Danielle Slentz's Blog

Upon feeling deathly ill this past Friday, I decided it might be best to visit the Emergency room (all doctor’s offices were already closed)!  My husband and I got there around 8:15 and were greeted by about 10 people sitting and waiting.  We approached the “Check In” where there was a young woman taking information down on a tiny strip of paper.  She asked for my name, date of birth, signs and symptoms and when they occured.  I slipped on a mask (because I think I was the only one who took the time to read the sign stating that if you had flu-like symptoms, to do so) and we found two seats (we would have moved closer to the t.v. if we knew how the night would play out)!  After about two hours of painfully waiting, we were finally called up to be “triaged” in.  The nurse, again, asked my symptoms, what my fever had been, took my blood pressure and my temperature.  Then he slapped a bracelet on me and told us we’d be the next up and it would be pretty soon!  Thankfully, we were finally going to get somewhere and I started feeling relieved that I’d soon know what was wrong with me.  After we had went back to our same two seats, another hour had creeped by.  My husband went to the front desk to ask what was going on and the receptionist simply said “I don’t know, I can try to go back and see”.  Except, she never did.  She just fiddled around with some paper work, made copies, sat at her desk and checked more people in (you know, writing their name and symptoms on a tiny strip of paper)-disgusting and angering, huh!!!

So as three more hours dragged by and my aches and pains got more and more severe we decided to let the receptionist know that we would be leaving.  I asked if we’d be able to get our $100 copay back and I was simply given a number to call.  I told her the only reason I decided to come in was because of the severe lower back pain I was having along with a high fever and flu-like symptoms.  I just wanted to rule out kidneys!!!  Upon hearing my desperation, she asked us to hold on while she got the same nurse we already saw.  I let him know and he dismissed any ideas of kidney problems, seeing that I wasn’t having any other symptoms that went along with it.  All he let me know was to take some Motrin for the aches and pains, drink plenty of liquids like Gatorade and get lots of sleep.  It took about 5 minutes for the nurse to tell us all of that.  That’s pretty much all I came into the Emergency Room to find out.  It took 6 hours and $100 to do so!

That’s what the Emergency was…and this is how it should be in the 21st century!  Each patient, as long as they were well enough and old enough to, would enter in their personal information and symptoms, etc. onto a computer system that would automatically log them in to the system where a nurse could monitor and keep track of it.  Each station would also have a blood pressure cuff (just like I use to use and play with in the drug stores) that the patient could use on their own.  The readings would automatically get registered under their information and sent on its way.  This way during Triage, the nurse would only have to take their temperature and verify that the signs and symptoms they entered, looked correct.  Hopefully by eliminating all of this back and forth registering, waiting, waiting some more, getting “Triaged” in, waiting, waiting some more and then going back to see a doctor for something that the nurse could have told you, service would be a few hours faster!

Just a Thought!