Wow, where do I start? (exhales deeply) As many of you know, I’ve had my share of recent hospital stays. I would profess to say that 60% of the time they have gone.well & I have been well cared for. BUT oh boy did a recent visit to the Emergency Department here at a local hospital that’s obviously in trouble just completely rub me the wrong way.
(exhales again) Ok here goes, I took a bus late at night to get to the.hospital rather than call & ambulance even though I was delusional from pain & fever. I arrived in the ED about the time when they had just sent the entire waiting room back to the treatment area so it WAS COMPLETELY EMPTY. Now this particular hospital was in dire straits which I suspected before I arrived but it REALLY was the closest place to go.1st issue, I waited almost 45 mins to be triaged & there were NO OTHER patients being triaged! The triage nurse who was actually a good egg, had been summoned back by the drs to help the other ER nurses because they were THAT shortstaffed!
Next part of my nightmare, After finally being taken to treatment area in obvious pain & with a verified fever of 102.5 as well as a 135BPM heartrate (eh more on that later) I still had to wait over an hour to see the Dr! The lab had come within the 1st 15 mins & taken my blood already! Mind you, I’m still screaming in pain & at this point having chills from such a high fever. FINALLY Dr arrives & I clearly tell him what’s going on, he claims I will be given pain medicine quickly & then scampers off to GOD KNOWS WHERE. Remember we are already into hour THREE & I have blacked out a few times already. Nearly ANOTHER HOUR later my nurse arrives with pain & nausea medicine because by this time I have begun to hurl uncontrollably. This means that FOUR hours after I arrived to an EMPTY waiting room, I am FINALLY being given medication to relieve my immediate symptoms. FOUR HOURS! HOW MANY SLAS where violated that night? And I’m talking about only in the 1st few hours. Completely unacceptable! And I am.insured, indeed with one of the best insurance companies in the country when it comes to reimbursement rates. POTUS OBAMA, you have started on the right path but healthcare reform needs to go much further. There needs to be greater accountability & more stringent service level requirements that our healthcare providers MUST be held accountable to. It is unacceptable for anyone to not be properly taken care of when they arrive in ED, BUT the excuse providers use about having to care for too many uninsured & therefore not being able to provide the best care, well I’m living proof that fowl doesn’t fly! This is Joyll Cambridge, The Humanist Exec, Have a fantastically wonderful day!
THE Humanist Exec 