That's my evening 3 nights a week. Especially the part about patient dissatisfaction on wait time to treat non-emergent issues in an ER. If you walk in without complaints of difficulty breathing, chest and arm pains (with clinched fists), or slurring your speech and half your body not functioning; you're going to take a seat and wait for an hour or more, sometimes the better part of a day.
The only thing I'll point out, is if you do just some of the things she says about treating your flu (take OTC meds in proper dosage and hydrate), you have no business in either the ER or other parts of the hospital. Go to a walk-in clinic, now available in most Walgreens and CVS pharmacies, and they can give you the same advice, a prescription for Tamiflu (if they have any, and if they don't, the hospital isn't a magical place that has a better supply), sell you hydration drinks, and tell you what OTC meds to buy. It's also cheaper than the ER.
One of the biggest problems with healthcare in this country is people don't have a clue about how to use the various levels of care. When they had to pay for it all out of pocket; they naturally realized the Hospital/ER costs more than the Clinic, which sometimes cost more than the family doctor.
As everyone remembers, I'm sure, I have a 6 month refills coming up and didn't want to go to the doctor's office and called to see if they would call in refills. No, they said. You must come in for the blood and urine tests. I don't want to, I said, the flu is running wild and I don't want the exposure. Fuck you, they said, you will come in or no refills for you.
Here's what's happening: a couple of years ago, after putting on a good bit of weight (which I then lost, completely), they caught me with slightly elevated blood sugar levels. This put me in the "pre-diabetic" category. This allows them to put me in a 6-month testing regime. My last two 6-month tests have been normal across the board. Except for a long term back problem I'm perfectly healthy for an old guy.
They're milking me for the test money. I'll submit and will probably go in next Tuesday. I will get the flu. I will die. It's been nice knowing you guys.
I have a nurse practitioner that I see and she's attached to a family practice, which is horrible - because sick kids. They have hand sanitizer all over the place and they actually have a stack of face masks in a box for anyone who wants to wear one. I grabbed a couple last time i was there for the purpose of wearing them when I return to the docs office, or on an airplane.
Onion glasses have foam around the outer edge. Great for chopping onions and keeping the tears out, and I would assume they might help keep the microscopic flu particles from landing in the eyeballs.
I am fully prepared to look ridiculous during the flu apocalypse.
I tried that video again - found the "Skip Ad" button hidden amongst the day trading graphics, and what do you know - she is awesome.
"We did an eyeball assessment when you came in and you are not currently dying". Works for me.
I was finally well enough to leave the house today, for the first time since I went to Urgent Care (or is it unguent care - I guess that depends upon whether or not you are Joe Kennedy III) and am feeling okay. Much better. Definitely not flu, and it will soon cease to be a cold.
I was in an ER a couple or three years ago with my Mother and this 20-something guy came in with a female. He had his hand neatly bandaged up with a just little blood showing and he was holding it up at about head level. He was sitting directly across from me in the small waiting room and I could tell he was in great pain and trying not to show it.
A closer look informed me that there were only three fingers sticking up out of the bandage. Listening in on the female's phone call informed me that he had had one of his fingers ripped off in a machine at work and they had bandaged it there and sent him to ER.
There must have been a lot of people "currently dying" inside the ER because that po' mofo sat out there for at least a half hour. I was hurting along with him after a while.
Believe it or not, loss of a digit isn't a life or death situation. But most of the problem isn't the people "currently dying" inside the ER, but rather the ones not dying but already taking up beds either waiting to be discharged or to be transferred to another bed within the hospital. That's why ER nurses are surly about the patients they see. Most of the patients don't have a reason to be in the ER, and since ACA, visits to the ER for non-emergent care is up; because individuals no longer see the real cost of it.
One of my wife's favorite thing is when assessing a patient, who is obviously sick; they'll ask, when did you first notice the symptom? "2 days ago." So 2 days ago you noticed something was wrong, but it wasn't an emergency then? "Well it didn't seem a problem, but it hasn't gone away." Did you set up an appointment with your primary care physician? "No, I didn't think it was necessary, but now I'm still sick."
A patient like that requires an initial assessment by a nurse. Then they have to be seen by a doctor for a diagnosis. Even if the patient is determined to be overall fine and set for discharge; the next steps require the nurse to record all the conversations and medical observations and treatments, then the discharge papers are written, then the doctor has to come back and sign the discharge papers, then someone has to escort the patient out, and now housekeeping needs to come and remake the bed, because the sheets are now contaminated with whatever disease and need to be removed and replaced before the next patient can be called back. Now consider that a typical nurse has 3 to 5 patients at any given time. And a single doctor will have more than that. And the reason they have so many is because the level of care doesn't need to be high, because the patients presenting don't need it.
But consider if once every 4 hours (3 times a shift for nurses), a patient comes in really needing ER care? Let's say heart attack. That patient will take a nurse to bag them (compress a bag to keep them breathing), a nurse to monitor vitals (take regular blood pressure checks, make sure the tele box is running fine), a nurse runner to get meds, and a doctor. Now 6 to 10 patients have temporarily lost their nurse and doctor, who may be busy for 30 minutes or more.
My wife was in an auto accident a week ago. She took a precautionary trip to the ER via ambulance. 6 hours, a couple of X-rays and a head and neck CAT scan later, we were gone. It took the two radiologists three hours to review her scans and approve discharge.
At least two extra hours for flu exposure, but fortunately we are not gonna die. Well, we are gonna die due to the tax break, net neutrality, GITMO staying open, and "dreamers" being vilified, but we won't die from the flu.
21 comments:
Nurses are adorabe.
Nurse? All I heard was an up-talking freak droning on about day trading. Where's the nurse? I WANT MY NURSE! NURSE!!!
Yeah, I am going to be a real treat when I get to the home.
She needs a voice coach. Or, she needs to be Mnnie Mouse @ Disneyworld.
That's my evening 3 nights a week. Especially the part about patient dissatisfaction on wait time to treat non-emergent issues in an ER. If you walk in without complaints of difficulty breathing, chest and arm pains (with clinched fists), or slurring your speech and half your body not functioning; you're going to take a seat and wait for an hour or more, sometimes the better part of a day.
The only thing I'll point out, is if you do just some of the things she says about treating your flu (take OTC meds in proper dosage and hydrate), you have no business in either the ER or other parts of the hospital. Go to a walk-in clinic, now available in most Walgreens and CVS pharmacies, and they can give you the same advice, a prescription for Tamiflu (if they have any, and if they don't, the hospital isn't a magical place that has a better supply), sell you hydration drinks, and tell you what OTC meds to buy. It's also cheaper than the ER.
One of the biggest problems with healthcare in this country is people don't have a clue about how to use the various levels of care. When they had to pay for it all out of pocket; they naturally realized the Hospital/ER costs more than the Clinic, which sometimes cost more than the family doctor.
"5 flus walk in, 15 flus walk out."
Sing it sister. You couldn't get me into an ER right now if you paid me.
12 hours and she is that perky and cute. no fair!
How about an awards show for nurses like her.
Fuck Hillary.
ndspinelli, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
She's a pro. I'm going to bookmark this in case I get blindsided by a carrier.
Wash yer stinkin' hands!
She's right.
As everyone remembers, I'm sure, I have a 6 month refills coming up and didn't want to go to the doctor's office and called to see if they would call in refills. No, they said. You must come in for the blood and urine tests. I don't want to, I said, the flu is running wild and I don't want the exposure. Fuck you, they said, you will come in or no refills for you.
Here's what's happening: a couple of years ago, after putting on a good bit of weight (which I then lost, completely), they caught me with slightly elevated blood sugar levels. This put me in the "pre-diabetic" category. This allows them to put me in a 6-month testing regime. My last two 6-month tests have been normal across the board. Except for a long term back problem I'm perfectly healthy for an old guy.
They're milking me for the test money. I'll submit and will probably go in next Tuesday. I will get the flu. I will die. It's been nice knowing you guys.
If you go out and about, do not lick any door handles.
Rabel - wear a mask and some onion chopping glasses. Please, don't die. We need you.
I have a nurse practitioner that I see and she's attached to a family practice, which is horrible - because sick kids. They have hand sanitizer all over the place and they actually have a stack of face masks in a box for anyone who wants to wear one. I grabbed a couple last time i was there for the purpose of wearing them when I return to the docs office, or on an airplane.
Onion glasses have foam around the outer edge. Great for chopping onions and keeping the tears out, and I would assume they might help keep the microscopic flu particles from landing in the eyeballs.
I am fully prepared to look ridiculous during the flu apocalypse.
I use only sweet onions now and haven't cried once since exclusively cutting them.
I tried that video again - found the "Skip Ad" button hidden amongst the day trading graphics, and what do you know - she is awesome.
"We did an eyeball assessment when you came in and you are not currently dying". Works for me.
I was finally well enough to leave the house today, for the first time since I went to Urgent Care (or is it unguent care - I guess that depends upon whether or not you are Joe Kennedy III) and am feeling okay. Much better. Definitely not flu, and it will soon cease to be a cold.
How can anyone cuss at such a pretty woman? Is everyone in the hospital gay?
I was in an ER a couple or three years ago with my Mother and this 20-something guy came in with a female. He had his hand neatly bandaged up with a just little blood showing and he was holding it up at about head level. He was sitting directly across from me in the small waiting room and I could tell he was in great pain and trying not to show it.
A closer look informed me that there were only three fingers sticking up out of the bandage. Listening in on the female's phone call informed me that he had had one of his fingers ripped off in a machine at work and they had bandaged it there and sent him to ER.
There must have been a lot of people "currently dying" inside the ER because that po' mofo sat out there for at least a half hour. I was hurting along with him after a while.
Believe it or not, loss of a digit isn't a life or death situation. But most of the problem isn't the people "currently dying" inside the ER, but rather the ones not dying but already taking up beds either waiting to be discharged or to be transferred to another bed within the hospital. That's why ER nurses are surly about the patients they see. Most of the patients don't have a reason to be in the ER, and since ACA, visits to the ER for non-emergent care is up; because individuals no longer see the real cost of it.
One of my wife's favorite thing is when assessing a patient, who is obviously sick; they'll ask, when did you first notice the symptom? "2 days ago." So 2 days ago you noticed something was wrong, but it wasn't an emergency then? "Well it didn't seem a problem, but it hasn't gone away." Did you set up an appointment with your primary care physician? "No, I didn't think it was necessary, but now I'm still sick."
A patient like that requires an initial assessment by a nurse. Then they have to be seen by a doctor for a diagnosis. Even if the patient is determined to be overall fine and set for discharge; the next steps require the nurse to record all the conversations and medical observations and treatments, then the discharge papers are written, then the doctor has to come back and sign the discharge papers, then someone has to escort the patient out, and now housekeeping needs to come and remake the bed, because the sheets are now contaminated with whatever disease and need to be removed and replaced before the next patient can be called back. Now consider that a typical nurse has 3 to 5 patients at any given time. And a single doctor will have more than that. And the reason they have so many is because the level of care doesn't need to be high, because the patients presenting don't need it.
But consider if once every 4 hours (3 times a shift for nurses), a patient comes in really needing ER care? Let's say heart attack. That patient will take a nurse to bag them (compress a bag to keep them breathing), a nurse to monitor vitals (take regular blood pressure checks, make sure the tele box is running fine), a nurse runner to get meds, and a doctor. Now 6 to 10 patients have temporarily lost their nurse and doctor, who may be busy for 30 minutes or more.
She has real life snap chat eyes.
My wife was in an auto accident a week ago. She took a precautionary trip to the ER via ambulance. 6 hours, a couple of X-rays and a head and neck CAT scan later, we were gone. It took the two radiologists three hours to review her scans and approve discharge.
At least two extra hours for flu exposure, but fortunately we are not gonna die. Well, we are gonna die due to the tax break, net neutrality, GITMO staying open, and "dreamers" being vilified, but we won't die from the flu.
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