Holiday ER Not Memorial

NOTICE: Our patients are treated in order of severity of illness or injury and not in order of arrival.

The engraved plaque outside ER 105 at Brooksville Regional Hospital proved to be a farce. Arriving shortly after 4 pm this past Sunday, Memorial Day weekend, the registration clerk in the Emergency Room advised the patient, Pat, that the waiting period would be three to four hours. It seemed excessive considering there were, at the time, but four or five other people waiting for medical attention, none of whom appeared to be in as bad a shape as he.

Pat’s face was swollen, very visibly so, especially his upper lip that had ballooned over a thirty-six hour period when a chipped tooth earlier in the week broke Friday evening. I first saw his condition Saturday evening when he and Lexi, his daughter, stopped by. I was truly shocked. He was in a fog from the infection that had spread to his nasal passages and kept in a fog from taking prescribed pain meds for a herniated disc.

Pat passed out on my sofa so he and spent the night. Zonked out until mid afternoon Sunday, he woke with a series of painful groans with a realization the only option was to go to an Emergency Room.

The job function of the person behind the desk was clearly clerically limited. Her actions led me to believe that she more a front line of defense rather than the first step to receiving medical attention. On this particular day, the priority of receiving care was one of first come, first serve. Even then, the care he received was out of order.

Other ER patients appeared to be in much less discomfort. Each was quick to get up from their seats when called by the triage nurse – one after another, in and out with no obvious ailments. Even after the others had been tended to, patients arriving later were taken out of order, before Pat. Questioning the person at the desk, the only response was she had no control – it was out of her hands.
Up to that point, the loudest wailing in the room came when the electricity went out and her data entries on the computer were lost.

At another point, a mother rushed into the ER with her baby girl, maybe three years old, demanding the attention of a nurse NOW, which she kept yelling. The only response from the woman behind the desk was that a nurse had been advised. By then, she had moved from behind the desk to face a wall, shuffling papers, seemingly to avoid further contact with the screaming mother.

The only words spoken by the little girl: “I need a band-aid.” No panic, no tears. Within minutes, a nurse simply taped three-inch squares of gauze over the wound. Although I didn’t see how severe the gash was, there was no blood appearing on the temporary bandage. The little girl was content as mom pushed her around in a wheel chair.

After waiting three hours, I became a bit testy, verbally suggesting Pat would get better care if he had insurance, were an illegal immigrants or – Pat had to hold back a laugh at this one – he would have been better off seeing a veterinarian!

The woman behind the desk asked why I was being mean to her, as did another person in the waiting room. The problem with the situation was that, at no time did a nurse appear in the waiting room to evaluate ‘the severity of injury or illness’ of those seeking medical attention. The ‘desk person’ was the only hospital employee available. (There was no security guard until 8 pm.)

After finally talking to the triage nurse, and given the care of a physician, Pat was released within fifteen minutes, just long enough to receive an antibiotic booster shot and a ten minute wait to make sure there was no adverse reaction, during which time a script was written for an oral antibiotic to be taken until he could see a dentist during normal weekday business hours for a tooth extraction.

From the get-go, there was nothing else that could have been done. The needed attention was unnecessarily delayed. There were no emergency ambulances on that day; otherwise the wait would have exceeded the five hours.

An employee assured me that on most days the ER operates efficiently. But the hospital has initiated severe cutbacks in hours, thus coverage. Another hospital employee, who works in transportation services – he pushes gurneys to and from technicians who perform tests to diagnose patient ailments – is retiring soon, at which time the position is expected to be eliminated, leaving the technicians themselves doing the push and pull. Volunteers will offer limited assistance due to liability concerns.

This may lead to longer delays in responding to and evaluating the needed care of patients. My assumption is that this could, in turn, increase overnight admission$.
Unfortunately, the timing of Pat’s needed care was on the weekend, the cost of which was in excess of two thousand dollars. I paid the ‘good faith’ down payment – one dollar.