MedicPrincess
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Good Housekeeping, November 2005, ran an article about taking better care of yourself, protecting your health, home remedies and the like.
They suggested 4 ways to improve the care you receive in the ER.
They suggest you call your primary care physician or ANY Dr that is affilliated with the hospital your going to and have them call ahead.
---ok people do this all the time. it ties up the nurses on the phones, and rarely will it get them seen before any other ER patient that walks through the door. Then they stand at my window complaining they have to wait just like everyone else when they had a DR call ahead. UMMM...last I checked an Emergency Room didn't take Reservations.
They suggest you bring along your complete medical history, along with someone who can speak for you.
---good idea. But do they really need to know about your broken toe 4 years ago when your there today for a snotty nose?
They suggest you don't have do use the on call DR when referred to a specialist. They say to see your own DR and have him call a specialist.
---good idea. Save the on call DR for people without insurance since normally they will have to take anybody referred to them from the hospitals ER
And last, and my personal favorite....
They say, during Triage, that no matter when your symptoms actually began, you should never tell the Nurse it has been longer than 4 hours. This nurse is the person who decides how quickly your seen and if you say it has been longer than 4 hours, the nurse will think your problem is of lesser signifigance and not make you as much of a priority. BUT, you should always tell the DR when they acually began.
----LIE!!! to the triage nurse!!! She/He is apparantly to stupid to do an assessment and determine the level of severity based on other signs and symptoms, so you must LIE so you, with the chest area pain X 6 months can be seen before a person who is actually having Chest Pain. The nurse won't know the diff.
And not so long ago on Good Morning America, they had a similar segement in which they covered ways to get seen faster in an ER. They stated to Call 911 and get taken to the ER by ambulance, because those patients get seen first
They suggested 4 ways to improve the care you receive in the ER.
They suggest you call your primary care physician or ANY Dr that is affilliated with the hospital your going to and have them call ahead.
---ok people do this all the time. it ties up the nurses on the phones, and rarely will it get them seen before any other ER patient that walks through the door. Then they stand at my window complaining they have to wait just like everyone else when they had a DR call ahead. UMMM...last I checked an Emergency Room didn't take Reservations.
They suggest you bring along your complete medical history, along with someone who can speak for you.
---good idea. But do they really need to know about your broken toe 4 years ago when your there today for a snotty nose?
They suggest you don't have do use the on call DR when referred to a specialist. They say to see your own DR and have him call a specialist.
---good idea. Save the on call DR for people without insurance since normally they will have to take anybody referred to them from the hospitals ER
And last, and my personal favorite....
They say, during Triage, that no matter when your symptoms actually began, you should never tell the Nurse it has been longer than 4 hours. This nurse is the person who decides how quickly your seen and if you say it has been longer than 4 hours, the nurse will think your problem is of lesser signifigance and not make you as much of a priority. BUT, you should always tell the DR when they acually began.
----LIE!!! to the triage nurse!!! She/He is apparantly to stupid to do an assessment and determine the level of severity based on other signs and symptoms, so you must LIE so you, with the chest area pain X 6 months can be seen before a person who is actually having Chest Pain. The nurse won't know the diff.
And not so long ago on Good Morning America, they had a similar segement in which they covered ways to get seen faster in an ER. They stated to Call 911 and get taken to the ER by ambulance, because those patients get seen first
