Questions on emergency situations

[javaman]

I spent last night at Frankston emergency section since my daughter had high fever for few days.

One thing that I noticed is accident victims (broken arms, etc) are made to wait quite a while before they are admitted in. Let's say 3-4 hrs .

Being motorcycle rider both commuting and fun I do accept the risk that one of these days I may have a bit of situation . However my question would be:

1. Is the waiting time is normal/generally accepted or is that only a 'bad, busy' day ? I clearly see lots of people were really pissed.

2. I have also learnt that it may take up to 3 days for surgery (another )

3. Is it the same with private hospital ? Do private hostpital have emergency sections ? I guess private insurance is so worth it for motorcyclist now ?

[Duane]

If you're carted in by ambulance you get seen to straight away
and given the good stuff

[MickLC]

Only 3-4hrs? Must've been a good night

[Lainie]

I think it's normal now Java, also dosen't help that a lot of doctors don't bulk bill any more so you will find people are rocking up to hospitals for head aches. Our poor nurses still under paid and over worked

[aardvark]

You'll find that people who present at A&E are assessed on the seriousness of their injuries and treated accordingly.

If you've got a broken bone, then they can't fix it there and then. It's going to be broken for at least 6 weeks so waiting a couple of hours isn't going to matter to much.

If you've broken your arm and the bone is protruding and sticking into the side of your temple, well, you'll probably get seen a bit sooner.

[smek]

you can wait a lot longer than 3 days for surgery in the public system. plenty of people die waiting.

private insurance is definately worth it whether you're a motorcyclist or not.

I remember spending many hours in a+e as a kid waiting to get various broken bones plastered, it's not unusual.

[cowasaki]

Seems standard 3-4 hours

When I had my off was carted to Hospital in an ambulance, left on the trolley in a neck brace& leg brace in front of nurses station in the hallway for just over 4 hours. Got to listen to the handover from one person to another. I was lovingly described as JUST a motorbike accident .
Left for another 2 hours after being titled JUST a MVA.

Dont get me wrong, nurses n stuff do a hell of a job. Its the amount of peeps just rolling into A&E with utter crap. One I overheard saying.. oh I had chinese 2 days ago.. now I dont feel well

I cant begin to imagine the amount of time wasters they have to deal with, rather than true Accident & Emergencies. Tis a wonder the nursing staff dont bust a few bones/heads to make their A&E attendence worth while.

[javaman]

Thanks for the information. Definitely not a warm & fuzzy feeling. Note that I'm not having a go at anything, simply observation of a new knowledge.

It is true that fractured bones are not classified as life-threatening and they make it clear in the brochure. There was about 6 classification I think, with life-threatening as #1. My best guess of life threatening situation is some kind of heart-attack (?). Nurses and even a very kind volunteer were really busy.

Nevertheless it's quite heart-wrenching to see a 6-year-ish girl with broken leg waiting for a while there. Definitely made me have second thoughts to complain of waiting time (was about 6hrs for us, non-urgent).

10kph less corner speed sounds more reasonable now.

[Smitty]

If you're carted in by ambulance you get seen to straight away
and given the good stuff

ABSOLUTELY...
having had the displeasure of that (yeah..it hurt)
courtesy of a bit of bitumen surfing on the Westgate
I and the missus were given immediate attention at the RMH
after being brought in by the ambos (who were great)

AFAIK..the whole thing depends on ya injury
cupla cuts needing stitches ..you wait
unknown or life threatening..the triage team
will send you thru for immediate treatment

[red_dave]

Andi,

When i had my stack last year, it was 4 hours before i actually walked into the Emergency ward at the hospital... and I only went there to make sure i hadn't broken anything around my right shoulder area...

The person behind the counter took one look at me and rushed me straight through and i was straight onto the good stuff (as Duane put it).

probably a good thing in hindsight...

[Ratmick]

1. Is the waiting time is normal/generally accepted or is that only a 'bad, busy' day ? I clearly see lots of people were really pissed.

Hospitals emergency rooms by necessity triage all incoming casualties and they separate life-threatening (i.e. altered/loss of consciousness/breathing difficulties/chest pains/possible stroke/bad burns/severe injuries/severe shock or involving a huge blood loss as from an amputation) from 'nice to fix quickly, but not life-threatening' problems like fractures/severe cuts/dislocations/severe full-layer abrasions, from 'whenever we can get time' stuff like your 'fever for a few days', and in my case 'son with a cut down to the bone in his scalp, but covered/bleeding controlled/no loss of consciousness and parents in attendance'. Given some of what appears to be a lesser problems may actually be extremely serious you need a really experienced nurse to make the analysis.

Unfortunately a lot of people use the casualty ward as a doctor's surgery, so waiting times can blow out significantly, more so in a big hospital like the Royal Children's. Not much we can do about it except provide more Doctors that are willing to Bulk Bill who are working in clinics that are open more than just during business hours (kids seem to like getting sick at night) and spread them around in suburbs that are light-on as far as medical facilities are concerned in the first place.

No point getting pissed at the nursing staff though, they are under enough stress as it is...

[MickLC]

Read of a trial at a hospital recently that had a slightly different approach to triage and sent the less serious cases to a doctor "reserved" to handle these cases. Overall waiting times were down significantly, and interestingly the waiting times on the serious cases were down too.

The problem is that the emergency system is so focussed and blinkered around the current triage system. It's obvious from current waiting times that with current resources it just isn't as effective as it needs to be. It needs to change, and whether it's with solutions like that above, or something else, it has to happen soon.

[javaman]

Bit of research on the topic. This guy is from Melbourne so I can expect something similiar. The 3-days wait is actually for using private hospital... ouch!

Anyway, to cut to the chase, the ambulance crew did an excellent job handing my some puffer medication pain killer which enabled me to grimace through the pain just enough for them to lift me onto the stretcher, and wheeled my away to hospital. X-Rays and CT scans showed that I had fractured the left collar-bone, 3 ribs, broken the left scapula into 3 main pieces including fracturing in two places the all important and extremely painful glenoid (being the socket rotator cuff joint area), plus more smaller bone fragments in that area floating about. Oh, and my big toe which must've broken when I flipped down after landing shoulder first. Some dodgy orthopaedic guy tells me that it's not too serious and I can probably go home that night in a sling. I call bullshit since I can't even move at all without excruciating pain even when on 10mg's of morphine.

Sadly in this world money talks, and I decide that these guys aren't going to do anything for me unless I go private, so I invoke my employer company's excellent health insurance coverage, go private, and demand that they get their best orthopaedic surgeon to operate and pin and plate the damaged scapula. Three very painful days later where I'm wholly confined to bed and unable to move at all without incredible pain even while whacked up high on morphine (yeah - send him home with just a sling - sure! Rolling Eyes ) I get wheeled into surgery and get fixed up by the most excellent Dr Miles Callahan, the hospital's resident orthopaedic shoulder specialist surgeon. I cannot recommend this guy highly enough. If you ever find yourself in Dandenong hospital (in Melbourne) and need the best guy there, ask for him by name. Literally 1 hour after I woke up from surgery recovery, I was able to get up out of bed and stand up and move around, such was the fantastic nature of the job Miles did to fix me up. I generally treat everyone on an even keel, even famous people I've met, but in my mind Miles comes about as close as anyone does to me in terms of being my hero. Checked out of hospital 3 days later.

[Minorci]

Want good health services? Go live in Cuba, they have the best in the world. Otherwise take out private health insurance

[MG]