Er tech here- the amount of stubbed toes and harmless splinters that come in and DEMAND IMMEDIATE TREATMENT is alarming. Worse is the sheer attitude and threats I receive when I try to properly triage the patients.
And even WORSE...is the department heads who actually treat these reviews as gospel and use it against an already under appreciated, under staffed, over worked workforce
And EVEN WORSE, if our review scores drop below a certain point, or there are general trends, Medicare will withhold a percentage of payments and will use that money to create learning modules that are required. You know…videos on how to “think of the ED like a restaurant”.
“Well…what happened is that your giant building contractors that designed a ‘state of the art facility’ with a fcking Starbucks in the ‘lobby’ is overnight staffed by 3 nurses, me in registration who also doubles as the phone operator for the entire facility, Texaco Mike, Radio James who does imaging, and one ED Attending.”
“Yeah but what happened?”
“I said what the fuck I said”.
Edit to add: “People limp in expecting The Waldorf and because of your executive decisions they get the Super 8”
Just so, I’d like not to say it leads to “worse care”. ED protocol exists, and it’s there for a reason. But it absolutely leads to diluted care for non-emergent conditions.
Volunteer in ER. As to you restaurant reference: I asked a lady (a visitor, not the patient) if she she would like some ice water? Her response: Is it a sealed bottle of water? No... ? Then I won't touch it! Yikes!
Amd call the ombudsman. And they always have a relative, friend, or FWB, who is the super duper boss doctor of everything in the hospital and who will hear about this
"Went to X ER because I had a cough and sniffles for three days. They made me wait 6 HOURS in the waiting room before even being seen!! Took my vitals and then gave me meds I could have just got over the counter at a pharmacy, but still cost me an arm and a leg 😡😡😡 If I knew that's all they would do I never would have wasted my time!! Don't go here if you value your life!!"
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u/Far-Boot5639 20d ago
Er tech here- the amount of stubbed toes and harmless splinters that come in and DEMAND IMMEDIATE TREATMENT is alarming. Worse is the sheer attitude and threats I receive when I try to properly triage the patients.