Tremendous Waiting Times At ER? I Think I Know Why.
Have you ever been to the ER and noticed that even though there may not be a ton of people there, you end up waiting for an hour plus just to be seen?
Well, let it be a mystery no more...at least I think.
Sadly, I had to take my wife to the ER on Friday. I'm not going to go into details about why, everything has been figured out and she's on the mend. We were prompted to go by her having a fever fluctuating between 102-103.6 for three straight days. (No, it wasn't COVID).
After her spending five-plus hours there (we had to leave since we had kids under 12 and they aren't allowed to wait in the waiting room), the diagnosis was given, meds administered and a prescription sent with us on our way out.
She had to have a bevy of tests run, so we knew it was going to be a bit as we waited for results to come back on them. Her stay at this luxurious hotel though could've easily been shortened.
I mean, significantly shortened. She reached out to me around 6:15 pm saying they were getting ready to go through discharge. I decide that's the time to leave, should get there right around the time she'll be let out.
Well, after watching my kids make fake fishing poles to "fish" off the side of the parking structure there, watch a Flight for Life helicopter take off right in front of us (that was kinda cool to see up close), and finally calming down a screaming infant who was confused to as where mommy went, she arrives. An hour AFTER we got there.
Turns out, it took them that long to go back into her room to remove the IV she was hooked up to and have her sign a couple papers. To be fair, we drove past the front of the ER and noticed it was relatively busy inside the waiting room, but just think how much faster someone could've gotten a room had they taken a quick couple of minutes to remove her IV and send her on her way?
Now at the risk of getting roasted here, I'm NOT in any way saying that our nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals aren't doing everything they can do. I know they're stretched thin and I thank them for doing a job I could never fathom doing.
However, if you say you're discharging a patient, maybe come in prepared and ready to do just that rather than saying it, coming back an hour later and occupying a room that someone else could be using to get checked out and better in.