or so your told?
... hear all the bad stories about massive waits in the ER etc.. here is my reality. Keep in mind we have one hospital to serve an town of 20,000 and many smaller towns that have no hospital at all so its pretty busy and often times there is only one doctor on at night.
We took our two boys to the ER last night at 10:30pm. We took them to the triage counter she did all the pretreatment questions. While I was getting my younger son registered (at another desk) she did my other son and weighed him etc with my husband. Then took me to the children's room in the ER (an actual room not a curtian room). My other son joined us. They gave my kids juice, cookies, playdo, rubber bouncy balls, toy necklaces and a stuffed animal (they get to keep all these).
Doctor saw us within 20 minutes and there was only one doctor on. Within 30 minutes they had an xray tec to take my one son for an xray. We got back to the room. It was now about a 11:30ish. They gave my one son a steroid for his asthma because of his chest infection his puffer wasn't working. My other son a dose of antibiotics for his pneumonia they saw starting and some tylinol and two more doses of tylinol because I mentioned to my husband that we were almost out (had one more dose left).
Then we got home a little after midnight.
Cost to me? Notta..
yep pretty crappy huh?
Is that the norm? I've heard bad things about it but it can't be any worse than our medical system. Ours is fucked.
Quoting randomosityblog:Is that the norm? I've heard bad things about it but it can't be any worse than our medical system. Ours is fucked.
yep that is the norm... I mean if there is a grotesque accident etc.. your triaged as lesser priority like anywhere else they do what they can. But really I have never waited a major amount of time in the ER ever.. our system isn't perfect but its not this crazy mess that I find Americans are lead to believe.
My DH and I have considered moving to Canada simply for the medical benefits alone. The last time I was in the ER with my mom (probably 9 years ago), we waited 4 hours in the waiting room alone, then another two for one of the ER doctors to see her. Our system here in the US is fucked.
Years and years ago, my brother got a massive ear infection while we were traveling through Canada. Lacking any other options, my parents found a hospital (we were seriously in the middle of no where) and took him into the ER. It took longer for him to be treated, because they prioritized the Canadian citizens / residents who were also there but other than a slightly longer wait than your boys had, his experience was pretty much the same. I believe they might have been billed for some charges, since we are US citizens, but they weren't asked to pay anything up front. My parents were impressed.
Actually the rest of my day sort of speaks for it too.. we have a boy with a huge abcess in his throat at work. I took him to the doctor who within the hour had him to the ENT specialist who then drained it, gave him an iv, antibiotics and steriod.. they left the IV in and today he goes back for more antibiotics and steriod to keep it frm blocking his airway. They even gave us a huge bag of medication from the hospital to take to home care (across the parking lot where they do out patient care) so we wouldn't have to pay for them.
I'm in los angeles and have waited over 8 hours to be seen, And I have seen a woman who was waiting with me drop and have a heart attack while she waited.....
What is your greatest accomplishment? UPDATE
- acaisha
on Feb. 17, 2012 at 12:40 PM