meeting the demand, then we need to add more resources and/or use the ones we have more efficiently. Adding private heath care to the system only increases the overall costs for accessing health care.
I’m by no means an expert, but I do know that there is this sort of two-tier system in Australia and most Aussies I talked to seemed to have good things to say about it. “Aww yeah, bloody good system we got here I reckon, mate.” Regardless of income, they still get very decent and timely care, it’s just that if you pay for private insurance you get those little perks that you don’t with the public system. It’s a lot like having both private and public schools. I believe it helps to free up more government funds for the public system, as well. Once again though, I’m no expert. Check out Wikipedia for more info., I gotta get ready to go out soon (wooh I actually have something semi-cool to do on a Saturday night!).
Miles is right, you can’t expect anyone to sit with you to keep you company, unless it’s medically necessary. Nurses even if there’s not a lot of people in the ER, cant just hang around with patients because they need to be available to help others. And when doctors aren’t actually seeing patients in the ER, they’re seeing clinic patients, and patients who have already been admitted.
The new ER rooms do have washroom facilities in them, they’re just hidden away in a cupboard, which they definitely should have told you.
And Sammy 15 minutes really isn’t a reason to complain. It can take that long just to make a lap around that place looking for someone, so while the receptionist should have just said yes she’s here, and brought you in, having to wait for 15 minutes is not a big deal.
my shoulder is still fucking sore from that shot,3 days ago.
Generally I agree with me0w, but OP is still being a little dramatic… “I could have died” “No one escorted me to the door” “I was left alone for 30 minutes” Come ON. OP comes off as one of those people who blows every illness out of proportion to get sympathy and attention. Grow up, OP… you’re not seven anymore, although it’s a wonder you survived past that age if you’re this needy.
I’m the OP here – I came into the ER after not keeping even water in my stomach for 24 hours, a massive migraine and uncontrollable shaking (the bad reaction to tamiflu). I wasn’t even going to GO to the ER but the 811 nurse said I should and was going to call an ambulance if I didn’t get someone to take me.
It’s not that I was lonely and needed someone to “coddle” me. I know the nurses/doctors are busy. It’s the fact that I was given an injection of an unknown medication and left COMPLETELY alone without anyone checking on me afterwards. After already having a bad reaction to one med, this terrified me. If they had full patient load, fine – but at least give me a call bell or let my nurse friend in to watch me. I’m super fortunate that I did not have a bad reaction to it – but had I actually had a reaction, no one would have noticed for a full 30 minutes (and that’s more than enough time for anaphylaxis to kill someone). The room I was in definitely did NOT have a washroom. I went looking in the “storage closet” which was indeed, a storage closet with no sink or toilet.
I work in a medical clinic, I know how busy the medical industry can be, and how lucky we are here in Canada. However, I also know that whenever any of our doctors/nurses give an injection, that patient is supervised every 10 minutes for a bad reaction up to 30 minutes later.
The intake people never asked me more than if I was fully diagnosed with H1N1 and if I was on Tamiflu. I never had a chance to ask for a callbell or basin, they were walking out of the room as they were talking to me.
While it is possible that the room didn’t have a washroom, I didn’t mean a closet, but actualy they have cupboards, low ones like in a kitchen under the sink, and you open the cupboard and a toilet is attached and pulls out, it wouldn’t be in a seperate room, but essentially the room you’re in turns into its own washroom. It’s weird, but saves space.
scrubsgirl…the medication was unknown to you. They should have explained what you were getting and if they didn’t you should have asked. But either way, they wouldn’t have left you alone if they thought you were in danger. Even though the events and reactions you were experiencing were new to you, they are routine for the medical staff. For the injection you were given there might have been no risk for allergic reactions.
I have had only a few experiences with the ER here and aside from the usual problem of wait times I have found the staff to be generally professional and compassionate. I am sure there are some staff who are normally pretty bad in both of those areas who make something that can be a scary and worrisome experience even worse through poor communication and interpersonal skills. It seems to me that poor communication is to blame in the OP’s example and while I agree that it shouldn’t be that way, it’s not life-threatening behaviour. At the end of the day, if you come out of the ER in better shape then you went in, the staff did their jobs…even if just barely.
What a whiny bitch the OP is!
I hate these fucking people who turn every interaction into a victimization. Nothing ever happens around them, it always happens TO them.
You are way to up in your own head if you think this was a near fatal interaction. Your anxiety seem off the charts.
Dr. Lovinglife says take 50 Mg of this new medication called “Hardenupitol” and call it a day.
I can’t believe it; I agree with kaytard.
Dr.Fever: yikes, how does that feel?
Maybe, OP, you should read THIS story: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1157408… and be grateful you only had the flu.
Also: you could’ve asked for a basin to barf in.
Lovinglife— I, uh, pooped a little.
You wrote the laundry bitch, didn’t you, Fever?
Heh.