my husband's urgent care doctor called ahead when his appendix burst... fastest I've ever seen an adult get into an er without an ambulance.

I will never forget walking into the ER at 3am with tachycardia. I woke up with a HR of 170 that wouldn't go down and a climbing fever, so I drove myself to the ER, actually relatively calm. Got to triage and the nurse took one look at my HR grabbed me and started walking back while radioing to the people in the back. I had never seen someone get taken back so fast. You always WANT to be the one waiting the longest in the ER, it means your not the one at most risk of dying. When they took me back within two minutes, I suddenly became a lot more scared. Something must be really wrong if your not having me wait at all. Yep. Turned out to be viral infection that started a crazy immune response that mimicked all the symtoms of sepsis. High fever, high HR, low BP, severe pain, and all the lab work to go with it. But no infection found. Came on like a truck, felt like death for two days and then I was fine and was discharged. It was so bizarre!

03:52 My doc called ahead, I was seen immediately. You do *not* want to be the person who is seen immediately. The longer you're waiting, the less you're dying.

Urgent care = my back is killing me in any position. ER = back pain so bad I can’t breath without without crying. Both were kidney infections. One got me meds and sent home within 45 minutes. The other I got a CT scan & was there long enough to make the staff afraid of my friend’s mom. Do urgent care before it gets to an ER visit.

As a patient my daughter is a champ. She has had so many crappy procedures in the past year. We took her to ER late one night as she was having an allergic reaction and the steroids and antihistamines we had been given in urgent care hadn't helped and was getting worse, so needed more, 1am on a Saturday, we were surrounded by drunks in hand cuffs ect. The Dr called someone in and my daughter shouts... "really, they're calling HIM in before Me. I'm 8 with a full body reaction" I've never been more mortified and simultaneously proud... the lad actually said to send her in. I suppose he was putting off the inevitable of a cell. Hahahaha.

I'd add abdominal pain to the list. When I had ab pain I called my primary care doc to see if I could get in that day, and they told me ab pain required an ER visit. I rolled my eyes a bit, but went -- and within hours was in surgery having both my appendix and gallbladder removed. (The fact that the ER doc initially wanted to send me home to take Tums without doing an exam or a scan is a story for another day.)

As the mother of a nurse who worked ER through the pandemic, listen to this man. If you don’t have signs of a life-threatening problem, go to Urgent Care first. If you are a real emergency, they will send you where you belong.

The grandma thing hit sooo close to home. She spent all her life very well off and comfortable to all of it gone after a few hospital stays because the price of medical going up.

One time, it was Christmas eve night at like 11:30 pm & we were waiting until midnight. We already knew I was very ill, but I wasn't crazy truthful with my mom since I just wanted to be with everyone else & enjoy the holiday. It wasn't until that night that I told my mom I had red bumps all over me the past 3 days and they were getting worse, and she was like "YOU SHOULDVE TOLD ME" which worried me since I was just a 10 yo and my mom used to be a nurse. She suspected I had scarlet fever, which is highly deadly. Since everywhere but the ER was closed, we had to go to the ER and I literally didn't even have to wait at all, they immediately took me to a room and the nurse said "Aww, merry Christmas, sweetheart" and gave me her light-up necklace that I kept till this day 💗 btw, I was negative, thank God

Full moon effects is apparent in several industries, too. I'm a teacher, and I've also been a corrections officer in a juvenile prison. I worked night shift at the prison, and it never failed that when I came in, if the question was "is it a full moon tonight?" it meant something was going done that day. And 99% of the time, yes there was a full moon.

On Urgent Care: please go there when symptoms are mild. Do not wait days/weeks before you go and they say “um yeah we can’t do anything about this” and you end up in the ER anyway… happened to my husband a year and a half ago. A scab turned into a bone infection turned into an eight week hospital stay. And then a second (shorter) stay a year later for amputation ….

I absolutely love these! I have to be the sickest I've ever been in my life and/or in a (potentially) life-threatening situation to even step foot in an ER. I've always been like this, even before COVID.

Urgent care rocks. I had to forcibly remove someone from the premises and jacked up my finger. Got an appointment(yes, seriously) with Urgent Care. Came in on time, didn't even wait 5 minutes after check-in. Quick exam, walk over to X-ray, a wait for the results, tore a tendon or ligament. They gave me a splint, some instructions and I was on my way back to work to deal with other idiots. All this in less than an hour! Oh, and finger healed nicely. 6 weeks in the splint was all it needed. All that for a $25 co-pay.

Try working a full moon on Friday the 13th on a night shift in emergency services when someone, somewhere, has said the 'Q' word. Repeatedly.

Full moon stuff has been studied: it correlates very strongly with outside light level. Seems more people do more stuff, particularly more *stupid* stuff outside at night when they can see, and since the full moon is the peak of it you're more likely to notice it around and associate it with the full moon.If you tracked the specific day of the full moon and you compared it to days before and after that were pretty full moons that also had clear cloudless nights you would see very similar rates of crazy on average

As an epileptic, I honestly prefer the urgent care. I know seizures are on the ER list at the end, but for ppl w/epilepsy it can be a chronic condition. Though, I can see it being an emergency only if a seizure is particularly bad, like w/falling or head trauma, or if someone doesn't have a history of seizures... ERs I've been to are quick to medicate & have given me morphine after a seizure, even though I'm severely allergic to it. Urgent Cares often take the time to test med levels and offer pain alternatives. The hospital may also do those things but usually after admittance after leaving the ER. At least, that has been my experience.

I learned first hand (pun unintended) that multiple cat bites that made my thumb 10x it's size got me taken back immediately when the waiting room was packed. Ended up in ER surgery to cut out infection & the cat missed my flexor tendon by a whisker.

I love when they call to ask the wait time... if you think are having an emergency come in. If the wait time makes you stay at home, you probably don't need to be in the ER. We don't give out wait times over the phone. We never know what's going to happen in the next 10 mins.

Re: raining I would think certain emergencies occur less often when it is raining, because more people stay at home to begin with. They're not out screwing up tendons and vertebrae with sports they haven't played in ten years, or wiping out trying to show their teen son they can still do gnarly bike or skateboard tricks, And they're a lot less likely to be in the yard working on a project until they get heat stroke or angina or their back goes out. Rain also affects many of those with genuine chronic pain so badly that they will only leave their living space if they **absolutely*** need to, and may ignore other situations, even those that should be seen,to prioritize minimizing pain....partly because the barometric pressure and humidity make some people's pain a lot worse, and partly because they may not want to risk a fall. I have seen people who should have at least gone to an urgent care...choose lying in the position and situation that helps them be least in agony instead. Im sure a good percentage of people who use ERs in place of a PCP (or those who to try to get pain meds they don't medically need) are acting like house cats and just don't want to get wet, but I also think there are other obvious causative reasons why the numbers go down.

Yes I agree on Urgent care. Those places are a God send. Heck I got seen so much quicker at urgent care then I usually do at my regular doctor when I have a normal patient visit. Only had to wait 30 minutes, got seen, had my medicine and was on my way to a nice nap that afternoon. And was well enough for work the next day. I recommend 10/10 stars. Also only ended up paying 50 dollars when it was all said and done after insurance. 25.00 up front for co pay and 25.00 for what was left over after insurance.

I called my PCP for an appt because I had lots of blood in my urine. He told me that it wasn’t blood and it was enzymes. Two months later I finally felt better after a ER visit Surgery and a lot of pain and having a stent installed. I don’t see that doctor anymore.

Took my daughter to urgent care after falling off monkey bars. My training for ER is loss of life, limb or eyesight. They're like, her arm is broken. Bye. Had to fight with insurance and PCM 5 days to get her in and get a cast, all the while she's in constant pain, then later an appt with a specialist to do another cast. There's a line you gotta draw somewhere for what one service can provide vs the other one. I still waited in line an hour with a crying kid for the people coming in for drug tests and colds.

Actually, a lot of ERs now have nurse advice line attached to them, so people can get medical advice. It's basically what I've been doing after i left working ER

I can guarantee that when you show up in the ER on Christmas day, the staff knows there's something seriously wrong.

Our ER will talk with you on the phone and help guide you in the decision to come on in or not. Years ago, my son was 3 years old and hit his head on our island in the kitchen chasing a ball his sister threw and passed out. I actually didn’t see him hit his temple. I only saw him take a few steps and fall over. He was completely limp and eyes rolled back in his head. After what seemed like forever he stiffened up and woke up. Since I hadn’t seen what happened I was thinking he had a silent seizure or something so I called the ER after he woke up and they walked me through questions to ask him and asked me a few and if I felt I still needed to bring him in I could but they didn’t push for me to come in nor did they not speak with me. They assessed that he would be fine. Thank God they helped calm this momma.

Extreme abdominal pain (ended up being an infected kidney stone that went septic) and a wound that continues to get worse after going to urgent care multiple times can also be reasons to go to the ER. But with the infected kidney stone that went septic at first they were thinking it was just bad food poisoning and it took around 5 hours for them to figure out what was going on when they finally did a CT because I ended up shivering uncontrollably for probably half an hour it felt like. I was on a bed in the hallway with no call button.

Mondays being the busiest is no joke. A coworker and myself got injured during a code with a violent patient on a Monday and, even as employees of the hospital we still were waiting in the waiting room for 8 hours. Ended with a nice 16 hour shift that day, with more than half that time being a patient, and not actually on the floor working.

Steve from the ER: Hydrate before coming to the ER! ER: Makes you wait hours to be seen if your emergency isn't severe enough; says you're not allowed to have water during that time

I ended up in the ER three weeks ago and your videos kept playing on loop in my head. 🤣😂 (I am miraculously okay! I got kicked in the ribs by a horse and somehow walked away with some nasty contusions and a bump to the head. Never presented with a concussion despite blacking out for a few seconds. The worst bruising wasn't even my ribs, it was the arm I landed on. I apparently managed to bring it up as I fell so it took the brunt of the impact. Mostly healed now, and back to work feeding the horse that kicked me. 🤣🤣)

Tip I learned at Urgent care is a 10 inch cut or longer isn't considered a knick especially if you used a medical staple gun to keep it closed to drive there. Apparently it's a gash and they want to get your pants off quickly to see what the hell you did.

I have stage 4 cancer. When the chemo causes an infection, making me septic, my doctor calls ahead, and I'm either first or second in line as soon as I walk in. It's super fast if you're in a life-threatening situation. Also, during Covid, I was seen as soon as possible bc infection or illness to me equals possible death.

My horse stepped on my ankle and I went to urgent care the next day . Told them I’m a cardiac patient and they sent me to the ER. Oh my ankle was broken too. I hate crutches! Love your vlogs

Please make urgent care open 24 hours instead of closing at 8:00 P.M. and you'll have a lot less people going to the ERs!

I have so much respect for ER nurses! (and all staff in ER, but i specifically have good experiences with the nurses). I used to get violently sick with stomach aches as a teen, and I remember the nurses on the shift right after i got out of school knew my name I was there so much from dehydration. They could be completely swamped running around like crazy, and still make sure I had puke bags (the pain made my puke a lot), lots of fluids, and check in on me to check if my pain levels changed (they almost always stayed 10). Anyway, I have so much respect for you in this field!!! ❤️❤️❤️

Honestly there needs to be more information to the general public about whether or not you should be going to the ER or just visiting your general care physician my parents both worked ambulance service out of a volunteer fire department often at the same time so I lived in the fire department with them and the most people fall under one of two categories the first panics calls an ambulance or rushes to the ER because they hung there toenail and the second has been bed bound with chest pains for 4 days blurred vision and numbness in all limbs but doesn't want to be a bother

i get this, i work urgent care, which is in the SAME building just down the hall from our ER, anything NON-emergent comes down to me. It's a fact! but if you think coming to urgent care for your chest pain is gonna be a shorter wait, YOU ARE WRONG, straight to the ER you go sir... good luck and gods speed.

Throwing up blood is also an ER visit. Ask me how I know.

4:54 I have to note Urgent Care being cheaper depends on your state and insurance. Because apparently in my state and with my type of insurance it's charged the exact same amount as an ER visit (it literally listed as an ER visit 🙄). Probably explains why most people just go to the ER in my state.

Unfortunately, I very frequently get turned away from urgent care clinics because of my cardiac history and connective tissue disorder. I also was told by a doctor to not waste time at an urgent care clinic for severe abdominal pain because chances are that you’ll need an ultrasound or CT scan and they usually can’t do that at urgent care. Unfortunately, this does mean that I’m well-known by the ER staff at my local hospital and I absolutely hate bothering them. I just feel like I am the absolute worst person in the world when I see a familiar face and I can tell that trying their hardest not to roll their eyes at me. There’s just no way of knowing when a stomachache and vomiting is just a case of plain old food poisoning or a bowel obstruction with me!

Since learning about it and having to use it a few times, I've encouraged folks a number of times to go to urgent care. Worth note... in those cases, it's usually not an attempt to convince them *not* to go to the ER, but rather to convince them to get in to a doctor ASAP when they don't think it's a big enough deal for the ER and would rather pretend nothing's wrong or wait a few days to see if it'll go away before calling to schedule an appointment a month or two out for something that seems like it should be dealt with a bit more quickly. I was even kinda grumpy about a time a call-line nurse insisted I go to the ER instead of Urgent Care or something a couple years ago, partly because I had to get a friend to give me a ride out to the nearest ER I could count on my insurance to cover (when I easily could have just taken a bus or even walked to the nearest Urgent Care), and partly because it hardly seemed like an emergency. Sure, apparently I had managed to dislocate my jaw on both sides, but it had only been an annoyance over the prior couple days, and the little gash under my lips had already scabbed over and just needed a stitch or two (because it went... all the way through and I had realized I was drooling through it...). Uh... if you're wondering wtf... it was determined I most likely had a seizure (not the first time, but it's extremely rare), and I was barely even awake for those 2 days before I finally called the nurse line, nevermind thinking very clearly. Overall, I know that people who misuse the ER exist, I just... don't seem to know any of them. Even though I've been living in a major city for years now, I still have a much easier time understanding the moment in one of Dr. Glaucomflecken's Rural Medicine videos then the patient's answer to how bad something is is "I'm here, ain't I?"

“I don’t want to be waiting too long” … MA’AM YOU HAVE A PAPER CUT ON YOUR HAND-

I have had a doctor call ahead and tell the hospital to expect me. Three months after my oldest was born my Gallbladder decided to go play on a farm and wanted to take me with it. In 24 hours I went from looking fine to having highlighter yellow eyes and green skin, I looked like a plant according to my mother. Went in, got put in a room, did paperwork IN room while being prepped for an emergency ERCP to unblock things and maybe hold off until the surgeon could get around to remove it. Was... fun... Was the quickest I've gotten rushed back and that includes the time my poor son (at 3 years old) caught a nasty stomach bug and had it coming out both ends, and we couldn't get his fever down with 'The Meds'. Once it hit 102.9 I took him in. Still had to wait about 15 minutes to be taken back, spent my birthday in the hospital with him that year. Now he's a happy, healthy(And sassy AF) 9 year old.

I find your comments about over the phone medical advice fascinating. In Australia we have a phone service called “Health Direct” which is specifically designed to reduce ED visits

One other tip. For the staff, learned this from Dr Glaucomflecken. If an older farmer, construction worker, or other similar person brings themselves to the ER for a major medical issue, get them back ASAP!! They may be about to die and just not be saying so!!

I live in Canada and where I reside the "urgent care" closes at 7 pm during the week and 5 pm on weekends and holidays. We have had to sit in the hospital for hours for a tetanus because the accident it happened at 6 pm on a weekend. Need a couple of stitches, 8 hour wait for the hospital. Some times there isn't even an urgent care dr on and the clinic's just close. There is NOT one place that is open until 11 pm.

My 1&2 year old were so sick this past fall. Because of Covid their pediatrician wouldn’t see them. I made an appointment at urgent care per the pediatricians suggestion and got there and they said it was still a 4-6 hour wait even though I made an appointment. I didn’t pack to prepare to wait that long. My kids needed lunch, naps, etc. I finally lost it and called the pediatrician back demanding they see my kids. That’s why they are there. To see sick kids and help them. They told me they could Covid test them in the parking lot then take them in if it was negative. WELL WHY WASN’T I GIVEN THAT OPTION IN THE FIRST PLACE?! By the way they didn’t even have Covid, but they both had pretty bad RSV. But if they still refused to see my kids my next stop was the ER. What am I supposed to do for them otherwise? I am not a doctor, but I have 2 sick babies and need them to be seen to get help and no one wanted to help them. So yeah my non emergent ass would have gone to the ER. Sue me. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

one time my mom called the ER to see hat to do and they said I would be fine. a few days later she took me to the ER after being instructed to do so by my doctor and as soon as she said I was there bc of my eating disorder, they sent me home. I didn't even have a chance to walk through the doors. a few days later I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and my parents were told that i would probably die in a few hours. i lived, but barely. today i still face consequences of delayed medical treatment. i think i should sue, but everyone has been telling me it was my fault and i was the irresponsible one. i was 12, severely underweight, and had a resting heart rate of 22. any advice?

my latest visit to the ER was on a thursday. weather was cold, very windy and moderate snow fall and I do not give a shit about the weather. I go to the ER when I need help. this time was it because I was in agonising pain from a surgery the same day. less than an hour from getting to the waiting room until I got a bed. nothing dangerous it turned out so I was in and out in less than 4 hours even tho the doctor who delt with surgery complications that night were very busy. the visit to the ER before my latest one wasn't much more than a month earlier. also on a thursday. windy, cold, snow fall and the ER was crowded from a mass car crash that happened half an hour before my comparatively small accident where I luckily did not pinch off 2 of my fingers and they only needed stitches. ended up waiting 7 hours in the waiting room, then another half an hour in a room and finally 30 more minutes later to get the wounds cleaned and stitched together. not fun in the slightest but I heard something hillarious. a man walked up to a very stressed nurse and said "what the hell are all of you doing? I have been waiting with my son for over an hour to get help and nothing happens" and the nurse responded with "average wait time this night is roughly 7.5 hours and the next person in line did come here over 7 hours ago". I had been there for 7 hours and 20 ish minutes by that point so I knew that I was next in line. thank you to all the ER workers who help people with their emergencies and their not so emergencies alike. you have helped me out a bunch of times already and i'm eternally greatful. and as an added bonus do I have near enough free healthcare where I live so I have gotten my fingers stitched together and more for a lower price than the cheapest doctors visit in the US.

I refuse to go to the ER. An ambulance is the only way you're going to get me there after everything I've been through

Got to love the Netherlands, we've got two ways into the the medical system. ER and GP, if you're not brought in by ambulance or have extreme physical trauma, here's the GP office build next to the ER, unless they tell you to come to us, you're not getting in.

When I was first married my newlywed husband was an X-Ray tech working call on weekends. It was the closest ER to a popular, mountainous, back road motorcyclists would frequently ride…and crash. I was hanging out with my husband in the X-Ray dept. (I would even develop X-Rays for him) when a patient came in for a leg X-Ray. One sight of his leg and I could see his bones with my bare eyes, the skin and muscle had been scraped off. I refuse to get on a motorcycle ever since. I like having skin & muscle on my leg thank you very much. Another guy came in by life flight, he wasn’t wearing a helmet and instead of scraping his leg muscle off on the highway this guy landed on his skull and well, you get the picture. That’s why they called motorcycles “donor cycles” in the ER.

The urgent Care closest to me actually has longer wait times than the ER does. Last time I had to go there, I had had to leave work because my son was screaming of pain in his side. So I picked him up and we went to urgent Care thinking he might get seen a little quicker than the ER and they had to wait 3 hours and still not be seen. By then whatever pain he was feeling had subsided so we ended up just leaving. In the meantime they took in instantly a kid who came in with his mom and I heard the mom say he had already been seeing in that same place that morning but that the treatment they gave him for a double ear infection wasn't working quickly enough so she demanded to be seen again, and a gentleman about in his thirties or forties if I had to guess, saying he had intermittent back pain but was not having any at that current moment and had not had any for the past 2 hours...

1:00 i showed up during HEAVYYYY snow and the front desk looked at me like O_O SOMEONE CAMEEE

My doctor called ahead because I was hemorrhaging. 7 hours later an administrator came out calling people's names. Hum, is that to make sure we are still alive? Yes 🤯 During that same visit, I said out loud, jeez, do we need to have a bullet for you guys to finally admit us? Guy sitting next to me, holding his hand up. 🤚🔫uh, I have one in my hand and I am still waiting. 😳 I was admitted and had emergency surgery 9 hours later.

Broke my foot and went to a place set up for orthopedics, got x-rays, got a walking boot and crutches from a charity, about $200 and took about an hour no appointment. I knew the break wasn't life threatening (no protruding bones, no spreading bruising), so I wasn't going to bog down an ER. Similarly my sister went to an urgent care for a bladder infection that wasn't responding to the first round of antibiotics she got from her primary. They are such an important resource.

Never ever say the word quiet if the ER has been slow all day

I actually did get medical advice once when I called the nurse line! It is a hospital system, but my primary care doctor is there. I burst a blood vessel in my eye coughing and was really freaked out to see blood in my eye. The nice person on the phone said it happens sometimes and I would be okay. I went back to urgent care when they opened and was glad I didn't have to go to the ER. Urgent care gave me some good meds and I finally got better. She also told me allergy medicine is no longer optional for me-whoops!

The two times I went to the ER I was admitted to the hospital, the 2nd time I was actually wheeled into surgery within an hour and a half. I never had to wait either, I checked in and told of my reason why I was there and I was taken back immediately! I was pushed to the front of the line, saw the ER doctor asap!

The first words out of my primary care doctors mouth when my blood work comes back messed up or my blood pressure readings at home are way too high...go to the ER...me..back to her...NO.

Unfortunately, with my insurance the MINIMUM co-pay, just to walk in the door, at an Urgent Care clinic is $150. At the ER/ED dept The MINIMUM copay is $175. The problem with going to Urgent Care (at least in my state) is that they can't or maybe won't start an IV, even for fluids to treat dehydration. They also can't, don't won't take x-rays. My dogs Veterinarian takes x-rays but not at Urgent Care! After hours waiting at Urgent Care they often CALL AN AMBULANCE with PARAMEDICS to drive you to the EMERGENCY ROOM!!! It happens all the time. Double the wait time and the expense, with the ambulance, is off the charts!

The rain one reminds me working at a restaurant. If the weather is just sucky no one wants to leave home so slow. But if it’s a blizzard with weather storm warning or anything else they are told to stay home they will show up in droves ‘cause “can’t tell me what to do” 🙄

I guess when it rains they don't pour in. Lol

Fun fact none of the urgent cares are open at 3am around me

The only thing I'd like to point out is that some Urgent Cares are so freaking lazy, they tell all their patients (non-emergent) to go to our ER.

Steveio… I’ve been binge watching your stuff and I love it! But I really can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone into the urgent care with problems that were appropriate, waited, just for them to say “This is far more complicated,” and before I can say “honest! I’m not pregnant!” they call an ambulance to ship me off to the main hospital, where, I have to wait all freaking over again. Maybe it’s just this one urgent care with chicken little doctors who are in cahoots with the toe pain people but it really chaps my hide… Honest! I’m still not pregnant! 😂😂😂😂😂😂

If you have insurance most have a nurse line to get advice. You might not even need urgent care. If you don’t, there are health clinics that are free or sliding scale depending on your income. In the US 211 is a number in Calif maybe nationally that can refer you to low or free services, not just medical. God bless & take care everyone ❤️

My first time going to ER. They sat me down asked me why I'm here. Few mins after they took my heart rate, the monitor immediately panic beep cuz my heart rate was 165. Plus my 103F fever. The front desk nurse pinged her colleagues, took my info god's speed, walked me into an ER room, got on the bed, several nurses simultaneously working on my body. Imaging, blood draw, etc. I couldn't be more thankful they didn't make me wait. But also well aware I was in very bad shape.

Living in the Pacific NW I can say that urgent cares have been thriving. So convenient. Low co-pay. Can get in same day They even have some "super"-urgent cares which have a lot more imaging equipment like mri's and ultrasound machines that most urgent cares don't have. Used to only be xray. I've been to urgent care for a torn mcl, broken foot, and large ovarian cyst (which ruptured on its own without surgery) with same day appointments without stepping foot in an ER.

Yeah, I took my kid to urgent care for a fever (ended up being 105) & he was getting pretty lethargic. They immediately sent us home to get him in the bath. Then called us and told us they had called children's and to take him there. By the time we got there, I had already gotten the fever to break and they just gave him the dose of Motrin it was time for and sent him home with a prescription for Tami flu. I felt bad wasting the time of the ER docs, but the urgent care doc was pretty insistent that I should take him in.

Once I was in the ER via ambulance for over sixteen hours of intractable vomiting, they couldn’t make it stop and the asshat PA (that is always an asshat unless I have a simple problem) told me that I shouldn’t have come in after he tried for three hours to get my vomiting under control. Asked me how I got there so he could discharge me. After spitting up some blood from the throat tear I looked at him and said he was literally the one that signed the ambulances forms and my husband is on his way now he was working all day. Asshat PA then amended his words and after my husband told him we would just be back later if he discharged me with a bleeding throat and still puking. Luckily it was about shift change and the NP that took over finally helped some.

This really is good and useful information, and we get the laugh at your delivery, all of which makes it more palatable. Thanks!

As an ER Tech... these videos are fucking GOLD

In my area no Urgent Care has an X-ray. So if you have an potential broken bone the hospital is the only option. Although you can avoid the ER by getting a STAT order from an Urgent Care, it's just a different waiting room, they machines are still shared with ER so wait times can be just as long. Especially when the people checking patients in forgets to flip the switch and light the light so the techs know they have someone needed an X-ray to come out and get. *sigh* People were waiting for hours before the X-ray techs got curious why there were no patients and came out to check.

My grandmother was a nurse. She said full moon nights at the hospital were always busy. One you missed, lots of mamas pop out babies more so during full moons.

The one about it being a full moon is the TRUTH! People really do act stranger during a full moon! I was a telephone operator who worked the graveyard shift, and we dreaded full moon nights! 😂

I watch in memories of my dad!! I miss him SO SO much, he worked in the ED (er) in WHOLE life. EVERYTHING said in these little skits are 100% absolutely true! Especially the full moon one, every full moon my dad would come home wrecked! It's also true what they say about saying, "oh it's quiet in here," or "hey, you guy's aren't so bust tonight" that's an absolute jinx, and NEVER say that or anything close it in an ED!! (unless you WANT nurses and doctors to be SUPER pissed at ya)

I only go to ER instead of urgent care if 1) it's late, urgent care is closed, and it can't wait until morning, or 2) it's something our urgent care won't touch, like a broken bone or possible need for surgery.

I always loved it when they told me "IF I go in the ambulance I get seen faster". It was always my goal to make sure that didn't happen. Triage candidate!!!

Tracey we’re on to you! 🤣

Back in day! A person could call and ask a ER nurse question

I was at the ER recently and one of the other guys in the waiting room waiting for treatment started announcing to everyone "I'm not gonna wait in here for this shi*" then went out into the parking lot for a cigarette. Of course the nurses came out to call him back as soon as he stepped out. Obviously he was having an emergency. LOL. felt so bad for the staff I apologized to them they had to deal with that kind of nonsense. I feel y'alls pain. I was in the ER out of precaution as recommended by my primary, thankfully it was not an emergency, I was perfectly content with my wait time considering I knew they were dealing with other critical patients.

I live in a small town we have a hospital, it is small, but it serves our communities very nicely. I’ve never had to wait more than an hour…. Usually. I have gone to the ER… and admittedly embarrassed. I am old…. Over 3/4 of a century old. There are places I cannot reach, nor can I see. In the summer we have a lot of ticks. I am outside a lot working. I’ve gone to the ER for a tick check. They will not send a nurse until I’ve gone to triage. Usually triage is enough. The nurse on duty that does triage will look at my back and other embarrassing places, and remove a tick or two. They’ve always been very polite and nice assuring me that it’s OK to come in for a tick check. I have always made it clear that anyone that has more of an emergency than I did go before me. I’m more than willing to wait for this inconvenience. Since it’s at the end of the day, the clinic, and the little town that I live in is closed, and I live in a small rural town. I’m lucky to live in a town that has a small Hospital.

I was taken back before I was even fully checked in. I had viral meningitis, shingles on my face, and Bell’s palsy at 26. They put me on code blue the second I was rolled in in a wheel chair. This was in the middle of COVID. Immediate care called ahead and the moment my name crossed their desk, they pulled me. It saved my life. I was hospitalized immediately on a high risk floor - just below ICU for 19 days.

Good Morning! I never post comments but I had to say how much I LOVE your videos lol My son is Army Reserves and a firefighter and decided to take the EMT class so being the closeted over protected mom that I am I started researching the profession and one of your videos popped up and I was hooked lol …over 4 hours later I had to buy a hoodie!! Now we need a t-shirt lol🤗

Can you make a video on access centers for mental health?

Same here in Australia. People use the er like it's a drs visit. Only and only do I go thru er is if im in an ambulance (I have some major issues that do require hospital visits and im 1 of those people that wait till its an actual emergency. Yep so sue me lol as I know the hellava long wait is going to happen if I present early.) I've been ramped for 6 hours in an ambulance from an head injury due to one of my conditions making me pass out and hit the floor. And that was around 12am. Eventually I got sick of waiting in the ambulance and asked to get an uber to my dr. mri done and fractured skull later i was then sent to a private hospital because i have ultra care super dooper medical insurance due to my many conditions and was admitted straight away. Yippee

I remember having to go to the ER in a blizzard because I was coughing up blood after a tonsillectomy.

I absolutely love you Stevio!!

Have you ever had a patient wait for 10-12 hours or more to wait in the E.R to be seen?

This was one of your best videos! I loved it.

One thing about pregnancy I loved was pregnant mothers have their own center go there instead of waiting at the e.r. for hours on end they know we wanna make sure the baby is okay and give us medicine make us appointments and send us home

I'm weirdly highly allergic to contrast dyes, that are sometimes used in heart scans in MRI's. I didn't know until I was given some and suddenly I couldn't breath very well and I got very bad nausea, with buzzing in my ears and a fluttering heart. They gave me something and after a short while I started feeling better, of course I had no idea what was happening to me until afterwards. The heart specialist who was treating me, told me to never have any type of contrast dye again otherwise I could have a sudden heart attack which they would likely be unable to bring me back from. That scared the crap out of me. Two other specialists have since had to use other ways to check the blood flow in and out of my heart, instead of using the contrast dye. Weird is all I can say! I don't know anyone else whose allergic to contrast dye. I didnt even know it was a thing.

Reasons to go to the ER: 5:46 - Chest Pain, difficulty breathing, stroke symptoms, head trauma, severe bleeding, loss of vision, seizures, serious burns and fainting.

My 1st and only ER visit, last month. Actually St. Pat's day. (I wonder if that's totally slow or busy?) I was in EXCRUCIATING pain, I couldn't take anymore at 11:00 pm (coping for 21 days, COULD NOT get a surgeon to call back to make me an appointment, even though I'd been given a referral), plus some sudden nausea. I was septic and had emergency surgery to drain 3oz of infection from an internal abscess. Horrendous pain 😭.

Actually had my Doctor call ahead, didn't go through ER or check in went straight to a room. That's what happens when you're five days post surgical,have a 105° fever,and your surgeon is friends with your brother in law,also a surgeon. Peritonitis AND sepsis. Lived to tell about it!

Snow storms will also help decide if you are really sick or not. You drive to the ED in a white out you're probably sick. As a triage nurse nothing annoyed me more than people who didn't want to answer my questions because their doctor already called ahead.

Thanks for an honest, raw, informative video

I delivered babies for a living before retirement. I never minded being on-call on holidays or weekends, because nobody wanted to waste their weekends in the ER or L&D. They had to have a REAL emergency or REAL labor before they would travel whatever distance that was necessary to get them there. So if they came to the hospital, they *needed* to be at the hospital.

One important thing you can do to protect your assets is to establish a trust for them. It might only apply to senior citizens but it's a good thing to do. Advanced Care Directive is also a good thing to have. It says your wishes regarding medical treatment. So if you are incapacitated and can't state your treatment preferences, the Advanced Care Directive is made for that situation.

Blessings to all!