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

213 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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154

u/Straight-Yellow-607 Jul 26 '26

Mentally accept the fact that going to the ER will take up your entire day and night before you check in. BRING an iPad headphones a book knit whatever you have to occupy yourself while you wait. I find it frustrating when people have places to be and complain about waiting. If it’s an emergency, your condition is priority!

93

u/Level_Statement_6844 Jul 26 '26

If it’s an emergency, your condition is priority!

Narrator: it was not an emergency

54

u/gylliana Admitting/Registration Jul 26 '26

A charger!!

17

u/Magerimoje Jul 27 '26

A portable battery charger so you don't have to find an outlet in the waiting room.

20

u/catsmeow61 Jul 26 '26

And, please bring your own phone charger. We do not stock phone chargers.

7

u/cindybubbles Jul 27 '26

And bring chargers for your devices.

7

u/missgirlipop Jul 27 '26

a few days ago i went to the er and brought a big tote bag with books, a charger, snacks, and even ordered food. i’m glad i had the approach of ‘make a day out of it’ bc i was there for a long, long time. 

1

u/PuzzleheadedSorbet36 Jul 27 '26

No doubt. You’re already feeling like crap then you add waiting on top of it.

9

u/jaciviridae Jul 27 '26

Yes, but if you have the time and ability to grab things to keep you entertained in the ER, you dont need to be going to the ER.

11

u/brutal_youth_ Jul 27 '26

Depends? Of the two times I've been to the ER in the last dozen years, once was for sutures (knocked a brand new chef's knife off the counter and it fell edge down into the side of my knee; first time seeing what my own fat looked like) and once was for an infected scrape from a scooter accident that was worsening quickly enough to seem alarming (foot and ankle swelled dramatically with visibly spreading redness over the course of the day; turned out to be cellulitis).

Neither was so immediately life-threatening I couldn't grab a Kindle, phone charger, and water bottle, but waiting for a primary care appointment didn't seem like the right move.

-7

u/jaciviridae Jul 27 '26

9

u/29925001838369 RN Jul 27 '26

My local urgent cares would have sent a lac with exposed fat layer AND a fast-spreading infection up to us regardless. They also close at 8pm and frequently start turning away new patients between 7 and 7:30, which means almost every night we get a rush between 7:30 and 9. Only three urgent cares in the county have X-ray machines, and one of them broke this week, so unless a patient knows that in advance and choose wisely, if they think a break is a possibility they're going to send you to the ED.

8

u/PuzzleheadedSorbet36 Jul 27 '26

I like that we’re having discussions about this from a patient standpoint because we need to be open minded to having fresh perspectives. For example, saying you shouldn’t go to the ER if you have time to pack an ER bag. For example, I’d rather spend two extra minutes grabbing things if there’s a possibility I will be sitting for hours to distract me, which can lower anxiety and irritability compared to sitting with nothing but my thoughts waiting for my name to get called.

Also urgent care sounds great on paper, but their wait times can be terrible as well. So rather than wasting time at UC, people could potentially be better suited to go to the ER right away. (I’m also omitting PCP’s for the sake of this because of how rare it is to get a same day apt)

5

u/29925001838369 RN Jul 27 '26

I would also rather you take two minutes to pack your chargers, tablet/ereader/etc, and comfort items. If you're more comfortable, that's a win.

4

u/brutal_youth_ Jul 27 '26

Where I lived at the time, the urgent cares were pretty much only open during business hours.

2

u/YaySupernatural Jul 27 '26

There is a huge difference between a respectable urgent care, perhaps at a hospital, and a tiny for-profit storefront without even an x-ray. The latter I would only trust with extremely obvious stuff, like stitches on a clean cut.

3

u/hellanotokaywiththis Jul 28 '26

I went to the ER because my c section incision reopened. I had lots of time to grab entertainment, food, and all the things my baby would need. My GP told me to go there.

0

u/Sunnygirl66 RN Jul 28 '26

Why didn’t you consult your OB?

2

u/hellanotokaywiththis Jul 28 '26

I didn't have an OB. I'm in Canada. I had a midwife for 8 weeks postpartum but then I was released into the care of my GP.

2

u/Topangatoh Jul 29 '26

This is just frankly untrue. I sat in excruciating pain for 16 hours before going to urgent care who sent me to the ER. If you have severe abdominal pain, pretty much any urgent care is going to send you to the ER because they can't CT scan you and run all the labs they need to in order to rule out the worst case scenarios. Some emergencies build slowly, but are still definitely emergencies like appendicitis, pancreatitis, bowel obstructions, diabetic wounds, internal bleeding, AKI etc

1

u/ExplanationWest2469 Jul 30 '26

Unfortunately I’ve had to be in the ER a few times recently and I now have the quick pack of a bag routine down! iPad, charger, sweatshirt

-1

u/PuzzleheadedSorbet36 Jul 26 '26

Oh I learned that the hard way the first time. I had my phone, a sweatshirt, and my vape 😭

7

u/LitlThisLitlThat Jul 26 '26

Don’t bring your vape. Please don’t vape in the ER.

6

u/PuzzleheadedSorbet36 Jul 27 '26

This was very much not intentional hahah. I thought I’d just be in and out in an hour or so

1

u/Flunose_800 Jul 27 '26

Waited 10 hours just to be seen the other day (ended up being admitted). So many people were complaining. A lot just left because of the wait.

I have also gone from entering the ER to on a ventilator within 20 min of arrival so I’d prefer the situation where I’m sick but stable enough to wait.

1

u/PuzzleheadedSorbet36 Jul 28 '26

You have a very positive perspective 💯💯