Reduce the wait in the E.R. + 5 more questions, answered | St. Luke's Health (2024)

FAQs

How do I stop waiting in the ER? ›

Avoid nights, weekends, and holidays

If your condition isn't actually life-threatening, avoid the ER on nights, weekends, and holidays, when the waits will be even longer. Usually, there are fewer doctors on duty during those times. Another option to get quicker treatment is to choose an urgent care clinic instead.

In triage, the patients with the more urgent medical conditions are seen first. This means that a patient having a heart attack will be seen sooner than someone with a sprained ankle, regardless of arrival time. Here is a typical ER visit: After you explain your emergency, a triage nurse will assess your condition.

Patients are seen based on a “triage system” – that is, the severity of the patient's condition. Every new patient is given an initial medical evaluation. Patients with a critical illness or injury are seen first.

The ER is a mess of doctors, staff, patients and charts all floating around in someone's sense of cohesion. By repeatedly asking why you are here, the nurse verified that they got the correct information, the Dr will also ask to ensure that what is in the chart in his hand matches what you are saying.

Be specific: Describe your symptoms in detail. Instead of saying “I feel sick,” explain the specific symptoms you are experiencing, such as nausea, dizziness, or chest pain. This will help the medical staff understand the urgency of your situation. Use descriptive language: Paint a vivid picture of your symptoms.

Non-urgent patients are given the lowest priority, and could wait as long as two hours or more in a crowded ER [source: McCaig and Burt]. "High-acuity patients are taken straight to the ER," explains Dr.

Code black: While there is no formal definition for a "Code," doctors often use the term as slang to refer to a patient in cardiopulmonary arrest , requiring a team of providers (sometimes called a "code team") to rush to the specific location and begin immediate resuscitative efforts.

A code blue hospital announcement means that an adult is having a medical emergency, usually cardiac or respiratory arrest. The announcement also tells you where the emergency is. Hospital personnel are trained to respond.

PRIORITY 1: Emergency call which requires immediate response and there is reason to believe that an immediate threat to life exists.

What does cat 2 mean in a hospital? ›

Emergency (triage category 2) is for conditions that could be life threatening and require prompt attention such as chest pain or possible stroke. Patients in this category should be seen within 10 minutes of presenting to the emergency department.

The patient is then categorized based on the Emergency Severity Index: Level 1 – Immediate: life-threatening. Level 2 – Emergency: could be life-threatening. Level 3 – Urgent: not life-threatening. Level 4 – Semi-urgent: not life-threatening.

It is not unusual for first responders or hospital staff to cut off the clothing of a trauma patient to quickly examine their injuries. For other patients, their clothes may be ruined by their medical emergency.

The least busy times at the ER are usually early in the morning, particularly between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m.

“We know that there is overcrowding in the ED,” said lead author Renee Y. Hsia, MD, a UCSF professor of emergency medicine. “Capacity has largely failed to match the rise in patient demand.” The paper published June 22, 2023 in JAMA Network Open.

Some people leave the ER without being seen by a healthcare provider. A common reason is long wait times. 8 You are free to leave but then you may not receive the care you need in a timely manner. Don't leave the hospital without first talking to the ER staff.