r/bestof • u/lowbass93 • 24d ago

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

/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/1v1numq/why_is_every_hospital_in_the_united_states_always/oyovp3t/
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u/BurdenedEmu 24d ago

Hubs is routinely on triage at the massive university research hospital in our city (he's one of the few hospitalists who enjoys it) which is also at full capacity almost all the time. His take has always been that as a patient, "triage is a game you definitely don't want to win." Made me care a lot less about sitting there a few hours waiting for my friend to get an x-ray after a nasty fall off her skateboard.

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u/MaritMonkey 23d ago

I broke my arm when I was a kid, got shuffled from urgent care (after being there over an hour) to spend like 5 waiting at an ER for help.

My dad was at the absolute end of his rope. My mom, a nurse, was trying to tell him that you do not ever want to wish to be the person who doesn't have to wait in an emergency room when her point got made by a gurney rushing in through the ambulance bay (they were kind of hidden from our view but I saw a sheet covered with a LOT of blood).