Unless you're dying to get in, expect to wait at the ER
Recently we wrote about the emergency room at Los Robles Regional Medical Center. The reason, by the way, was a letter from an outraged family. They were mad because their daughter, dehydrated and suffering from the flu, went for hours before being seen by a doctor.

The registered nurse on duty, however, set the youngster up with two bottles of IV fluids for the dehydration, and the patient was at no time in a life-threatening situation. Her family just couldn't understand the prolonged wait to see an actual physician.

That's a problem.

As patients, we have preconceived notions about the acceptable waiting time in an ER. Everyone wants to see a doctor and be treated in a reasonable amount of time. But hospitals must establish priorities. People in danger of choking or bleeding to death or who are having acute chest pains are priority No. 1.

Doctors and nurses are compelled to treat life and death emergencies first. Others must wait. Even those with serious injuries such as broken bones must wait. A patient with a routine fracture, for example, will be treated for pain and the broken bone immobilized. The majority of broken bones, by the way, are not lifethreatening. But the unfortunate patient with a slipand-fall injury may have to wait for hours before an operating room and an orthopedic surgeon are available.

The delay seems like an eternity, especially if the patient is you or your child. The situation is complicated, too, by people who seek immediate ER treatment for injuries and illnesses that could be seen at a local 24-hour urgent care clinic.

Believe it or not, people go to ERs with colds, bumps, bruises and warts. By law, ER personnel must treat them- eventually. They can't just say, "Go see your doctor in the morning" or "Go home and take some aspirin."

Many people don't recognize a real emergency. Even chest pains can feel like heartburn. If in doubt, by all means go to the ER, where the triage nurse can sort out danger from discomfort. Just remember that you may not see a physician immediately.