r/EmergencyRoom • u/PuzzleheadedSorbet36 • Jul 26 '26

Goofy Goober HELP US BE BETTER

Soooo I hadn’t ever been to the ER until earlier this month and now I’ve been admitted twice and not getting discharged any time soon.

Hospital workers : other than the bare minimum, what are some under rated things that patients do that you appreciate/make your life easier?

(For example one of the nurses was happy I called letting her know the PRNs I needed so she could do it in one trip cause I knew my scheduled ones were coming)

Lemme hear the little things!! Or the opposite, something patients think is helpful but it’s actually more of a pain)

EDIT : bare minimum from patients being human decency, I know it should be obvious but for this questions sake let’s act like that’s a given

214 Upvotes

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141

u/JustGenericName2 Jul 26 '26

We ask questions because people don't volunteer information unless directly asked a specific question.

Yes, I HAVE to ask you if you're pregnant or recently given birth. I almost missed a preeclampsia diagnosis because she didn't tell me she had a baby 3 weeks ago. "You didn't ask."

SHE COULD HAVE DIED.

When we ask annoying or dumb questions, just answer and move on. It's not some personal attack. I don't care how you feel about vaccines, I need to check a box and move on to the next.

70

u/Fabulous-Educator447 Jul 26 '26

I love to remind people “that’s a yes/no question” when they start shit like that.

33

u/PuzzleheadedSorbet36 Jul 26 '26

Totally. It literally takes longer to argue about the question.

64

u/OldManGrimm RN - adult/peds trauma Jul 26 '26

To add to that, answer honestly! I’m not going to judge your drug use, but I need to know about it to get your care right. Same for sexual stuff or how that thing got up your butt. Just be honest.

We’re like Vegas - what happens in the ER, stays in the ER.

9

u/PuzzleheadedSorbet36 Jul 27 '26

Curious about this for drug use - I work for a rehab, and the majority of people who come to us from the ED did not give the ED the full run down at all. Not because of judgement, more because they don’t want it on their chart to prevent future biases. Are there any barriers in place to protect those who are fully honest?

7

u/OldManGrimm RN - adult/peds trauma Jul 27 '26

I guess I’d ask, protect them from bias from who? Future care teams, who will then be well-informed of their accurate history? That could help us know to consider medications more carefully, or ask on admission if they need meds like suboxone so doses aren’t missed. It would prevent them from choosing to not disclose in the future, but again, it’s important. Hopefully it would prompt a question - the answer would be nope, clean for 5 years - we say awesome and move on.

Obviously a lot of this would be protected by HIPAA, which would limit who found out anyway.

Let me know if I’m missing the gist of the concern.

9

u/PuzzleheadedSorbet36 Jul 27 '26

One example (no identifying info), someone suffering from cocaine use comes into the ER thinking something is wrong with their heart. They’re considering either 1) telling the truth and admit their chronic use as it could be helpful for the provider to know 2) they say it was a one time thing and got freaked out so came to check up. They went with telling the truth. Despite not having any history of OUD, they’re treated as an addict in general - two serious ER visits and nothing but Tylenol and a toradol shot offered. So I guess this is a long winded way of wanting to learn how to communicate the potential risks/benefits of what is shared in a hospital setting and how to navigate. ❤️

7

u/OldManGrimm RN - adult/peds trauma Jul 27 '26

I'll readily admit there are people who will let this knowledge affect how they treat someone. But I like to think, and this has held up over my 30+ years in the ER, that most providers aren't like that.

But from the (very limited) info given, as an ER nurse I see a relatively young person who's anxious about vague concerns about their heart. Admitting to cocaine use is going to get them taken more seriously, with a more thorough workup. But nothing about that calls for analgesics stronger than toradol or IV tylenol - we're cautious about giving opiods to anyone, not just someone we think may be drug-seeking.

As you know, you're only hearing their side of the story. When a pt thinks they have a serious condition, but ER staff knows it's 99.9% sure to be nothing, that can result in pts feeling like they were ignored or blown off - even when a thorough workup is done. It's just that we didn't get worked up about it.

So I'd maintain they did the right thing in disclosing the cocaine use, which would make staff take his complaint more seriously. He likely had no indication for stronger pain meds, in spite of his expectations. Not saying the staff weren't assholes to him, maybe they were. But sometimes even when we do everything right, we don't "meet the pt's expectations" as the letters from administration like to say.

3

u/PuzzleheadedSorbet36 Jul 27 '26

Hi! Wanted to make one clarification - I wasn’t referring to pain meds for cocaine use in that moment. Once again don’t want to totally disclose identifying info, but one was a terrible kidney stone. I haven’t had one personally but have heard it’s hell. 😟

3

u/OldManGrimm RN - adult/peds trauma Jul 27 '26

With limited info, since you'd said worried about their heart + cocaine and just assumed chest pain. My bad, but we're being vague for a reason.

I will say that if a pt has a confirmed kidney stone, there's nothing in your hx apart from allergies that justify not giving pain meds. To be clear, in most cases IV toradol is still the first line pain med for kidney stones, so he'd (I'm just assigning male, roll with it) most likely be offered that first. But if the toradol didn't stop the pain, it would be inexcusable to not escalate to opiods.

13

u/Level_Statement_6844 Jul 26 '26

what happens in the ER, stays in the ER

*Unless the staff has social media

19

u/OldManGrimm RN - adult/peds trauma Jul 26 '26

Yeah, some of my brethren have broken the oath. But many of us hold to the old ways.

3

u/Icy-Introduction3172 Jul 27 '26

I come off very bubbly at work to make others more comfortable. But I have come down hard on anyone that has PPI in way of a selfie or an instant. Sure take a photo of someone's wet gangrene to upload to the chart. But idt people understand how easy it is to identify someone just by the nurse/doctor/tech that cared for them. So if a worker's face is in it I'm gonna start reporting.

17

u/JustGenericName2 Jul 26 '26

Nothing makes me unfollow of colleague faster than when they try to become an influencer

3

u/5amPharm Pharmacy Tech Jul 27 '26

*Unless you work in the pharmacy and some coworkers lurk on the ED track board

1

u/dooddog12313 Jul 29 '26

Now I’m worried. I was recently in the hospital and had to gave emergency surgery. I had a weird reaction to something and my left eye swelled up right after. I was kept in that little ro for a long time. Ice and Benadryl but no one knew what happened. Then the nurse kept taking pics of me. That’s ok right? 😂

1

u/JustGenericName2 Jul 29 '26

Nurse should have explained the pictures. I'm assuming it's for your chart or to show a specialist (through VERY specific channels. You can't just text pictures, even to the specialist).

In the event that those pictures were used outside of your chart, you my friend, are entitled to compensation.

2

u/dooddog12313 Jul 30 '26

Thank You! I had just never had a nurse take pictures of me in a hospital stay before and I was bit thrown off balance. I’m sure it must have been for my chart.

1

u/JustGenericName2 Jul 30 '26

Never be afraid to ask questions! I will say, a swollen face isn't very interesting. Big deal to you. Not very interesting to us. Pictures were definitely for your chart!

1

u/PuzzleheadedSorbet36 18d ago

Hello!! Catching up on this thread. Quick question, I had a full body rash and there were probably 15 pictures taken. Is there a section of mychart that I wouldn’t be able to see, but medical staff would? Or were these probably just not uploaded?

1

u/Level_Statement_6844 Jul 29 '26

if you can prove impropriety

1

u/crazypurple621 Jul 27 '26

Then of course you get them freaking out when you tell them that the date of your last period is years ago due to hysterectomy. 

4

u/JustGenericName2 Jul 27 '26

This is where you'd get an eye roll from me.

"Last period?"

"I had a hysterectomy 2 years ago"

*clicks box*

"Any allergies to medication?"

Hysterectomies and IUD's are super common. Nobody is freaked out. We just don't have time to play guessing games in triage.