(Another) Letter to An Angry Patient
Dear Mrs. Creamer:
I'm sorry you chose to leave prior to your evaluation. As you should have been aware, we were quite busy.
When the waiting room is packed and there is no place to sit down, that's usually an indication that it's going to take a while to see the doctor. Especially after midnight when I am the only one on duty.
As the sign on the wall states, patients are not seen in the order of their arrival. They are seen in order of their acuity. That means that as long as people who can't breathe or whose faces are bashed in keep arriving, I will have to at least go check on them before I can make it around to evaluate your butt pain from slipping at Wal-Mart.
Yes, we know you have (and are) a pain in the butt. Coming out to the nurse's station every five minutes to yell at the staff does not encourage me to see you any sooner. In fact, the opposite is true. When I noticed that you were able to walk and talk (loudly), I was then able to put you lower on the acuity scale and move you farther toward the bottom of the stack of charts. Thanks for the help.
Paradoxically, if you would have stayed in your room and kept quiet I would have seen you much sooner. I worry more about patients that I haven't yet seen than those whom I can easily tell at a glance are not severely injured or dangerously ill. Consider that as a helpful hint for your next visit.
This is the order in which I decide to see patients:
1) patients who are dying
2) patients who might die
3) patients with disfiguring facial trauma
4) kids with fevers
5) nice patients who don't yell
6) you
You have already made it clear to the entire ER that you are going to file a complaint anyway, so why should I delay the care of my other patients in order to evaluate you? I might as well try to make everyone else happy instead.
Oh, and yelling to the world that you have to go to work at 7:30 AM does not buy you any sympathy from the staff or your fellow patients.
Are you suggesting that you are more important than these other folks, or that they don't have to go to work? How insulting. Get your obnoxious (but uninjured) ass back in your room or leave. We don't really have a preference.
Sincerely,
(Almost) your ER doc
I'm sorry you chose to leave prior to your evaluation. As you should have been aware, we were quite busy.
When the waiting room is packed and there is no place to sit down, that's usually an indication that it's going to take a while to see the doctor. Especially after midnight when I am the only one on duty.
As the sign on the wall states, patients are not seen in the order of their arrival. They are seen in order of their acuity. That means that as long as people who can't breathe or whose faces are bashed in keep arriving, I will have to at least go check on them before I can make it around to evaluate your butt pain from slipping at Wal-Mart.Yes, we know you have (and are) a pain in the butt. Coming out to the nurse's station every five minutes to yell at the staff does not encourage me to see you any sooner. In fact, the opposite is true. When I noticed that you were able to walk and talk (loudly), I was then able to put you lower on the acuity scale and move you farther toward the bottom of the stack of charts. Thanks for the help.
Paradoxically, if you would have stayed in your room and kept quiet I would have seen you much sooner. I worry more about patients that I haven't yet seen than those whom I can easily tell at a glance are not severely injured or dangerously ill. Consider that as a helpful hint for your next visit.This is the order in which I decide to see patients:
1) patients who are dying
2) patients who might die
3) patients with disfiguring facial trauma
4) kids with fevers
5) nice patients who don't yell
6) you
You have already made it clear to the entire ER that you are going to file a complaint anyway, so why should I delay the care of my other patients in order to evaluate you? I might as well try to make everyone else happy instead.
Oh, and yelling to the world that you have to go to work at 7:30 AM does not buy you any sympathy from the staff or your fellow patients.
Are you suggesting that you are more important than these other folks, or that they don't have to go to work? How insulting. Get your obnoxious (but uninjured) ass back in your room or leave. We don't really have a preference.Sincerely,
(Almost) your ER doc
posted by scalpel at 12:42 PM
14 Comments:
Well said.
Wow! You DA Man! Remind me never to make you angry. Also - Mrs. Creamer? That's too funny...
I have seen that so often and you are right on.
Conversely, the little elderly patients will come in with chest pain and not want to "bother" anyone!
I love that letter--you are too funny!
he he!!
hope ur patient does get around to reading ur letter.
HAHA. Although I have to admit in my ER we'd be mighty impressed by anyone that had a job LOL
Yep, I hear ya...had one of "those" nights tonoc. AND, to set the tone for tonoc...my supervisor pulled me aside and talked to me about a patient from 10 days ago. Apparently the patient didn't think I was "cordial" enough.
Lets see, that noc we had all of the beds full, we had extra beds in the hallway, we were holding patients because the hospital was full AND the ambulances kept coming in.
This patient was complaining of abd. pain that she had had for a week; and she was miffed that I wasn't cordial enough to her!
Sigh, I guess my Press-Gainey score just went down.
Steve
Great letter. Some people are total idoits.
oh you were way too polite. I love the letter. I have a work collegue who is also a pain in the ass. I keep smiling to her every time I see her at the hallway. She hates it. And that makes my smile go wider.
That's freaking awesome!
Mrs. Creamer - how appropriate.... :-)
Well said. And I didn't get the Ms Creamer thing until others noted it and I said it out loud.
very good
Absolutely. This and your pain scale are very valuable. Thanks for giving me a laugh!
This should be hung on the wall of every ED lobby. Thanks for validating everything we feel on a daily basis!
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