4 ms·

> visiting the ER in the U.S. is sloooow. The average time to see a doctor, in our experience, is about an hour. This is such a bizarre couple of statements fo

by qup 2y ago

> visiting the ER in the U.S. is sloooow. The average time to see a doctor, in our experience, is about an hour. This is such a bizarre couple of statements for me. First, I would consider an hour very, very fast. If I show up for an appointment on time, I still don't see the doctor for about an hour. And for a non-emergency emergency room visit (even a fairly serious one like a broken bone, abscessed tooth, etc) I've had family give up after 8-12 hours of waiting in the lobby without being admitted to see a doctor, often in relatively empty lobbies. (The hospital is hoping for this, I'm sure)

eszed 2y ago
That stood out to me, too. The fastest I've been seen in a US emergency room was when I presented with an infection laying red tracks up my arm (cat bite: I'd been to the GP in the morning, but his antibiotics weren't working). That was a 3.5 hour wait, during which the infection progressed a further six inches. My sister once bailed after 12+ hours, when the doctor's office that instructed her (in no uncertain terms) to take her child in was about to open the next morning.
- gcanyon 2y ago
  Yikes, sorry to hear about that awful experience. I could be underestimating, but we've gone to the ER on at least... three occasions where the situation was clearly immediately life-threatening and seen the doctor immediately upon arrival. Then there are the times we've arrived not by ambulance and waited up to about six hours. I don't think we've ever waited 12+ hours, that's terrible. N=5 (I checked in with my wife about two times she went to the ER in Nepal, and I went to Bumrungrad once in Bangkok), but our average time abroad has been under 30 minutes, and that includes the prescriptions in Portugal and getting eyeglasses in Nepal. Only one time was serious, in Nepal, and they saw her immediately then.
  - eszed 2y ago
    I tend to elide this experience - feel free to speculate about my psychology around the event: I do! - but when I had a stroke (in the US) I was seen very quickly. In A&E (UK for "ER") departments I've seen (half a dozen experiences, mostly attending with others, all for non life-threatening conditions) wait times ~an hour, about which staff were apologetic. (I understand those expectations may have changed under Tory sabotage.) This whole thread, while interesting, highlights how variable N=1 anecdotes can be. We're poorly served when we base conclusions only on our own experience. (Though I still think US-one-hour guy is a fortunate outlier!)
    - gcanyon 2y ago
      US-one-hour guy here: > fortunate outlier Not exactly how I would describe it :-) I: - Hit the ER with two collapsed lungs in an ambulance after a motorcycle accident: saw the docs immediately (I assume, I don't remember it) - Hit the ER with intestinal blockage after the motorcycle accident, had vomited something like fifty times during the night and was actively bringing up bile as we checked in: they saw me in maybe an hour - Hit the ER with a suspected deep vein thrombosis: I think they knew it wasn't that serious, but still saw me in <30 minutes - Hit the ER with *actual* deep vein thrombosis: they saw me almost immediately and almost didn't let me leave that day. And then there's my wife, who has several things going on that aren't mine to disclose, but that tend to put her toward the head of the line.
      - eszed 2y ago
        Holy heck. Yeah, those are what put the "emergency" in Emergency Room. Glad they got to you quickly, and hope you are doing well. With my cat bite I was checking in every half an hour, and then every fifteen minutes, showing them what was going on. Once I got to the back the doctor kinda puffed out his cheeks and said something along the lines of, "yeah, they shouldn't have made you wait." Then they put me on a cocktail of the Super Serious Antibiotics, and every junior doctor on rotation (it seemed like) came by to take a look. (Top tip: you really don't want to be a medical celebrity, even for an evening.) I joke about knowing it was serious only because I'd read so many nineteenth-century novels.
        gcanyon 2y ago
        I'm not sure I'd trade the fake DVT for the cat bite -- something moving that fast is serious.
gcanyon 2y ago
I've never gone to the ER with a just a broken bone. We're generally showing up with potentially life-threatening issues, and we still wait an hour -- and sometimes much more: I was trying to be fair to the ERs we've visited.

by qup 2y ago

eszed 2y ago

That stood out to me, too. The fastest I've been seen in a US emergency room was when I presented with an infection laying red tracks up my arm (cat bite: I'd been to the GP in the morning, but his antibiotics weren't working). That was a 3.5 hour wait, during which the infection progressed a further six inches. My sister once bailed after 12+ hours, when the doctor's office that instructed her (in no uncertain terms) to take her child in was about to open the next morning.

gcanyon 2y ago
Yikes, sorry to hear about that awful experience. I could be underestimating, but we've gone to the ER on at least... three occasions where the situation was clearly immediately life-threatening and seen the doctor immediately upon arrival. Then there are the times we've arrived not by ambulance and waited up to about six hours. I don't think we've ever waited 12+ hours, that's terrible. N=5 (I checked in with my wife about two times she went to the ER in Nepal, and I went to Bumrungrad once in Bangkok), but our average time abroad has been under 30 minutes, and that includes the prescriptions in Portugal and getting eyeglasses in Nepal. Only one time was serious, in Nepal, and they saw her immediately then.
- eszed 2y ago
  I tend to elide this experience - feel free to speculate about my psychology around the event: I do! - but when I had a stroke (in the US) I was seen very quickly. In A&E (UK for "ER") departments I've seen (half a dozen experiences, mostly attending with others, all for non life-threatening conditions) wait times ~an hour, about which staff were apologetic. (I understand those expectations may have changed under Tory sabotage.) This whole thread, while interesting, highlights how variable N=1 anecdotes can be. We're poorly served when we base conclusions only on our own experience. (Though I still think US-one-hour guy is a fortunate outlier!)
  - gcanyon 2y ago
    US-one-hour guy here: > fortunate outlier Not exactly how I would describe it :-) I: - Hit the ER with two collapsed lungs in an ambulance after a motorcycle accident: saw the docs immediately (I assume, I don't remember it) - Hit the ER with intestinal blockage after the motorcycle accident, had vomited something like fifty times during the night and was actively bringing up bile as we checked in: they saw me in maybe an hour - Hit the ER with a suspected deep vein thrombosis: I think they knew it wasn't that serious, but still saw me in <30 minutes - Hit the ER with *actual* deep vein thrombosis: they saw me almost immediately and almost didn't let me leave that day. And then there's my wife, who has several things going on that aren't mine to disclose, but that tend to put her toward the head of the line.
    - eszed 2y ago
      Holy heck. Yeah, those are what put the "emergency" in Emergency Room. Glad they got to you quickly, and hope you are doing well. With my cat bite I was checking in every half an hour, and then every fifteen minutes, showing them what was going on. Once I got to the back the doctor kinda puffed out his cheeks and said something along the lines of, "yeah, they shouldn't have made you wait." Then they put me on a cocktail of the Super Serious Antibiotics, and every junior doctor on rotation (it seemed like) came by to take a look. (Top tip: you really don't want to be a medical celebrity, even for an evening.) I joke about knowing it was serious only because I'd read so many nineteenth-century novels.
      - gcanyon 2y ago
        I'm not sure I'd trade the fake DVT for the cat bite -- something moving that fast is serious.

gcanyon 2y ago

I've never gone to the ER with a just a broken bone. We're generally showing up with potentially life-threatening issues, and we still wait an hour -- and sometimes much more: I was trying to be fair to the ERs we've visited.