The new er @ prmc sucks we have been here since 4:30pm and my father in law just got taken back at 8pm to be seen.
Moonie
Anyway it is now 10pm and they have only done mri. I thought they remodeled to provide better faster service?
Moonie
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40 comments:
You should have went to AGH in berlin. Only takes about 5 min to get in the back there. Have had the unfortunate luck to go there a few times and it is always the same short wait. They are awesome at atlantic general
AGH is 30 minutes.
AGH, LOL!! My neice broke her arm. The tool jobs at AGH x-rayed the wrong arm. It might be quicker getting in the ER but the screw-ups hurt one person, the patient. Healthcare on the shore has always been laughable, this just confirms it.
I have been to the new ER three times since it opened and have had wonderful experiences each time! The facilities were beautiful, and the doctors, nurses and staff were very efficient and professional!
Unfortunately the facility does not improve the quality of the help.I had an experience several weeks ago with my mother who was taken in immediately , but placed in an ER room for six hours before being admitted.During that time I watched as personnel would walk past the room ignoring the IV monitor alarm and trying to pretend no one was in the room. My opinion of PRMC is this - OVER PRICED AND VERY POOR SERVICE FACILTY!!!
If you have a stomach ache or a sprain, go to PRMC. Otherwise go to a real hospital like the ones in Baltimore or Washington DC.
Especially if it involves orthopedics. Those people have no clue.
I agree PRMC ER is too big and takes wayyy to long for patients to be seen!
Hey Anon 7:17...
I'm curious. I'm guessing that your neice (who was UNFORTUNATE to break her arm) speaks? Probably speaks English, yes?
Why then didn't she TELL someone that they were looking at the wrong arm? If she it too young to do this, why then didn't a parent step up and say something?
Look.... you can't start blaming someone else for your own problems. People have to start taking a positive step to protecting themselves too. Not just complain about it later.
Speak up... you found the time to do it here.
PRMC has the worst reputation
of any hospital I have been to.
It all boils down to who they
hire. The reception area in the ER
is manned by low pay no credentialed people. They don't have a clue about prioritizing
medical situations . They are on a down-hill trend.
i personally think our drs are not the brightest around here. If anything ever happen to my children i would be taking that 2-3 ride across the bridge where they know what they are doing. The medical feild is lacking for help but that is still no excuse for the hours and hours wait in the ER and the false diagnosis that the drs give you b.c they "think" they know whats wrong.
A few years back I laid in the ER for 13 hrs. , I was very ill and
tried to walk out to get help. They stopped me and found out I
need to be operated on now. I almost died. No faith in that place!!
We had a very positive experience at PRMC. We got in and got out in 1 hour with stitches and a tetanus shot.
The longest time time period was waiting to be discharged after he was stitched. That took 15 minutes, considering we walked in the door at 7:50 and out at 8:50
that was 25% of the time we spent there.
If we could convince everyone to actually use their family doctor for non-lifethreatening events or non-emergencies then the real emergencies can receive much better/quicker treatment.
Take a look next time you're in the waiting room, look at the people running around, laughing; yet, they are the ones waiting to be seen....
Look at the 25 year old girl holding on to her jaw, "cause her toof hurts"....
Check out the 40 year old limping into the E.R. because he has an ingrown toenail....
See the college student who just discovered a weird drainage oozing out of his johnson....
....the ear ache, the arthritis flare-up, the headache in a 20 year old, the gout flare-up....
It could go on and on, but seriously America's Emergency Rooms are overwhelmed due to this very issue....people need to go to their family doctor, or for people that don't have a doctor, seek medical attention at a quick care center such as the Main Street Med Center, TLC, 45th Street Med Center, etc....
Save the E.R. for emergencies!
How is Mr. Goetz doing?
Hopefully, alright.
Regards to him and all...
You are probably there because he is sick and has been for 3 weeks and it was nice of you to drive him there instead of calling for an ambulance at 345am when you dont need one. In the back they are busy with pts who are a high priorty having a heart attack or stroke.
The flip side would be you are a real emergency but all the welfare babies who dont want to wait for a doc appt are useing the ER as their personel doctor tying it up with so much bullshit they cant get to the emergencies.
whos fault is it that alot of these people have no health insurance?
go to a primary care doctor first, maybe they cant.
i am not making excueses just the reality of things these days.
Maybe BIGGER, Not BETTER! Not enough staff to handle the work load.
I went to the ER several years back for pelvic pain because of ovarian cysts. I knew that was what was wrong, the pain was extremely intense, so I went. The PA on duty gave me a bottle of pills, said nothing was wrong. Two days later I had to be carried in because the pain was so bad I couldn't walk. What does that have to do with using the ER for non emergency things? I have heard and been the recipient of so many bad care stories from PRMC its ridiculous. Its just like we were arguing back and forth about a long time ago on this blog. There is no competition, and therefore it doesn't matter and wont get better because it doesn't have to. If hubby's entire family weren't local, it'd be stuff like this that would have me packing and moving onto the western shore.
It's an ER people! Most critical go first. Dam stupid brainless robots.
See the problem with the new ER at PRMC is there is not enough nurses or techs or doctors to fill the spaces they built it so big but not enough help. There is an express part of the ER for broken bones, back pain, stiches, ect. but that part is only open from 9 am to 9pm because of staffing issues. But, sometimes the nursing care you get sucks because they are from another country and they understand nothing you are telling them this example I was rushed to the ER by AMBO placed in a room with the EMT's getting a very low BP and I was in a very bad asthma attack could not even breathe it took the EMT guy to yell for help then once they got me stable they asked if I had any allergies to meds my husband gave eveyone to the nurse then i want you to know not even 7 minutes later she brings a med in and gives it to me I began to feel funny my husband asked her what she gave me she told him and it was what I had a bad alllergy to that almost killed be so my throat started to close up and she said to me you will be okay it took my husband to run out of my room to the nurses station to get a PA to help because she just stood there. This problem is sad and I even work at PRMC and face these ppl everyday one thing is to say it isnt getting better it is getting worse.
ER is new and bigger but they have the same old, grouchy, incompetent people working there. New doesn't mean better. To be better you have to get new competent staff. The nurses are more worried about gossiping and flirting with the paid men than working. The local doctors are fabulous and caring, its the outside doctors that don't give a $hit. If you can't see Dr. Todd or Mike no need to even go. I have had my bad experience also....almost lost my child. If I didn't have a medical background he would not be here today. It is sad when a doctor tells you to go home and not come back and then less than 4 hours later your child is on a respirator flying in a helicopter to Johns Hopkins.
Cruggly - "whos fault is it that alot of these people have no health insurance?"
Their own damn fault. Why do we seem to believe that someone else is responsible for OUR OWN well being?
I think health insurance should be like car insurance, everyone buys their own. Maybe employers can give a raise to cover some of the cost if they wish.
I agree with 9:41... what does lack of health insurance have to do with it? It's not like the ER is free!!! I don't have health coverage right now, so I pay 100% out of pocket to go to my primary physician when I am sick. I would never go to the ER for something like that. People in general do need to start taking personal responsibility and stop the blame game!
9:41 & 10;00, i was not trying to justify anyone not having health insurance or saying the goverment should supply them with it. i was simply stating that perhaps alot of these people going to the emergency room for non-emergencys might be because they have no health insurance and this is a last resort.
sure they could go to a primary care giver and pay out of pocket for it, but maybe just maybe they have to choose between food, rent and things like this first.
i dont think there is anyone out there that would argue that decent health insurance is affordable. i know it kills the companies to supply the employees with health insurance, its just very expensive and slipping out of the grasp of alot of middle class american families reach.
What do all these people who have no clue about emergency medicine have in common? They're brainless idiots who couldn't form a sentence to save their ass. Try learning to spell, then you might have some valid points.
Pretty much, you all seem like a bunch of crybabies who feel your emergency is more important that someone else's. Piss off.
someone trying to give an opinion about and issue doesnt have to speel everything right to have a valid opinion. the fact that you have an opinion doesnt make you a crybaby. your comment makes you look stupid. so ill keep mis-spellin and you can keep being stupid, deal.
(nice as i can do it joe).
10:32 Are you serious???
No one here thinks their emergency is anymore important than anyone else's. The point that I think every single person in this thread is trying make is that there is just no excuse for an understaffed ER with doctors who don't take the time to reach proper diagnoses and nurses who don't speak enough english to understand allergies.
And honestly, they need to realize that as annoying as it is, with the current state of things people will ALWAYS walk into an ER with just a sniffle. Lets understand that its going to happen whether you want it to or not, and get fully staffed based on that possibility so that those who generally have emergencies can be cared for in under 8 hours. It is what it is, now lets respond in a productive way instead of simply pointing fingers and waiting for the quality of patients to change. Those people with the sniffles get billed the same for that bed in the ER as someone with broken bones or any other problem. Of course it makes no sense that they go there, but they're going to whether we like it or not. STAFF ACCORDINGLY!
Once again its another instance of the medical industry expecting us, the consumer, to change they way WE do things and lower OUR standards to make their jobs easier. In what other industry would this be acceptable? Please tell me because I can't think of one. I'm sorry we have people who don't understand what an emergency is, but that doesn't make it okay to give the rest of us substandard care when I have a legitimate reason for being there.
10:32 Where is YOUR valid point?
The main problem is, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!!!! The staff in that ER are SEVERELY underpaid and the morale is in the toilet. So many of them want out of there but there is nowhee else to go except AGH and everyone there LOVES where they work and they get paid a $hit load more money to do alot less work then the overwhelmed PRMC. As an EMS provider, I see this everyday.
Oh yeah-I broke my nose in a fall 4 yrs ago (soft tissue fracture,no bone)and the ER doc gave me an ice pack,a script for Vicodin and a domestic violence pamphlet(standard OP with female patients with injuries)He never once took an X ray and as I learned later,the impact was so severe the root of my upper left canine tooth was completely fractured.A proper exam could have saved me agony and big bucks later.
Yes the Er is misused but it is not just the uninsured doing it.Most people with no insurance still work and they know they will be sued if they do not cough up the bill and if they do not pay they will get garnished.Er is not "free".Its those with medical cards clogging up the works because they dont give a sh*t about deductibles or copays-dont have them!
AGH sucks as well... I sat in there with my mother for 2 1/2 hours before someone in the ER even took her information... and the sad part is the ER was empty... there was no one in the waiting room and it took this long... If your not brought in by an ambulance your not of importance and for what you pay for a 20 min ER visit you should be!
12:38
Just because you are brought in by an ambulance does not guarantee you will be seen before someone in the waiting room. Ambulance patients are still triaged....
I agree that some should try using the walk in places, however, these places have closing times just like a PCP office does. So, when everywhere else is closed, the ER is the choice of many rather than waiting it out until morning.
AGH was once a 2nd rate hospital, but let me tell you, the service and responce is the best around. PRMC could learn a lot from them.
"cruggly said...
whos fault is it that alot of these people have no health insurance?
go to a primary care doctor first, maybe they cant.
i am not making excueses just the reality of things these days.
8:46 AM"
Yes this makes sense...for people that actually pay their E.R. bill, it's way more expensive than a doctor's office or a quick care center...
It also shows one reason health care continues to go sky high. Hospitals must continue to raise their fees to pay for the ones that don't pay; thus, the insurance industry must raise their own rates...it's a vicious cycle...
my friend was taken to the new ER at PRMC on Saturday evening by ambulance. When I arrived, I had to wait in line where patients were checking in to find out what room my friend was in and if I could go back. One person working the window, no one else in the area helping with a line of 6 patients, and me waiting to see a patient. UNBELIEVABLE...bottom line...nice facility, one person working on Saturday night, no less.
The problem with all Emergency rooms is the number of non-emergency patients that visit there. When my daughter broke her wrist, I took her to the immediate care center accross from WaWa. We were seen quickly, and we received wonderful efficient treatment. My insurance copay was only $30, (as oppposed to $50 for the emergency room), and all charges (x-rays, readings, doctors, etc.) were billed to my insurance company in one bill, so that I did not owe anything else. If we had gone to the emergency room, I would have owed balances for all of the above charges.
The emergency room uses a triage, in other words, the most severely injured or sickest will be seen first. If you are truly having a heart attack, or stroke, if you are critically injured, by all means, go to the emergency room.
If you have a lesser injury, or an ear ache (yes, I have seen people in the ER for an ear ache), and there is an alternative, like "Your Doctor Is In", or "Immedicate Care Center", take advantage of these places. They are there to take the load off of our emergency rooms, so that people who truly need to be seen can be seen faster.
If you have an obvious injury or are in cardiac arrest, they are great! Otherwise, you are out of luck. You will wait for hours and STILL not know what is going on! I went in at 7 months pregnant with a gall bladder attack, even told them I thought it might be that, and still sat there for 6 hours before they sent me up to labor & delivery, where I should have gone immediately! It took them four tries to take my blood and I have HUGE veins. There are some good people there, but unfortunately, they can't do it all!!
Appreciate what you have. I was recently taken to the hospital by ambulance to St. Marys Hosptial in Leondardtown, with symptoms of a stroke.
I was wheeled thru the ER and made to sit in the LOBBY for two hours.
Thank goodness it wasnt a stroke I might not be here typing this today...it was a TIA. Heck I could have been almost to PRMC by the time they examined me.
What other health system in the world compares to the care in the US? To be seen in an Er whenever you want and if a serious problem, then seen by a specialist without proof of ability to pay or without "socialized" care is something to be treasured. A lot of people don't realize that the ER cares for a high percentage of perople who don't ever pay for their care. What other industry is forced to work for free? Additionally, many people who go to the ER want instant satisfaction. They don't want to take time out of their schedule to go through the normal channels to seek care. Emergency rooms are there to stabilize and treat EMERGENCY conditions, not to diagnose and treat chronic or nonemergent conditions, people need to see an outpatient doctor for any thing not deemed emergent by the ER. So, if you have to wait 3 hours to have a toothache or commmon cold treated, this is a heck of a lot faster than waiting a day or so for an appointment at a dentist or doctors office. By the way, a dental fracture is not something that would be treated with anything other than pain medication and i am sure you were instructed to follow up with your dentist. Just because you go to the Er does not mean that when you walk out, every single thing needs to be diagnosed and fixed, the ER is there to screen for emergent conditions, ones that if missed will cause immediate danger to the patient.
Friday, Sept 19th while driving home I started having chest pains with pain in my shoulder into my arm and upper back. This pain was different & more intense pain than I had ever felt. It was so intense I was scared I was having a heart attack so headed toward the hospital but ready to call an ambulance if I felt I couldnt drive any longer. I drove up to the new ER entrance and saw a nurse waiting with a patient & asked for her help. She did nothing but told me to see if security would help move my car. No one was there so I tried to park in the garage but I could not breathe so I drove back and hit the button to get assistance. Then I sat in the car really scared right now! Finally, a young man dressed as a nurse came out and went to get a wheelchair for me to take me inside. He said he would get my car moved for me. He pushed me inside the door and left me at the back of the line of at least 10 people waiting to check in. I waited and waited and some nice gentleman in back of me help me move the wheelchair up each time the person in front of me checked in. While waiting in line a woman came in with her daughter whose blood pressure had shot up really high and her doctor told her to come there to meet him. When she went ahead in the line to relay this message to the young girl registering people she was told she had to wait in line to register before being able to see anyone. I was floored by this whole process and the fact that I could be having a heart attack and waiting in line to register. Finally, it was my turn to register and after taking my information I was told they had no beds available so I had to go sit in the waiting room. That is when this nightmare took a turn for the worse. As I wheeled myself around the corner I noticed how many people were waiting to be seen. Some of them for various reasons but it was disturbing to me sitting there with severe chest pains wondering how long I would have to wait. Finally, I heard my name being called and I could not maneuver the wheelchair so I was forced to walk into the opened doorway to find a nurse waiting for me. She took my blood pressure, put a device on my finger to check oxygen and asked me some questions. Within a few minutes I was told she didn’t THINK it was a heart attack but couldn’t be sure and I would be scheduled for a EKG, blood work, IV and chest x-ray. Then she apologized again for having no beds for anyone so I had to go sit back out in the waiting for my name to be called by the other departments. I never imagined what would happen next but I managed to call my mom to cancel dinner plans and told her I would call her once I found out anything. First, I overheard a lady in a wheelchair holler to the nurse she had been waiting 5 hours which was ignored. The mother of the girl she brought over with High Blood Pressure was still waiting as well. Her mother pounded on the nurse’s door to ask for some assistance but her cries went unanswered. There were two young girls in the corner from me told me they had been there since 2:00 today and still not been seen. It was now close to 6:00 pm and others told me how long they had been there. The family of another woman in a wheelchair parked in the middle of the floor said they had been there since 3:00 that day and their mother had just been called back.
I called my mother and told her what I was hearing and trying to figure out where I could go now to get some help. I was alone and terrified of fact that I could be having a Heart Attack in the hospital waiting room. My son arrived and upset that I had not been evaluated by a doctor by now. I knew the Immediate Med Center closed at 7:00 pm and it was close to 7:00 then. I then witnessed an ambulance crew bring in from the back a young man on a stretcher and after talking to the lady at the desk found they had to take him off the stretcher and put him in a wheelchair because they had other calls to attend to. Then I spoke with a couple who had just flown in from Ohio and he experienced difficulty breathing. He registered and was told to wait over there which was where I was. They said the Med Center on Mt Herman Rd was closed so they came here. This was going on 2.5 hours now and. My head was swimming trying to figure out where I could go and Atlantic General came to mind since they guarantee 30 minutes or less but wasn’t sure how safe it was for me to travel that far. I waited close to 3 hours for nothing to happen and fearing that nothing was going to be done to see what was going with me. I still felt I was experiencing the symptoms of a Heart Attack and believe me I am not one who runs to the ER ever so it really was scaring me. I was worried that damage could be happening to my heart and I could possible be losing time I chose to give my information back to the receptionist who apologized again and told her I had to leave. My son and drove me home since I only live 5 minutes away and spent the night fully dressed, cell phone in hand and door unlocked in case I needed an ambulance. I took my nitroglycerin and baby aspirin which eased the pain. My car was still sitting in front of the ER so we didn’t have far to walk to for my son to drive me home. This is an experience that has left me not wanting to go to PRMC ER again. I really am disturbed by the whole experience and have little faith in PRMC’s Emergency Room revamping. I for one can say I am very disappointed in the lack of concern and treatment of one of my worst health scares yet. I am very hesitant to ever rely on PRMC for help if God forbid I ever need it again.
ok we all know PRMC service sucks but i am a resident of the neighborhood that used to surrond the new er ....and would like to know why the hospital feels like they have the need or right to level and entire neighborhood for parking lots when they have parking garages and enough lot space to build another garage building ....they need to be stopped at the least
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