Review of Emergency Room Services at MedCentral Hospital, Mansfield, Ohio

No one likes to go to the emergency room and like most other people, I only go when I think something is seriously wrong with me. I live in Mansfield, Ohio, and the only hospital in Mansfield is MedCentral. There are other small hospitals in other small towns 20 or 30 minutes away but it's at least an hour's drive to the nearest large hospital. Since it's the only hospital in Mansfield, that's where the ambulance will take you if you have to call 911.

Unfortunately, I recently had to call 911. I began experiencing very severe stomach pain, so severe I could hardly even sit up. I had gastric bypass surgery a couple years ago, which puts me at increased risk for things like ulcers and bowel obstructions, conditions that can be very serious. I had no way of knowing if my pain was related to any of those things, of course, I just knew the pain was dreadful. I gave birth with no pain medication at all and I swear, that was less painful.

The ambulance arrived quickly and I was at the emergency room at MedCentral in just minutes. So far, I was satisfied.

Then I got confused, though. Nurses were asking me to get up off the stretcher and walk out to the waiting room and stand up at a desk and sign in. Yes, really. I had to stand at a desk and fill out a paper explaining why I needed to be seen in the ER. Of course, the EMTs had passed that information on to the ER staff when they brought me in; I heard them. Then I was asked to sit on a hard plastic chair in the waiting room and, well, wait.

Remember, I was in so much pain I could hardly sit up. I was sobbing, tears streaming down my face. After several minutes my partner, who had followed the ambulance to MedCentral, went up to the desk and said we needed some help. He was told a nurse would come out to speak to us, and one did, about half an hour later. I was crying that whole time.

When the nurse finally did come out to the waiting room to speak to us, she informed us that even if a patient arrived by ambulance, they had to wait their turn. She said patients were triaged in the order in which they arrived, not in order of the seriousness of their condition, and that there were still several patients ahead of me. We asked if I could just have a place to lie down until it was my turn to be triaged but she said no. She told us there were indeed empty beds in the treatment area but said I could not go back to the treatment area until I was triaged, so I would just have to sit in the waiting room until it was my turn. She also refused to bring a stretcher out to the waiting room for me to lie down.

I decided to ask my partner to drive me to another hospital, further away, where I could receive prompt treatment. Fortunately, my condition turned out not to be something serious, but the ER staff at MedCentral had no way of knowing that. No one even took my vital signs or asked any questions about my medical history after I arrived.

I later spoke to the director of nursing by phone, who told me the nurse did not give me accurate information. Patients are not only triaged in the order in which they arrive, but also in order of the assumed seriousness of their condition. Patients that arrive by ambulance are supposed to be triaged in a timely manner and are not required to wait in the waiting room until they can be seen. Patients can go into the treatment area to lie down before being triaged if needed.

The director of nursing did not know why the nurse did not follow hospital policy or why I did not receive appropriate care. She tried to reassure me that I would receive better care at the MedCentral ER in the future, but honestly, I don't think I'll ever find out. Why risk it in an emergency that could possibly be life threatening?

If you live in Mansfield and must go to the ER by ambulance, you'll most likely end up at MedCentral. If you're able to go by car, you might want to consider driving to a nearby town to another hospital. That's certainly what I will do in the future!