"Hey Joe,
My son went to the emergency room at the hospital today around 3 pm for a sharp abdominal pain. I must admit after taking the tour of the new emergency room, prior to there opening, I was very impressed, not only in the facility but the new way of triaging patients, so as to get them in and out rapidly, with little or not much of a wait. I found out today the meaning of not much of a wait is approximately 5 hours. I assume on a 95 + degree day, that they figure you would not mind waiting that long so as to allow you to cool off at their expense. Anyway, I am sure this is not the only case of waiting, but the best part was when they said he might want to leave and go to his primary doctor. Someway to run a business HUH?"
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
18 comments:
30 minute promise==On the wed. that prmc opened the new emergency room I had a acute case of bronchitis. I tried to get into my primary doc.No luck. I went to PRMC EMER. ROOM knowing that what ever I had it was going to be at least 3/5 hr wait. Exams, blood testing, x rays, take time. I think 30 minutes is an extreme promise. Hardhead
I agree that the new ER at PRMC is a failure. I recently had to take my elderly mother for serious repiratory/heart problems during the evening shift. We were there for 5 hours even though it was so empty not one person was in the waiting room. We had to deal with a very nasty nurse who falsified the treatment record stating that a doctor came in, which was certainly not true, then told us "we could just leave." Fortunately, I had the good sense to ask for the nurse in charge who was helpful. From now on, I will drive to AGH. BE WARNED, AVOID THE EVENING SHIFT AT PRMC ER BY ALL MEANS!!!!
The thing is with emergency rooms is that they are truly unpredictable. Anything and everything could happen at any time.
Now, if you have just got to the ER with a trauma like a saw accident, and have just cut off your finger, arm or leg..... wouldn't you want to be triaged ahead of the bronchitis patient?
IMHO, The problem is not making a stomach pain or bronchitis wait behind more acute injuries/illnesses, it's dangling the "30 minute promise".
my 82 year old mom laid on a gurney in the hallway near the emergency room ambulance entrance with a compound fracture of her femur bone from 2 pm until 8 pm that night when 4 orthopedic surgeons decided they couldn't do it here, she needed to go to University of Maryland shock trauma. there was a bad storm so she couldn't go by helicopter but I will say the ambulance driver and crew got her there in very short order and did a great job, she was being prepped for surgery just before midnight when my sister and i got there so we got to talk to her prior to her operation
The ER is new but they have the same old grouchy nurses. You have to change the staff to make it a better place. Have you ever heard the staff makes the business.
I dont know why more people dont go to atlantic general. They use the same ER doctors and I have never had to wait that long in the 3 times I have had to go there. The longest vist was 3 hours...... and that was from my house to there.. pain meds, cat scan, IV... and back into my house.
Unless something has changed with the new ER....the doctors at AGH and PRMC are both employees of "Emergency Physicians Group", so you will get the same level of doctor care at both institutions.
But from what I have seen, these complaints aren't about the level of care, it's about the wait and level of service by the other staff.
Part of the problem is the fact that a certain economical demographic in the Salisbury area uses the ER as primary care, with no intent on paying the bill. They know the hospital cannot refuse er care to them, so they compound the problem.
Seriously, I recommend seeking out an "Urgent Care" facility. You're paying your bill anyway, right? So go to the place that can refuse care to those who don't have the ability to pay a doctor bill, and you won't wait in line behind those.
I had the opposite experience. I had to take my 84 year old mother to the emergency room after a fall to be checked out, and by the time I reparked my car, they had her in xray, and we had an extremely timely visit. She had broken ribs and they had to put in a chest tube.. The nurses and doctors were extremely helpful and pleasant. My mother had no outward signs of trauma, so they could have easily made her wait longer. It was around 6 pm in the evening. I was very pleased with how it was handled.
PRMC DOES NOT HAVE THE 30 MINUTE PROMISE - THAT IS ATLANTIC GENERAL, you idiots. Of course it takes longer at PRMC than at AGH. The volumes are much higher here and they don't have all the illegals and ghetto queens clogging up their ER trying to get free routine medical care.
i think anon 1013 is right...AGH has the promise...not PRMC. And I think that he 30 minute promise is the time you check in until the time they call you into an exam room...not getting the results of all teh tests you have to have done. There are some tests where it would be impossible to get back in 30 minutes. Besides, I want those guys to take their time adn make sure that they get my test results right the first time.
I have had to go to PRMC several times int eh past few years. Yes, there are some times that it takes me a little longer than 30 minutes, but that is becasue it is a busy day with people who are hurt a lot worse than me. It is called triage. But most of the time I barely have had to sit 5 minutes before I have been called back into an exam room.
I think the PRMC ER does a great job with the task they have been assigned. I wonder if they can look at a deer??
The volumes are much higher here and they don't have all the illegals and ghetto queens clogging up their ER trying to get free routine medical care.
Well, I tried to be a little more politically correct.....but that's what I was basically saying.
One of the largest problems with any ER is that they are used as a primary care Dr. As the author here was using it. If your Dr. is open and it's not a life threatening emergency, go there first! If you don't have a primary Dr. get one! Jeesh!
PRMC ER is ridiculous. Salisbury Immediate Care across the street from Wawa is awesome. Yea you may have to wait 45 minutes, but a doctor will see you much quicker than at the ER. I highly recommend Salisbury Immediate Care oppossed to the ER!
The funny thing with Salisbury Immediate Care is they may send you to the ER anyway. Then you will be paying several bills when you could have gone to the ER to start with.
try the ER in Crisfield. They are kinda slow there.
Salisbury Immediate Care is a joke!!! At one time they were great but now forget it. They lost a GREAT manager at the beginning of the year and also lost 2 GREAT PA's. The last time I went in there it was horrible! I believe one of the owners of that place is an old ER PA that got fired from PRMC. That arent to tell you something. Try Your Docs In North of Salisbury
Seriously, if you break a finger to to PRMC...if it's your arm, or there is ANYTHING complicated about your situation, go to the real hospitals in Baltimore or DC.
If they don't kill you here, you'll end up there anyway...if you're lucky.
Especially the orthopedic Drs.
AGH = Ain't Going Home.
Too many walk in and don't walk back out because of lack of care.
They keep people without any kind of diagnosis (we can't figure out what's wrong), but will not send them to someone who can properly diagnose.
First and Foremost, the 30 minute promise has become a nothing more than a highlighted advertisment for AGH, an Emergency Department should be effecient and fast but most of all safe and thorough. PRMC has a skilled team of nurses and tertiary providers. Also, unlike AGH, PRMC cares for ALL priority trauma and cardiac patients which can take up time resouces and staff. The triage process will sometimes place those indivduals with non-life threatening illnesses or injuries behind those in need of care first(even if there is no one in the waiting room)
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