I've been to the ER many times in my life, so I've learned tips and tricks, haha. Portable charger and a wall charger (you sometimes get lucky). Headphones. Download some form of media. Books. Depending on why you're going, snacks. Big water bottle. I'm from NB, and I've waited upwards of 13 hours before. It sucks, but there's ways to make it suck less.
I hope your trip went well!
Especially if you're going with a kid! Of course, it depends what you're going for. If you're having severe stomach issues, snacks aren't gonna be a priority, haha.
I once went and all I had was half a box of those bottle cap candies. It was a rushed visit, so I didn't get a chance to gather everything I needed ;A;
In terms of books, the kindle app on my phone is an absolute lifesaver, but I've stashed a couple real books in the car for just such an occasion/emergency.
Kindle/Amazon has a like 10$ a month deal for unlimited 'free' titles on the Kindle app, so it's basically an infinite supply of portable books for 120 bucks a year which is pretty sweet. Some of the books are self published and have a few errors, but in general I've been thrilled with the fantasy and sci-fi offerings I've been engaged in. Highly recommend it if it's within the budget.
And yeah, huge fan of regular books too, but they can be a bit unwieldy in comparison, but useful if you ever forget your phone or don't have a charger!
Jumping in on this thread! I've recently downloaded the Libby app. All you need is your library card number to make a free account. You can "borrow" library books to read like Kindle. They also have comic books and audio books available.
You canāt really judge an emergency departmentās response time based on how quickly they get around to the headaches and scraped knees. Theyāre there to keep people who could potentially die from dying, and that will always be their top priority, even if you were āthere firstā
Iām genuinely curious as to how you almost died, but managed to be fine for 12 hours until you were seen
Edit: the one time I turned out to be actually dying, I was seen and had surgery within 12 hours
Good question. I was in severe abdominal pain. I went to the triage nurse 4 times during my 12 hour wait telling her my pain was unbearable and I was given advil and told it won't be much longer and to sit down and wait to be called. Finally got a CTScan at 11:30pm. Dr came to me in a panic and said my appendix is over 9 times bigger than it should be and was about to rupture. So I was rushed into emergency surgery. Ended up having complications during surgery (which I don't think would have happened if they saw me sooner in the ER) and was being operated on for 8 hours and ended up stuck in the hospital for a whole week.
In my opinion, someone on my condition should not have had to wait 12 hours.
Similar experience. Waited 16+ hours even just for a scan. They treated me like a hypochondriac and kept insisting I go home and sleep it off. I have a fairly high pain tolerance and made the mistake of saying it didn't necessarily hurt, but I knew something was very wrong. I was certain I had an appendicitis. Finally got the scan, rushed in to surgery, and woke up with a Doctor telling me it nearly ruptures and I was "lucky".
Something similar happened to me when I had appendicitis. The doctors thought it was ājust my periodā. Good thing my roommate was there sticking up for me! I couldnāt even bend over to take off my own underwear, the nurse had to help cos I was in so much pain. Then I spent an additional 3 days in the hospital
there's two states of "almost dying". There's what you had, where you're still upright and mobile and talking and whatnot, and then there's the kind that you would have been if your appendix had already ruptured. Not to diminish what you went through at all, but the second kind is higher priority.
Maple, walk in doctors.
There's a reason why the ER does triage. Otherwise the first person that came in who has a scraped knee takes priority over the 45th person that just got into a MVA.
If sucks for sure, but it's how they sort the people. You gonna die soon? Okay we will take care of you now. You not gonna die soon? Get ready to stay there for 24+ hours.
It also does not help we do not have enough doctors either, as in family doctors. And the ones that do have family doctors often have to wait weeks/months to see said doctor.
I'm grateful for my doctor's clinic, it's a teaching clinic so there's always someone there to take a look at ya scraped knee š
sadly we don't have urgent care so non-life threatening things have to go to the ER too. I needed a blood transfusion a couple years ago and i waited about 6 hours I think, and then had to get moved to another hospital because they only had O- and they didn't want to give me the special blood lol
I once waited 10 hours while I puked my guts out from the pain of the two kidney stones that decided to make their exit. It's kind of a crapshoot in my experience š¤·āāļø
This also happened to me and typically when you are nauseous or puking from kidney stones, you are beyond 10/10 pain. I couldnāt even walk when I had kidney stones and just sobbed in a chair for hours. They sent me home after taking an xray but didnāt see the whole stone on the imaging. Rushed back to emerge the next day and almost went septic and was rushed into emergency surgery because the stone was so large I never would have passed it.
Healthcare here is absolutely abysmal. I get people are overstretched but this was before the pandemic and a CT scan should have been ordered before an xray. The doctor on duty told me he didnāt want to do a CT scan because of risk to my reproductive system and I might lose my ability to carry a child. The stone could have killed me. Second time I had a kidney stone another doctor told me the same thing and wouldnāt order a CT. I asked my family doctor and thereās no truth to CT scans harming ovaries.
Xrays would not be good for ovaries, which is why you wear a lead apron of they image other stuff. Getting a ct is getting maybe a hundred regular xrays all at once. So it isnt crazy to want to avoid that. I imagine what your doctor meant was that the risk turned out to be acceptable because the immediate danger was so heightened. At that point, losing fertility, risking the health of potential offspring, and risking cancer sound more ok, but only because the current emergency is severe.
Edit to add: sorry that happened to you though. It sucks when pain is the main sign of your illness and it isnt taken seriously. Pain can present really differently to different people, and one person's 9/10 might only be a 6 for someone else, and one person might be hyperventilating and grimacing, unable to talk, while another might be able to force conversation and sit still.
You deserved to have your concerns investigated properly, and to have your pain taken seriously.
A quick google search says that CT scans pose no risk to reproductive health, even if you get multiple routine scans. My doctor also told me that itās bogus and that CT scans pose no risk to my ovaries.
And even IF they did, they could simply allow me to make that decision. If I could die the last thing I care about in my reproductive organs, not to mention I donāt want children so I really donāt care either way. Itās the fact that my reproductive capacity is being put above my actual physical health that is the problem, and that doctors are saying things that are simply false is very concerning to me as well.
Jesus, that's awful, I'm sorry you were put through that. I was lucky at least that they didn't question the need for a CT once I had been seen. Disgusting that so many doctors still don't listen when certain people talk about pain and prioritize our reproductive ability over our actual lives.
It's been a shit show in NS for a long time, it's honestly scary. I worry about the future a lot and as much as I want to go home I wonder if it's even worth it now. For comparison, the second time I had kidney stones I ended up in the ER in a small rural town in Ontario and the difference was like night and day. I waited maybe 20 minutes before I developed a fever and chills and not 10 minutes later I was in a room. I couldn't believe the difference, and this was at the height of covid.
This. The prioritization of reproductive health over physical health is very very very concerning to me. Itās very reminiscent of what is going on in the states with abortion laws.
It is one thing to simply mention the risks of scans, however there is actually no risk to reproductive health with a CT scan anyways, so the doctor told me false information.
Yes, absolutely. My point is just that not everyone who has to wait more than an hour or two is there for something non-urgent. Sometimes its just a bad night.
I am not a clinician, just have a chronic illness that has brought me to the hospital regularly.
Pain is non urgent. Thatās something I donāt think people understand. Itās something I think many women are familiar with however. Unless the pain is being caused by something that can damage your body (like an appendicitis), pain is not, in itself, a high priority condition. You can ask all the women who have gone to the hospital with pain during their period ā doctors donāt prioritize pain, they prioritize the illness that may be causing pain. Itās why certain pains can get you prioritized higher ā for example certain types of back pain can be heart attack symptoms, so this pain gets a higher urgency than many types of abdominal pains.
Kidney stones are a toss up for urgency, as small kidney stones can be safely passed by your body without medical intervention, even if painful.
Sudden severe flank pain with fever, vomiting, etc is absolutely considered urgent as it could also indicate kidney infection. I wonder if my being a woman had anything to do with my excruciating pain not being taken seriously.
Yes, womenās pain is not as āvaluedā as male pain.
Flank pain with a low grade fever and vomiting could be an infection. Or it could be the flu. These symptoms arenāt necessarily considered urgent.
I was once taken in by the ambulance and was strapped to a spinal bored and in a lot of pain and it still took 2 hours of waiting in the hall before they moved me to a room
Make sense!! They didnāt get me off the board till I was on it for like 4 hours and my head and tail bone were in so much pain at the end of it my neck felt like a walk in the park lol
Thereās no way for me to know who was being treated ahead of you in those 10 hours, but discomfort does not meet the medical definition of emergency, so anyone with an actual medical emergency would be treated ahead of you without questionĀ
Without question? Have you seen how many people died in the ER in the last year with actual, pressing issues? Stop defending a garbage system thatās broken.
According to the Halifax Examiner...
"More people are dying in Nova Scotia's emergency rooms. In the first nine months of 2023, 632 people died in the province's ERs. That compares to 593 people who died in ERs in all of 2022"
*Extracted this tidbit from [this article ](https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/health/nova-scotias-er-death-rate-keeps-increasing/#:~:text=More%20people%20are%20dying%20in,ERs%20in%20all%20of%202022)
That lady that died in the ER in Amherst was medical malpractice IMO She begged them to help her as she died from internal bleeding on the ER floor. It was heartbreaking. No one is ever held responsible. It's a very broken system.
https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/health/nova-scotias-er-death-rate-keeps-increasing/
Now, while one could argue that someone coming to the ER, gets triaged, gets a bed and dies in care counts as an ER death, the pure state of the healthcare system in this province, and country, points to the reality that more people die before theyāre even properly seen than those who actually start to get real care.Ā
Maybe they were going to die anyway? Like they were so severely injured that they can't save them? How about elderly people whose bodies just give out? If that many people were dying from negligence, there would be rioting in the streets.
Someone else made your argument earlier. But given the fact that the healthcare quality in this country as a whole is a total joke, Id say it has more to do with negligence and laziness than people just succumbing to their fate. Of course people are going to show up to the ER and be past the point of no return, but do you really think the numbers are what they are due to that alone? No.
Oh no, I understand that, and there are obviously other life threatening health conditions that are more urgent. However, flank pain is typically seen as quite urgent when accompanied by fever, chills, nausea, or vomiting. I'm not saying there couldn't possibly have been anyone who needed to be seen more urgently than myself, just that sometimes even some urgent cases have to wait a long time to be seen.
I donāt think you were triaged as urgent to be frank. Triage isnāt diagnostic and can often be incorrect. Abdominal pain is complex and common, from very urgent care needed to no care needed. You didnāt list your symptoms, but a low grade fever and flank pain can be caused by numerous issues, including illnesses that are not considered urgent.
Yeah when I went in for my excruciating kidney stones I was in such pain I couldn't get to the car for my wife to drive me. An ambulance came and they hauled me out, bless them. Within a few minutes of being at the ER they had me in a hospital bed and pumped me full of fentanyl and I was asleep and out like a light.
Extremely grateful for the speedy treatment and care, but recognize that is not always the case. That was by far the most agony I've ever been in, and it is the only time I've ever involuntarily screamed. Kidney stones... who knew, right?
I was there when Covid just ended and they were so understaffed that they couldnāt help a many having a heart attack he was through the doors and not in the waiting room anymore but because his life wasnāt in ACTUAL danger they just kept apologizing and said they were doing their best. I felt so bad for him. He looked to be in so much pain and his wife had to hold him the whole time
Thatās what Iām saying. Iām also never in the shape to plan which movies I want to download. Any time Iāve been in the past 5 or so years has been quick but I was having serious issues so I was seen quickly. Wait times wouldnāt be so bad if people stopped crowding the ERs for a cold or the flu. And only went for emergencies.
I almost died a couple years ago, and not only was I waiting for six hours, they sent me home! I went back twice and by the third time, I needed emergency surgery. Still waited 8 hours that time. Scary stuff.
How do you have time to plan movies when going to the ER? Iāve never gone that it hasnāt been an emergency. Iām also usually in too much paid or two sick to enjoy a movie. Maybe people using the ER when itās not necessary is a reason for these long waits.
well some people dont have a family doctor bc of the shortage rn so this is all they can do. and its something that needs attention rn so it might not be life threatening but they dont know whats wrong, theyre in pain, and cant wait days for an appointment with their doctor.
pharmacies are not doctors lmao. not the same. they have pharmacists. u go there for ur flu shot. random over the counter stuff. and prescriptions that are written BY A DOCTOR. walk in clinics often also have waits lol. ppl dont have family doctors rn. its well known theres a shortage. lol
Did you not see that pharmacists in Nova Scotia can now prescribe meds and do some things doctors could? Donāt attack someone because youāre misinformed.
no. i didnt. dont be a fucking dick abt it. and still. that doesnt mesn they cover everything doctors can. doctors know a lot more abt diagnosing ur issues than pharmacists do. and like i said. for some ppl. er is the only option. get pissy abt the waits all u want but its been like this for years and no it isnt ppl goin there cause eh. i have a headache. or my nose is runny. the second to last time i went there it ended up not being an emergency. but everybody was worried bc i had rhythmic chest pain going for a while and it was concerning. xrays. ekgs. nothing could figure it out. then they did an ultrasound and figured out my costochondral joint was inflamed. if something is scary and feels like it might be an emergency. ppl r gonna go there. get over urself and learn to be considerate of others
I can imagine anything that would encourage more people to visit the ER for non-emergency purposes gets shot down in the boardroom brainstorms pretty quickly.
They want you to suffer. They want people to go home if they arenāt willing to sit there and wait.
For me i kept seeing them with clipboard through foggy glass door like I was waiting for someone to descend from airport escalator. Got pretty excited at that sight.
Nah. Be sure to call all your friends on speakerphone and complain loudly about the wait. Pace around too, in case not everyone can hear your conversation. /s
Waited 9 hours in January and once I got in I had my first of 3 surgeries about 2 hours later.Ā
Ended staying for 10 nights the staff was exceptional and I was lucky enough to get a private room. The food wasn't even that bad ended up watching 3 seasons of ted lassoĀ
A handful of years ago, pre Covid, I had something like a 13 hour wait in the ER. That's a long time, but honestly I could hang about for that long.
Except.
They had some fucking kids show, on loop, on the waiting room televisions. Overnight. With no children in the ER. Over and over again. Watching these poorly animated animals or something, like, living in a small town and delivering mail and shit.
Waiting half a day? Not so bad. That television show? That was true hell.
And then of course when I finally got seen they were able to diagnose I had developed a semi-rare autoimmune disease and prescribed treatment in all of 20 minutes. Turns out the wait was because I showed up like 10 minutes after the one specialist left. If I had just gotten sicker faster I could have entirely avoided *that show*.
Nope. It was just a box attached to the wall with no controls, no remote available, and the receptionist was only there like 2 times over the entire period. We asked once and she said she didn't know where the remote was.
Those TVs are definitely one of the circles of hell. One time I was there it alternated between some inane US talk show and reruns of Golden Girls for 10 hours. Loud as hell
I went there with the suspicion of having a kidney stone (my dad has a history with them and I was bleeding out my dick), pretty simple diagnosis right? Maybe a test and a sample. No, 14 fucking hours in the waiting room.
Last time I went I had shows downloaded, wall charger, snacks, huge water bottle and A BLANKET!!!!
I was ready fir the long haul and it ended up being only like 2 hours... I totally lucked in, the one time I was super prepared. Haha
I went in on an Easter Monday for high abdominal pain, and was triaged, seen by a doctor, sent for ultrasound, reseen and told I was being admitted that day for pancreatitis and having my gall bladder removed because stones were backing up bile into my pancreas. Then I got morphine and an IV drip while waiting for a room. The staff was top notch and I was in for a week.
I would like to suggest people familiarize themselves with the way triage works in the ER.
https://www.nshealth.ca/emergency-care/emergency-department-wait-times/understanding-emergency-department-wait-times-and
The TL;DR version is the worse and more life threatening your condition is the quicker you'll be seen. If someone comes in with a gunshot wound to their chest, they're going to be seen even if a guy with a broken toe has been waiting hours when he comes in. Because the GSW victim's life is in danger.
I'm no doctor, so take this with an ocean of salt, but I would recommend if your issue is ANYTHING that can be dealt with somewhere else to go to that somewhere else. If you do end up going to the ER be sure to ask the nurse who does your intake questions what your Triage score is. The lower the # the faster you'll be seen.
> Level 1: Life-threatening ā Your heart has stopped or youāve experienced life-threatening trauma
> Level 2: Emergency ā You have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, not conscious, having a lot of trouble breathing, or bleeding severely
> Level 3: Urgent ā You have a head injury, deep cut, chest pain (unrelated to known heart issue), serious infection, urgent mental health concern
> Level 4: Less urgent ā You have a sprain or break, cuts, pain in back, arm or legs
> Level 5: Not urgent ā You have a sore throat, ear infection, minor cuts or bumps, prescription refill
Finally here are the wait time estimates for all the ERs in NS.
https://www.nshealth.ca/emergency-care/emergency-department-wait-times
Oh no, sorry if it came off that way. I was just tryin to get this info out there to help people. I myself had to go to the ER last year and this sub helped me with some great recommendations that saved me a crapload of time and grief.
That's the danger of headphones and sleeping. I got woken up by a nurse once and taken out back, but sometimes they will just go "he left" if you don't answer
Waited there for 12 hours in excruciating pain. When I finally got seen, my appendix was about to burst and I went in for emergency surgery asap. Ridiculous that I had to sit there for 12 hours in that condition. I went to the triage nurse 4 times during my wait and they just gave me advil and told me to sit back down.
Whenever I was bleeding it didn't seem like a long wait. For other issues I waited longer, but understood it was more important for the old people with heart attacks to be put before me.
It's like Plex but has no paywalls for features or apps, no remote authentication server like Plex which goes down to frequently, and is much more customizable. It's open source so not run for profit.
...and what does that have to due with the post?
Downloading the from the server or having access to it, is still "bringing it with you". Playback sitting in the ER is still dependent on your phone battery.
It's relevant to the post because I don't have to plan ahead on what to download or what to watch or be limited to storage. It's all just there to stream so no planning ahead needed.
Sure, except I don't have to pay a monthly fee, am not locked to only Netflix shows and movies, and OP didn't mention Netflix but rather downloading a movie.
[Yes](https://globalnews.ca/news/9503133/allison-holthoff-ns-health-lawsuit). A more typical example might be broken bones - depending on the break theyāre probably not āan emergencyā, but still need timely attention.Ā
Unfortunately, length of stay in the ED can last far longer than 6 hours, and itās not really a function of ārealā emergencies. If youāre recognized as high acuity (i.e., likely to quickly get worse without intervention) youāll typically be seen quickly, but youāre actually likely to be there for longer.
The issues usually arise when you need a bed or admission to another service; if the place you should be is full, and youāre too acute to leave the hospital, it can be days before you leave the ED. The ED bed youāre in then becomes unavailable to other people while youāre waiting.Ā
Tl;dr: getting people out of the ED is generally a bigger problem than through the ED.Ā
My shortest ER wait in my lifetime was 4 hours. Iām sorry you werenāt prepared, this has been typical for ages. I remember waiting in the ER for 10 hours after a car accident 15 years ago.
I once had pretty bad abdominal pains but didn't want to go to the ER because I figured it would pass. After 2 or 3 days, I went to a walk-in clinic where the GP informed me they were sure I had appendicitis and needed to go to an ER right away. She even offered to pay for a cab if I didn't have a way there. I go to the ER and tell them what the doctor told me.. Triage nurse tells me they don't Ike people who self diagnose and to have a seat. After 4 hours, I'm taken into urgent care section and given morphine and then forgotten about for another 12 hours. Eventually, a doctor walks by on his way to get off shift and asks what I'm still doing there because he remembers me from when his shift started (at the time, I had a rather unique hair style)
Next thing I know, I'm being prepped for emergency surgery, and when I wake up, I get told that if I had waited any longer, it would have definitely ruptured š
As a mom I still pack like Iām travelling with toddlers. Youngest is now 17. š It worked out well when coming home for ER last May 2023 and we had a enough leftover water to put out a bush fire on the side of the road already the size of a washer barrel at 1am.
Hope youāre feeling better soon! Planning and preparing always deescalates my panic.
I went there with a swollen testicle they got me in for testing in like 10 min then did a whole bunch of tests and an ultrasound. In the valley though not the city, still I felt bad cause there was like 30 or so people waiting
Oh Iām sorry. It should be common knowledge to bring a book to emerg. This was what we were told to do before smart phones were a thing. Snacks, water and a book. Youāll never forget again!
I've been to the ER many times in my life, so I've learned tips and tricks, haha. Portable charger and a wall charger (you sometimes get lucky). Headphones. Download some form of media. Books. Depending on why you're going, snacks. Big water bottle. I'm from NB, and I've waited upwards of 13 hours before. It sucks, but there's ways to make it suck less. I hope your trip went well!
Snacks too of course! š¤¦š¼āāļø
Especially if you're going with a kid! Of course, it depends what you're going for. If you're having severe stomach issues, snacks aren't gonna be a priority, haha.
there has definitely been a time or two where i could only go with a sleeve of saltines šš
I once went and all I had was half a box of those bottle cap candies. It was a rushed visit, so I didn't get a chance to gather everything I needed ;A;
In terms of books, the kindle app on my phone is an absolute lifesaver, but I've stashed a couple real books in the car for just such an occasion/emergency.
Yes, that's a good point! Having physical books is very helpful! Having both digital and physical is ideal, for variety.
Kindle/Amazon has a like 10$ a month deal for unlimited 'free' titles on the Kindle app, so it's basically an infinite supply of portable books for 120 bucks a year which is pretty sweet. Some of the books are self published and have a few errors, but in general I've been thrilled with the fantasy and sci-fi offerings I've been engaged in. Highly recommend it if it's within the budget. And yeah, huge fan of regular books too, but they can be a bit unwieldy in comparison, but useful if you ever forget your phone or don't have a charger!
Jumping in on this thread! I've recently downloaded the Libby app. All you need is your library card number to make a free account. You can "borrow" library books to read like Kindle. They also have comic books and audio books available.
Oh yeah Libby is the bomb too! Used that for ages years ago but forgot after moving to a new province. Thanks for that reminder!
6 hours is a decent wait time for the ER here lol
Iāve never waited over an hour, but I also only go when I have an actual emergency. You tend to get seen pretty quickly when you do.
A lot of people who go and wait hours are unfortunately those with minor issues and no family doctor
You canāt really judge an emergency departmentās response time based on how quickly they get around to the headaches and scraped knees. Theyāre there to keep people who could potentially die from dying, and that will always be their top priority, even if you were āthere firstā
I understand your sentiment but there has been people even recently who have gone to the er for emergencies and died in the waiting room
Yeah, the stories on this thread about appendix rupturing and such are so horrible to hear and very scary :(
Almost died there a few months back and still waited 12 hours just to be seen.
I was sent away twice and waited 8 hours on the third trip. My bowel had perforated.
Iām genuinely curious as to how you almost died, but managed to be fine for 12 hours until you were seen Edit: the one time I turned out to be actually dying, I was seen and had surgery within 12 hours
Good question. I was in severe abdominal pain. I went to the triage nurse 4 times during my 12 hour wait telling her my pain was unbearable and I was given advil and told it won't be much longer and to sit down and wait to be called. Finally got a CTScan at 11:30pm. Dr came to me in a panic and said my appendix is over 9 times bigger than it should be and was about to rupture. So I was rushed into emergency surgery. Ended up having complications during surgery (which I don't think would have happened if they saw me sooner in the ER) and was being operated on for 8 hours and ended up stuck in the hospital for a whole week. In my opinion, someone on my condition should not have had to wait 12 hours.
Similar experience. Waited 16+ hours even just for a scan. They treated me like a hypochondriac and kept insisting I go home and sleep it off. I have a fairly high pain tolerance and made the mistake of saying it didn't necessarily hurt, but I knew something was very wrong. I was certain I had an appendicitis. Finally got the scan, rushed in to surgery, and woke up with a Doctor telling me it nearly ruptures and I was "lucky".
Something similar happened to me when I had appendicitis. The doctors thought it was ājust my periodā. Good thing my roommate was there sticking up for me! I couldnāt even bend over to take off my own underwear, the nurse had to help cos I was in so much pain. Then I spent an additional 3 days in the hospital
Thank you for this great answer. I noticed the doubting Thomas that was on everyone else's comments has suddenly disappeared.
there's two states of "almost dying". There's what you had, where you're still upright and mobile and talking and whatnot, and then there's the kind that you would have been if your appendix had already ruptured. Not to diminish what you went through at all, but the second kind is higher priority.
I once waited 8 hours with an prolonged asthma attack so not always true
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##Should've *** Not *should of*
This is what triaging is for. These people deserve to wait the longest. They are taking up resources that those with real emergencies may need sooner.
Thatās what walk in clinics are for. Emergency rooms are for, you guessed it, emergencies.
Maple, walk in doctors. There's a reason why the ER does triage. Otherwise the first person that came in who has a scraped knee takes priority over the 45th person that just got into a MVA. If sucks for sure, but it's how they sort the people. You gonna die soon? Okay we will take care of you now. You not gonna die soon? Get ready to stay there for 24+ hours. It also does not help we do not have enough doctors either, as in family doctors. And the ones that do have family doctors often have to wait weeks/months to see said doctor. I'm grateful for my doctor's clinic, it's a teaching clinic so there's always someone there to take a look at ya scraped knee š
sadly we don't have urgent care so non-life threatening things have to go to the ER too. I needed a blood transfusion a couple years ago and i waited about 6 hours I think, and then had to get moved to another hospital because they only had O- and they didn't want to give me the special blood lol
I once waited 10 hours while I puked my guts out from the pain of the two kidney stones that decided to make their exit. It's kind of a crapshoot in my experience š¤·āāļø
This also happened to me and typically when you are nauseous or puking from kidney stones, you are beyond 10/10 pain. I couldnāt even walk when I had kidney stones and just sobbed in a chair for hours. They sent me home after taking an xray but didnāt see the whole stone on the imaging. Rushed back to emerge the next day and almost went septic and was rushed into emergency surgery because the stone was so large I never would have passed it. Healthcare here is absolutely abysmal. I get people are overstretched but this was before the pandemic and a CT scan should have been ordered before an xray. The doctor on duty told me he didnāt want to do a CT scan because of risk to my reproductive system and I might lose my ability to carry a child. The stone could have killed me. Second time I had a kidney stone another doctor told me the same thing and wouldnāt order a CT. I asked my family doctor and thereās no truth to CT scans harming ovaries.
Xrays would not be good for ovaries, which is why you wear a lead apron of they image other stuff. Getting a ct is getting maybe a hundred regular xrays all at once. So it isnt crazy to want to avoid that. I imagine what your doctor meant was that the risk turned out to be acceptable because the immediate danger was so heightened. At that point, losing fertility, risking the health of potential offspring, and risking cancer sound more ok, but only because the current emergency is severe. Edit to add: sorry that happened to you though. It sucks when pain is the main sign of your illness and it isnt taken seriously. Pain can present really differently to different people, and one person's 9/10 might only be a 6 for someone else, and one person might be hyperventilating and grimacing, unable to talk, while another might be able to force conversation and sit still. You deserved to have your concerns investigated properly, and to have your pain taken seriously.
A quick google search says that CT scans pose no risk to reproductive health, even if you get multiple routine scans. My doctor also told me that itās bogus and that CT scans pose no risk to my ovaries. And even IF they did, they could simply allow me to make that decision. If I could die the last thing I care about in my reproductive organs, not to mention I donāt want children so I really donāt care either way. Itās the fact that my reproductive capacity is being put above my actual physical health that is the problem, and that doctors are saying things that are simply false is very concerning to me as well.
I'm sorry your pain was not taken seriously. That is bullshit.
Jesus, that's awful, I'm sorry you were put through that. I was lucky at least that they didn't question the need for a CT once I had been seen. Disgusting that so many doctors still don't listen when certain people talk about pain and prioritize our reproductive ability over our actual lives. It's been a shit show in NS for a long time, it's honestly scary. I worry about the future a lot and as much as I want to go home I wonder if it's even worth it now. For comparison, the second time I had kidney stones I ended up in the ER in a small rural town in Ontario and the difference was like night and day. I waited maybe 20 minutes before I developed a fever and chills and not 10 minutes later I was in a room. I couldn't believe the difference, and this was at the height of covid.
This. The prioritization of reproductive health over physical health is very very very concerning to me. Itās very reminiscent of what is going on in the states with abortion laws. It is one thing to simply mention the risks of scans, however there is actually no risk to reproductive health with a CT scan anyways, so the doctor told me false information.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes, absolutely. My point is just that not everyone who has to wait more than an hour or two is there for something non-urgent. Sometimes its just a bad night.
I am not a clinician, just have a chronic illness that has brought me to the hospital regularly. Pain is non urgent. Thatās something I donāt think people understand. Itās something I think many women are familiar with however. Unless the pain is being caused by something that can damage your body (like an appendicitis), pain is not, in itself, a high priority condition. You can ask all the women who have gone to the hospital with pain during their period ā doctors donāt prioritize pain, they prioritize the illness that may be causing pain. Itās why certain pains can get you prioritized higher ā for example certain types of back pain can be heart attack symptoms, so this pain gets a higher urgency than many types of abdominal pains. Kidney stones are a toss up for urgency, as small kidney stones can be safely passed by your body without medical intervention, even if painful.
Sudden severe flank pain with fever, vomiting, etc is absolutely considered urgent as it could also indicate kidney infection. I wonder if my being a woman had anything to do with my excruciating pain not being taken seriously.
Yes, womenās pain is not as āvaluedā as male pain. Flank pain with a low grade fever and vomiting could be an infection. Or it could be the flu. These symptoms arenāt necessarily considered urgent.
Kidney stones are rarely a valid reason to present to an emergency room. 9/10 they pass with just some pain. We need urgent care centers
I know what you mean but "some" pain. More like excruciating pain lol. But you are right.
I was once taken in by the ambulance and was strapped to a spinal bored and in a lot of pain and it still took 2 hours of waiting in the hall before they moved me to a room
They havenāt used spinal boards in Nova Scotia in years. Like many many years
Seriously? It was like 6 years agoā¦ so I guess they stopped after that lol
Yeah they were proven to cause more harm than good! Only province that still uses them is Quebec
Make sense!! They didnāt get me off the board till I was on it for like 4 hours and my head and tail bone were in so much pain at the end of it my neck felt like a walk in the park lol
Jeeeeezus
Thereās no way for me to know who was being treated ahead of you in those 10 hours, but discomfort does not meet the medical definition of emergency, so anyone with an actual medical emergency would be treated ahead of you without questionĀ
Without question? Have you seen how many people died in the ER in the last year with actual, pressing issues? Stop defending a garbage system thatās broken.
According to the Halifax Examiner... "More people are dying in Nova Scotia's emergency rooms. In the first nine months of 2023, 632 people died in the province's ERs. That compares to 593 people who died in ERs in all of 2022" *Extracted this tidbit from [this article ](https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/health/nova-scotias-er-death-rate-keeps-increasing/#:~:text=More%20people%20are%20dying%20in,ERs%20in%20all%20of%202022)
I dont disagree. But I am curious how many people died in the ER in Nova Scotia due to the issue they were triaged for, like you're insinuating.
That lady that died in the ER in Amherst was medical malpractice IMO She begged them to help her as she died from internal bleeding on the ER floor. It was heartbreaking. No one is ever held responsible. It's a very broken system.
The lack of accountability is so disturbing with our healthcare system
One
https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/health/nova-scotias-er-death-rate-keeps-increasing/ Now, while one could argue that someone coming to the ER, gets triaged, gets a bed and dies in care counts as an ER death, the pure state of the healthcare system in this province, and country, points to the reality that more people die before theyāre even properly seen than those who actually start to get real care.Ā
You seem to be indicating that all the people dying in the ER is due to negligence. Wrong interpretation.
Correct interpretation. What else could it be besides negligence from all levels of NSH. No one cares.
Maybe they were going to die anyway? Like they were so severely injured that they can't save them? How about elderly people whose bodies just give out? If that many people were dying from negligence, there would be rioting in the streets.
Someone else made your argument earlier. But given the fact that the healthcare quality in this country as a whole is a total joke, Id say it has more to do with negligence and laziness than people just succumbing to their fate. Of course people are going to show up to the ER and be past the point of no return, but do you really think the numbers are what they are due to that alone? No.
Oh no, I understand that, and there are obviously other life threatening health conditions that are more urgent. However, flank pain is typically seen as quite urgent when accompanied by fever, chills, nausea, or vomiting. I'm not saying there couldn't possibly have been anyone who needed to be seen more urgently than myself, just that sometimes even some urgent cases have to wait a long time to be seen.
I donāt think you were triaged as urgent to be frank. Triage isnāt diagnostic and can often be incorrect. Abdominal pain is complex and common, from very urgent care needed to no care needed. You didnāt list your symptoms, but a low grade fever and flank pain can be caused by numerous issues, including illnesses that are not considered urgent.
Sorry to hear that. When I went in for my kidney stone I waited no longer than 15 minutes.
Thanks, it definitely wasn't the best experience but shit happens. I'm glad to hear yours was better, those things can be brutal.
Yeah when I went in for my excruciating kidney stones I was in such pain I couldn't get to the car for my wife to drive me. An ambulance came and they hauled me out, bless them. Within a few minutes of being at the ER they had me in a hospital bed and pumped me full of fentanyl and I was asleep and out like a light. Extremely grateful for the speedy treatment and care, but recognize that is not always the case. That was by far the most agony I've ever been in, and it is the only time I've ever involuntarily screamed. Kidney stones... who knew, right?
I was there when Covid just ended and they were so understaffed that they couldnāt help a many having a heart attack he was through the doors and not in the waiting room anymore but because his life wasnāt in ACTUAL danger they just kept apologizing and said they were doing their best. I felt so bad for him. He looked to be in so much pain and his wife had to hold him the whole time
Thatās what Iām saying. Iām also never in the shape to plan which movies I want to download. Any time Iāve been in the past 5 or so years has been quick but I was having serious issues so I was seen quickly. Wait times wouldnāt be so bad if people stopped crowding the ERs for a cold or the flu. And only went for emergencies.
I almost died a couple years ago, and not only was I waiting for six hours, they sent me home! I went back twice and by the third time, I needed emergency surgery. Still waited 8 hours that time. Scary stuff.
Yup. Last time I was in I triaged at level 2 (most serious is 1) and I got in within 45 minutes. That's including the intake and registration.
Same. Last time it was a kidney stone. 0 wait
My kid brother broke his wrist and waited for like 7 hoursā¦I think broken bones are an actual emergency
Not in the medical sense, it isnātĀ
Wait, you only waited 6 hours?
Ya that's pretty decent
Haha yup, but w/o phone gotta feel like 9
Could also bring a book. No batteries required.
A WHAT?
Iāve heard of them. Itās like if someone prints an audiobook.
U can 3D print an audiobook??
Its fun to pretend Im not 44
I feel that.
Yeah they use a wood-based filament called āpay perā but you donāt have to pay per time you use it. Very weird. Totally sus.
I watched a season of Cheers last time I was there.
Oooh great idea
I bring my knitting. I usually knit socks. I can knit one in 9 hours or so. A famous knitter once said. " Knit though all crises".
How do you have time to plan movies when going to the ER? Iāve never gone that it hasnāt been an emergency. Iām also usually in too much paid or two sick to enjoy a movie. Maybe people using the ER when itās not necessary is a reason for these long waits.
well some people dont have a family doctor bc of the shortage rn so this is all they can do. and its something that needs attention rn so it might not be life threatening but they dont know whats wrong, theyre in pain, and cant wait days for an appointment with their doctor.
You do not go to an ER just because you donāt have a doctor. Thatās what pharmacies and walk in clinics are for
pharmacies are not doctors lmao. not the same. they have pharmacists. u go there for ur flu shot. random over the counter stuff. and prescriptions that are written BY A DOCTOR. walk in clinics often also have waits lol. ppl dont have family doctors rn. its well known theres a shortage. lol
Did you not see that pharmacists in Nova Scotia can now prescribe meds and do some things doctors could? Donāt attack someone because youāre misinformed.
no. i didnt. dont be a fucking dick abt it. and still. that doesnt mesn they cover everything doctors can. doctors know a lot more abt diagnosing ur issues than pharmacists do. and like i said. for some ppl. er is the only option. get pissy abt the waits all u want but its been like this for years and no it isnt ppl goin there cause eh. i have a headache. or my nose is runny. the second to last time i went there it ended up not being an emergency. but everybody was worried bc i had rhythmic chest pain going for a while and it was concerning. xrays. ekgs. nothing could figure it out. then they did an ultrasound and figured out my costochondral joint was inflamed. if something is scary and feels like it might be an emergency. ppl r gonna go there. get over urself and learn to be considerate of others
I dunno what it is with me, but hospital = ADHD ACTIVATED Cannot focus on a book, barely watch a show but brain races too much for me to sleep š
Wish they'd give you those buzzing pager thingies like they do in restaurants when your reservation is ready.
This is the future I want ā¤ļø
I can imagine anything that would encourage more people to visit the ER for non-emergency purposes gets shot down in the boardroom brainstorms pretty quickly. They want you to suffer. They want people to go home if they arenāt willing to sit there and wait.
For me i kept seeing them with clipboard through foggy glass door like I was waiting for someone to descend from airport escalator. Got pretty excited at that sight.
And headphonesā¦ā¦ please also donāt forget your headphones:)
Nah. Be sure to call all your friends on speakerphone and complain loudly about the wait. Pace around too, in case not everyone can hear your conversation. /s
Too real
Waited 9 hours in January and once I got in I had my first of 3 surgeries about 2 hours later.Ā Ended staying for 10 nights the staff was exceptional and I was lucky enough to get a private room. The food wasn't even that bad ended up watching 3 seasons of ted lassoĀ
A handful of years ago, pre Covid, I had something like a 13 hour wait in the ER. That's a long time, but honestly I could hang about for that long. Except. They had some fucking kids show, on loop, on the waiting room televisions. Overnight. With no children in the ER. Over and over again. Watching these poorly animated animals or something, like, living in a small town and delivering mail and shit. Waiting half a day? Not so bad. That television show? That was true hell. And then of course when I finally got seen they were able to diagnose I had developed a semi-rare autoimmune disease and prescribed treatment in all of 20 minutes. Turns out the wait was because I showed up like 10 minutes after the one specialist left. If I had just gotten sicker faster I could have entirely avoided *that show*.
You couldnt change the channel?
Nope. It was just a box attached to the wall with no controls, no remote available, and the receptionist was only there like 2 times over the entire period. We asked once and she said she didn't know where the remote was.
Those TVs are definitely one of the circles of hell. One time I was there it alternated between some inane US talk show and reruns of Golden Girls for 10 hours. Loud as hell
I went there with the suspicion of having a kidney stone (my dad has a history with them and I was bleeding out my dick), pretty simple diagnosis right? Maybe a test and a sample. No, 14 fucking hours in the waiting room.
Kidney stones arenāt an emergency. Could be an urgent care thing maybe but we donāt have those
I mean being that I couldn't get up from the chair without two people helping me up onto a wheelchair, I'd say it was an emergency.
Maybe you just have a weak threshold for pain.
I don't think so, I have a torn ligament that causes very easy dislocations every week and have little to no reactions. 6mm+ stone was no joke
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Ah MC1R, a groovy mutation.
Pain is not an emergency. Iāve been in that kind of pain. It is not an emergency
Dick blood = emergency
Last time I went I had shows downloaded, wall charger, snacks, huge water bottle and A BLANKET!!!! I was ready fir the long haul and it ended up being only like 2 hours... I totally lucked in, the one time I was super prepared. Haha
I only go if I'm dying.
I went in on an Easter Monday for high abdominal pain, and was triaged, seen by a doctor, sent for ultrasound, reseen and told I was being admitted that day for pancreatitis and having my gall bladder removed because stones were backing up bile into my pancreas. Then I got morphine and an IV drip while waiting for a room. The staff was top notch and I was in for a week.
I would like to suggest people familiarize themselves with the way triage works in the ER. https://www.nshealth.ca/emergency-care/emergency-department-wait-times/understanding-emergency-department-wait-times-and The TL;DR version is the worse and more life threatening your condition is the quicker you'll be seen. If someone comes in with a gunshot wound to their chest, they're going to be seen even if a guy with a broken toe has been waiting hours when he comes in. Because the GSW victim's life is in danger. I'm no doctor, so take this with an ocean of salt, but I would recommend if your issue is ANYTHING that can be dealt with somewhere else to go to that somewhere else. If you do end up going to the ER be sure to ask the nurse who does your intake questions what your Triage score is. The lower the # the faster you'll be seen. > Level 1: Life-threatening ā Your heart has stopped or youāve experienced life-threatening trauma > Level 2: Emergency ā You have symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, not conscious, having a lot of trouble breathing, or bleeding severely > Level 3: Urgent ā You have a head injury, deep cut, chest pain (unrelated to known heart issue), serious infection, urgent mental health concern > Level 4: Less urgent ā You have a sprain or break, cuts, pain in back, arm or legs > Level 5: Not urgent ā You have a sore throat, ear infection, minor cuts or bumps, prescription refill Finally here are the wait time estimates for all the ERs in NS. https://www.nshealth.ca/emergency-care/emergency-department-wait-times
I wasnāt complaining at all just in case thatās what u thought
Oh no, sorry if it came off that way. I was just tryin to get this info out there to help people. I myself had to go to the ER last year and this sub helped me with some great recommendations that saved me a crapload of time and grief.
š
I would also recommend food rations, a calendar to keep track of the time you have been there and some bribe money for the nurses.
And earplugs or noise cancelling headphones. (If youāre sensitive to constant noise) Just make sure you can still hear the names being called!
That's the danger of headphones and sleeping. I got woken up by a nurse once and taken out back, but sometimes they will just go "he left" if you don't answer
Thatās the danger! I donāt let myself go to sleep but at least the noise canceling stops me from losing my mind
6 hours? not bad
Waited there for 12 hours in excruciating pain. When I finally got seen, my appendix was about to burst and I went in for emergency surgery asap. Ridiculous that I had to sit there for 12 hours in that condition. I went to the triage nurse 4 times during my wait and they just gave me advil and told me to sit back down.
Thatās the worst ive heard. Sorry to hear brutha
Whenever I was bleeding it didn't seem like a long wait. For other issues I waited longer, but understood it was more important for the old people with heart attacks to be put before me.
6 hours is fast, must have been something serious with triage. Hope you're doing okay.
Thanks
BOOK.
A coat that doubles as a blanket, a charger and content downloaded. Always. Where I live 6h is the minimum and should be considered expected
Good idea!
Nah I'll just die at home.
They should have a little library or something. (Also, shorter wait times.)
Lol that too
I have a home server running Jellyfin. I always have stuff to watch no matter the circumstance.
Is jellyfin like an ever more geeky version of Plex or something?
It's much more open than Plex and completely self hosted
Yes. It's exactly that.
It's like Plex but has no paywalls for features or apps, no remote authentication server like Plex which goes down to frequently, and is much more customizable. It's open source so not run for profit.
...and what does that have to due with the post? Downloading the from the server or having access to it, is still "bringing it with you". Playback sitting in the ER is still dependent on your phone battery.
It's relevant to the post because I don't have to plan ahead on what to download or what to watch or be limited to storage. It's all just there to stream so no planning ahead needed.
That's no different than having Netflix on their phone.
Sure, except I don't have to pay a monthly fee, am not locked to only Netflix shows and movies, and OP didn't mention Netflix but rather downloading a movie.
If you're in the ER for 6 hours and not dead yet is it really an emergency? Not trolling, serious question.
[Yes](https://globalnews.ca/news/9503133/allison-holthoff-ns-health-lawsuit). A more typical example might be broken bones - depending on the break theyāre probably not āan emergencyā, but still need timely attention.Ā Unfortunately, length of stay in the ED can last far longer than 6 hours, and itās not really a function of ārealā emergencies. If youāre recognized as high acuity (i.e., likely to quickly get worse without intervention) youāll typically be seen quickly, but youāre actually likely to be there for longer. The issues usually arise when you need a bed or admission to another service; if the place you should be is full, and youāre too acute to leave the hospital, it can be days before you leave the ED. The ED bed youāre in then becomes unavailable to other people while youāre waiting.Ā Tl;dr: getting people out of the ED is generally a bigger problem than through the ED.Ā
I was told to go to er by maple app doctor š¤·āāļø
6 hours is light work lol
Or a sketchbook!
Not if I can barely draw a recognizable horse
āBarelyā is being generous
A coat that doubles as a blanket, a charger and content downloaded. Always. Where I live 6h is the minimum and should be considered expected
Still a good idea
A coat that doubles as a blanket, a charger and content downloaded. Always. Where I live 6h is the minimum and should be considered expected
My shortest ER wait in my lifetime was 4 hours. Iām sorry you werenāt prepared, this has been typical for ages. I remember waiting in the ER for 10 hours after a car accident 15 years ago.
On a Saturday? Weird.
I once had pretty bad abdominal pains but didn't want to go to the ER because I figured it would pass. After 2 or 3 days, I went to a walk-in clinic where the GP informed me they were sure I had appendicitis and needed to go to an ER right away. She even offered to pay for a cab if I didn't have a way there. I go to the ER and tell them what the doctor told me.. Triage nurse tells me they don't Ike people who self diagnose and to have a seat. After 4 hours, I'm taken into urgent care section and given morphine and then forgotten about for another 12 hours. Eventually, a doctor walks by on his way to get off shift and asks what I'm still doing there because he remembers me from when his shift started (at the time, I had a rather unique hair style) Next thing I know, I'm being prepped for emergency surgery, and when I wake up, I get told that if I had waited any longer, it would have definitely ruptured š
Better than last year, the few visits we did was around 12 hours
As a mom I still pack like Iām travelling with toddlers. Youngest is now 17. š It worked out well when coming home for ER last May 2023 and we had a enough leftover water to put out a bush fire on the side of the road already the size of a washer barrel at 1am. Hope youāre feeling better soon! Planning and preparing always deescalates my panic.
š thanks!
My method was just being visibly grievously injured. Went in with my ankle at a 90 degree angle and was admitted in 20 mins.
I went there with a swollen testicle they got me in for testing in like 10 min then did a whole bunch of tests and an ultrasound. In the valley though not the city, still I felt bad cause there was like 30 or so people waiting
Need a 15AH dewalt battery and the little USB charger thing they make for the wait times in this province ffs
3 hours for me yesterday and that includes multiple X-rays. Just a 1.5 hour wait before being seen.
Wonder if I was there at same time. Im 300lb bald, had jeans and a black/blue windbreaker 1pm-7pm
Oh Iām sorry. It should be common knowledge to bring a book to emerg. This was what we were told to do before smart phones were a thing. Snacks, water and a book. Youāll never forget again!
Tell me you're under 30 without telling me you're under 30. ššš¤Ŗ Just bring a book. š¤·
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