Oh boy, this post is burning up the healthcare blogs. It is SO spot on to what happens in a busy ER, especially in a big city / urban environment. I'm guessing she's not from a huge medical center, or she would post more about drug related ED visits.
I remember my roommate in grad school when she was doing her ED residency. She would come home after a 36 hour shift, sobbing about the woman in the ER whose nasal cavity she had rebuilt for the second time in her rotation, due to cocaine abuse.
Summary of the post follows - but PLEASE go read it - it's more real and better than any episode of ER ever written.
To review:
1) Don’t be an asshole 2) Lose the weight, stop smoking, take your damn psych meds, and take care of yourself! 3) Its not our fault or responsibility that you’re sick/injured. In fact, it’s probably yours. 4) Folks that arrive dead usually stay dead 5) It’s not like on TV 6) Years of patient abuse have (clearly) left us all a bit burnt out and jaded, so. . . 7) Don’t forget your manners when you come to my ER : )
I'm fine with almost all of that, except for one thing: that it could possibly take 8 minutes to "log in and look up a patient" is completely unacceptable. That had better not be the case at Hopkins, or they need to get my entire department over to the Hospital.
Looking up a patient's complete records should take only as long as it takes to enter a SSN, or, at worst, to enter their name and select them from a list of matches.
I'm fine with almost all of that, except for one thing: that it could possibly take 8 minutes to "log in and look up a patient" is completely unacceptable. That had better not be the case at Hopkins, or they need to get my entire department over to the Hospital.
Looking up a patient's complete records should take only as long as it takes to enter a SSN, or, at worst, to enter their name and select them from a list of matches.