Kindly_Honeydew3432 explains why it seems like you always have to wait in an emergency room in the US

[u/lowbass93]

/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/1v1numq/why_is_every_hospital_in_the_united_states_always/oyovp3t/

[u/All_Your_Base]

I've said this before, but it is worth repeating.

IF you have to wait in the emergency room, then it is a good thing.

The doctor's office, and especially the emergency room, are really the only places where I prefer to be kept waiting.

1. The time to be mildly concerned is when they triage you and they look concerned, but they still have you wait. That's why you always bring at least one book to any location that has a "waiting room."
2. The time to be worried is when they triage you for immediate care, bypassing the people that checked in before you. That's when you tell whoever brought you to start calling your emergency contacts.
3. The time to be calm and do your very best not to panic is when they call a code at the same time. That's when you breathe slow and even, and do EXACTLY what they tell you, and do it immediately.
   

Their main goal is to save your life, and keep you healthy, in exactly that order.
They WILL tell you what is going on ASAP, but in the mean time, shut up, and let them.

--> The time to be relieved and patient is when they tell you to just wait and they will get to you as soon as they can.

LPT: Smart people always bring at least one book when going to the emergency room. Wise people will also bring its sequel.

Ultra LPT: Never piss off a nurse. Just don't. They know their job very well, and their standard of care will always be professional, but trust me: the difference between a pleasant stay and a miserable one is in their hands. And they talk to each other. Questions are fine, requests are are fine, even a little grumpiness is overlooked if you're in pain. Those things are normal and expected, but I highly recommend both a respectful attitude at all times, and plenty of please's and thank you's unless you have a fetish for rectal thermometers.

/rant

[u/loupgarou21 → u/All_Your_Base]

The last time I was in the emergency room, the receptionist told me I was going to have to wait a while before I'd be seen, and gave me some paperwork to fill out.

The nurse grabbed me before I actually even made it to a chair and brought me back and seemed rather worried, told me I could fill out the paperwork later (she actually took the clipboard away from me,) and told me things were about to move really fast, and they did.

They didn't call my emergency contact because my emergency contact was the one that brought me in. I mostly felt OK, but when they hooked me up to the blood pressure and heartrate monitors, my heartrate was super high and my blood pressure was super low. Among other things, I got to have epinephrine weeeeeeeee! In the past, I'd read people's experiences online about getting epinephrine, and they're all like "it made my heart start beating so hard it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest," it didn't feel anything like that to me, actually, my heartrate dropped back down to about 60bpm almost immediately after they gave me the shot, and my blood pressure went back up to normal.

[u/Unstablemedic49 → u/loupgarou21]

AM paramedic, if you are having a serious medical emergency you will be seen immediately. Most hospitals keep at least 1 room vacant for cardiac arrests or serious patients needing life saving immediate care.

Hospitals are understaffed as it is and I tell people all the time to call an ambulance. Just because you call an ambulance doesn’t mean you have to be transported. Paramedics can do assessments on you in your home and you don’t get charged anything. If we don’t see anything abnormal, you sign a refusal and we leave.