An Insider's Guide to Faster Service in the Emergency Room

Have you experienced the extremely long wait times of an emergency room? Have you sat in a waiting area for what seems like hours on end as you or a loved one waits to be treated by a doctor? Then you know the frustration, boredom, and unease that often arise as you wait to be placed in a room only to wait further still before actually being attended by a doctor. You may have felt helpless to the situation and wondered if there was anything you could possibly do to speed up the entire process and make it easier too. The good news is that there really are ways to make your emergency room visit quicker and get you better quality care. Here you can learn some insider tips that have been proven repeatedly and learned in a five-year ER career.

The first thing to know is to understand why ER wait times are so long. The number one reason for excessive wait times is non emergency cases that end up being treated in the emergency room instead of in a primary care physician's office. If you go into the emergency room with something minor that your own doctor could normally treat, such as a cold you will only after hours of waiting and racking up a several hundred-dollar medical bills be redirected to visit your primary care physician at his or her office. Of course if you are unable to see your own doctor and feel that you are in need of medical attention then you should visit either an urgent care clinic or your local emergency room. The second biggest causes of longer wait times in the ER are major trauma patients that come in either via ambulance or helicopter and require extensive and immediate treatment and care. Sometimes various such cases will present themselves simultaneously and that will tie up the healthcare staff as well as rooms for often hours. The average expected wait time for non life threatening symptoms or injuries can be anywhere from one to six hours depending on the amount of patients and availability of beds. A one to three hour wait is not considered to be an excessive waiting period for the average emergency room visit.

There are some things which you can do to further prolong your wait or shorten it as well. For instance, if you come into the emergency room with a horrible attitude toward the healthcare staff then they are less likely to be in a rush to help you out. It's important to remember that the healthcare staff is there to help you and your care is literally in their hands. It is as equally important to realize that you are a big part of your own healthcare team and your contribution, in form of information and cooperation can be a major key in how long you're there and the quality of your care. To ensure a shorter wait time and more accurate treatment there are a few things that you should know or bring with you when you visit the ER. You will need to have with you all of your medical insurance coverage information, such as insurance member cards, often the type of coverage that you have can dictate the amount of analytical testing that will be done. You will also need with you the name and contact information for your primary care physician as well as the name and contact information for any specialist that you are seeing. Also important and a good rule of thumb is to carry a list of your medical conditions that you suffer from or have suffered from, medication that you are currently taking or have taken within the last thirty days and any over the counter vitamins, supplements or medications that you are taken or have taken. For the medications, prescription and over the counter, you will need to have listed the strengths and dosage information. Having all of this medical information will help the triage nurse in properly assessing your medical history, status and possible risks and therefore your priority. It will also help nurses and doctors to better understand your medical history and what may be going on now. When seeing the triage nurse it is very important to tell him or her of all of your symptoms, this will also aides in determining your severity, risk and priority. Having a complete history and full list of symptoms in many cases means a lesser wait if there is any health risk determined.

Another "secret" to faster and better care when visiting the emergency room is to telephone your primary care physician or specialist and notify him or her that you are en route to the emergency room. Nine times out of ten your doctor will call ahead to the ER and depending on your symptoms, and medical condition or injury can have them ready and waiting for you when you arrive. Now how's that for a change? Your physician also has the ability to order certain analytical testing and give orders via the telephone for your care. They can then have the results sent to their office via a fax so they may review them and give further instructions to the healthcare team as to your care or choose to see you for follow-up care in their own office at a later date. Your primary care doctor also has the option of coming to the emergency department and examining you themselves. This can save you from having to wait for an ER doctor to become available and give you the added benefit of having your care administered by someone who is already familiar with your health and boy and can make follow-up care a simpler. However some primary care physicians will only make an ER visit if their patient has a serious pre-existing condition so it is important to discuss that option with your doctor when choosing one for primary care.

Remembering to provide complete information and remaining calm are the two main factors in helping the healthcare staff not only give you their highest quality of care but a better assessment and faster care. Though some factors in time are out of your hands, you are the single, most important factors in either helping or hurting your emergency room experience.