Tuesday, May 18, 2010

My Life is a Seinfeld Episode

Those of you who are Sienfeld Fans should remember the episode where Elaine is trying to get her medical records because it has some info in it that she doesn't want. She keeps going to different docs and they all read it and mention something about it or look at her strange...well I was Elaine while Madisyn was in the ER.
We got to the ER at Primary Childrens and the nurse that checked us in was a complete jerk. I told her about Maddie's condition and that she wasn't holding anything down because she'd been throwing up. The nurse just wrote down that she was puking but nothing about her condition. She told us to have a seat and they would call us in a minute. (*I carry an emergency letter with me at all times but was told that if I went to IMC or PCMC that they would already have it and I wouldn't need it, so I didn't provide it.) We were sitting there for 20 minutes. I am watching my daughter turn more gray and lethargic. I grab my emergency letter and take it to the counter, to a different nurse, and ask her to please take this to the doctor because she needs to be seen. The nurse read the letter and said she was sorry and they would get us back ASAP. She takes the letter in the back and I go back and sit down.
The door opens and out come the crappy nurse. She kept saying things like "You have been bumped to the front of the line, in front of everyone else waiting", we were the only people in the waiting room. I looked around and she said "There are other people ahead of you they're just waiting in another part of the hospital". (This is where my sarcasm steps in), I looked at her and said "What, they're hanging out in the cafeteria?". I'm sure she didn't appreciate my response but I didn't appreciate her treating us as if we weren't important. I was arguing with her for a few minutes because she was acting extremely rude considering she's working in the ER of Primary Childrens. Anyway, I told her that I wanted a different nurse, preferably one that was so indifferent. She left and we got called back about 2 minutes later, by her, and taken to our room. She said that our nurse would be in shortly, I was releaved, and then in walks the Social Worker. Yup - She sent me a social worker. With the way he was talking to me I was sure she must have told him I was some crazzed lunatic mother that needed calming down. Of course I was fine by that point and he only stayed about a minute. For the rest of our time in the ER every person that came in said that they were sorry about our earlier confusion and that they were appreciative of our patience when they weren't sure what to do for her. It was an experience that I wont soon forget, and if there happens to be a next time I will definitly give them my letter no matter what. They asked me to fill out a survey about my experience before they released Maddie, I was glad to that for them.

3 comments:

Lauralee said...

That really does suck. Hopefully you won't have to ever go again. Not to down play anything AT ALL, they do have another area that cannot be seen if you are in the regular waiting room. It's in the back, through the doors, and we have used it a few times. It's for kids that are there for things other than an illness that could possibly be infectious (symptoms like throwing up, diarrhea, rash, etc.). I am actually very glad they have that area. Nothing like going to the emergency room for one thing and leaving with an illness.
I'm so glad that it was not something serious with her condition!

Amanda said...

I totally remember that episode! Sienfeld is the best show ever! But I'm sorry you had to go through that. As if it wasn't tramatizing enough without the bitchy nurse.

Manda Jane Clawson said...

Wow she was a beast!!! I would be writing her boss the meanest letter ever!