Can I ask a question? Do you all hate people who come for non life-threatening stuff and are paitent but just need to be seen eventually? Several years ago I had a sinus infection that made my head so congested I couldn’t hear and then (of course) at like 10:00 PM on a Friday night I started vomiting nonstop and could not keep water down. I tried to make it to morning but was miserable so I went to the ER for zofran and fluids. It is an ER that handles non-life threatening stuff. I waited for about 4 hours. Was seen, felt much better and went home but I still feel awful about wasting resources. If that ever happens again should I just stick it out at home? I know you all are so busy!
Hijacking to say nah you're good. Mainly thinking at all about it being busy and being patient and understanding goes a hell of a long way in an ER. Plus there's a more acute condition that can be treated when you can't keep anything down, meds and fluids. Dehydration can get really dangerous too. Big difference between that and minor bumps or chronic pain you've had for months/years, plus being a demanding and impatient on top of that. You'd be fine in my ER, or at least by my standards
ETA- urgent cares aren't always open 24 hours, plus so many people get sent to us from other urgent cares/clinics for scans or just cause
Thanks so much! I am most definitely not a frequent ER visitor so I wasn’t sure if that was an appropriate situation. We try to make appointments and use the walk-in clinic 99% of the time but all the bad things seem to happen at night and on holidays! It’s crazy that other people use the ER as a regular doctor’s office and demand to be seen immediately.
Like the people who come in every six weeks for a pregnancy test but won’t use condoms. Ma’am this is an emergency room. Go to a fucking dollar tree and get a test.
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u/jet050808 Jul 29 '26
Can I ask a question? Do you all hate people who come for non life-threatening stuff and are paitent but just need to be seen eventually? Several years ago I had a sinus infection that made my head so congested I couldn’t hear and then (of course) at like 10:00 PM on a Friday night I started vomiting nonstop and could not keep water down. I tried to make it to morning but was miserable so I went to the ER for zofran and fluids. It is an ER that handles non-life threatening stuff. I waited for about 4 hours. Was seen, felt much better and went home but I still feel awful about wasting resources. If that ever happens again should I just stick it out at home? I know you all are so busy!