ER

Last night was my first trip to the ER but not as a patient. It was an interesting experience. There is so much red tape (is that what you call it?), or many procedures involved in getting to see someone... I say someone because you may not even get to see a doctor! My roommate had an ear infection and needed to go last night around 10pm. I was a little sad I had to rush out of JYAG and didn't get to talk to some friends, but it was okay. It took us a while to find a hospital, because both of us had never had to go in this area before (she's from San Jose).

When we got there, first we had to wait to see the triage nurse and describe the problem. Then, we waited in a bigger waiting room with really old magazines (I'm talking mid-2003-old) until she was called up for registration and did all the insurance stuff. The room was sort of dingy (given the smells... and the color...overall state) and the chairs were made of this plastic stuff. Very uninviting. There was also a big "NO CELL PHONES" sign next to the payphone. These signs were all over the place, actually. Before I saw the sign, I made a phonecall and in the middle of leaving a voicemail, a security guard came in and asked me to step outside, pointing to the sign. I guess they had video cameras in there. Anyway, so I went outside in the freezing cold and left the rest of the message. When I returned, a pair of ladies were laughing at me because they guessed the sign was there so that the hospital could charge people 50 cents to use their payphone instead of talking on our cell phones.

Finally... after much waiting, we were called into an exam room. From there, it was another almost 4 hours of seeing first an RN, then a physicians assistant, before finally being seen by the head PA (in the last 15 minutes). Perhaps all of the waiting was due to my roommate's condition being not fatal, or not serious compared to other admitted patients. We probably ended up waiting about 90% of the time, while actually seeing a person the other 10% of the time. It was interesting to watch how the nurse and PA attempted to diagnose my roommate... I thought I could tell they were sort of guessing and trying to figure out what was wrong, comparing her to their textbook knowledge but I guess that's how it goes. The PA admitted to a tendency to "overmedicate" the problem, recommending three different medications to my roommate. The nurse went through a tedious procedure only to have it redone correctly by the head PA in the end. I witnessed my first ear irrigation (which is not fun, of course!), and finally we got to go home, after all of the paperwork was finished.

I can't imagine living life like those who work the night shift and are asleep during dalight hours... life would be so different. I don't think I could handle that on a regular basis. The ER looks so glamorous on TV, so exciting and whatnot. The heroic staff rushes to and fro in a spotless environment and everyone is moving around with a purpose. There is no waiting, no standing idly around. Last night, we heard a baby crying because of a rectal ___ where they take its temperature by thermometer. Also, we overheard that the nurse had failed in getting an IV drip put into the patient next door. They also referred to the patients by their room numbers, like "Room 22 needs to have ___ done," etc. I guess I am blessed to not have needed to take a trip to the ER. It was interesting to observe the environment and some real life "drama" that they deal with on a daily basis.