the ED. But the key syllable here should be ~ONE!
Ok, so I'll make an exception for kids so both parents can be at the
bedside. But you don't need both parents, all the siblings, both sets
of grandparents and the next-door neighbor at the bedside in our tiny,
eight-bed pediatric ER. Also, having all of you stalk me and
individually ask me the same questions is going to drive me batty.
Also, all of you are freaking LOUD, and the parents with the septic
infant in the next bed do not appreciate the party atmosphere.
Speaking of a party atmosphere, there is a large community of people
in the neighborhood of the hospital who ALL show up when one of their
number is hospitalized. I'm not talking about ten people here. I'm
talking at least 50 that I can recognize, and that doesn't include the
various children they drag along with them. Whenever a relative is in
the ED, the chaos starts: there is a constant parade of relatives in
and out of the ED; the relatives in the waiting room monopolize the
TVs and eat food that some one of their group has cooked out on the
street in the back of their car. It would be just like a tailgate
party, except that the people with migraines and nausea and vomiting
don't need to be exposed to the noise of the partygoers and the smell
of their food as they wait to be called back to a bed.
The party crowd are an emotional and dramatic bunch, and it's not
unusual for fights to break out that require security to intervene.
Once a husband and wife had such a knock-down-drag-out fight, I had to
triage them both: him for "chest pain" and anxiety, and her for
screaming, "I want to die and kill you too!" as the police dragged her
out (because of course this is homicidal AND suicidal ideation and the
cops wanted her to get checked out by a psychiatrist first). And I
ended up triaging one of the cops, too, because she bit him.
Look, the ED Is not the place for your family reunion. Go rent a hall
or go to a park, or whatever.
7 comments:
I'm not on staff at an ED but I am a semi-frequent flier of the non-drug seeking variety, and I couldn't agree more -- I've been calling that crowd ER tailgaters for as long as I can remember.
It became such a problem at my local ED that they changed their visitation policy. Now each patient is limited to having one person at a time visit them at their bedside during the 15 minute visitation period that occurs every other hour. The 15 minute visiting period is canceled during shift change at 4 am and 4 pm.
It's definitely been effective in clearing out the tailgaters -- even the hardiest of them don't hang around during that wait.
But it's very hard on patients like me who don't bring entourages and only to the ED when it's truly an E. We end up spending a lot of hours alone on a gurney, watching the clock and waiting for that next 15 minute visitation period to start.
I so understand where you are coming from when there are a ton of ppl with patients. I work pediatrics and I do have times where I have felt like I could just yell shut up and move. It'd be nice to actually get the patient without going through a sea of ppl asking the same questions and then ask the same thing in another way. There are only so many ways to explain that ur lil girl needs to drink because she is dehydrated. Common sense seems to just run away when ppl walk in the hospital doors.
"ED tailgaters" has now been added to the WhiteCoat lexicon.
Classic!
Word. The thing that still blows my mind is the kids. Like, for so many reasons. Listen, your 6 month old probably doesn't need to be around her cancer ridden granny with pneumonia right now, for several reasons. Yeah. And your four year old probably doesn't need to see her dad getting his giant bleeding throat laceration repaired, it might be a wee bit traumatic. Take the seed outside.
I've gotten complaints more than once from ED tailgaters. Our department policy is two visitors. most people let that fudge, and I will too if the situation is appropriate - like your beloved family member is dying and everyone is saying goodbye - but for the tailgaters? Nope. Two visitors.
I kindly let you know the policy once. If you break it and open the door to let back 8 of your friends, I kindly let you know security would love to escort you off the property. No mercy.
OMG! I thought our ED was the only one with this problem.
Of course their are exceptions (The dying loved one, the sick kid, etc)...
I Have NEVER understood these people, who just invite everyone and their dog to the ED because someone they know is in the ED.
Just because my (then..) Boyfriend's great aunt's, cousin's best friend is in the ED with a broken hip does not mean that I automatically go to the ED to see some lady I have never met before. Nor does it mean I want to go, nor should the boy friend go (who was a self entitled idiot who went anyway because hey! free food!)
Nex time you're invivted to the ED... just say no...
LOL
forgive me if that didn't make sense too many 12 hrs in a row
xx
Jaxs
I think there are a lot of areas within the hospital that have problems with these "tailgaters".
I have worked in L&D where there were more spectators than a football game. I just don't understand the need for everyone to see that EXACT point of birth, never mind that ugly who-who. It ain't a pretty sight. I can understand several people being there and I really don't mind the home birth atmosphere...but really. Why the neighbor and her boyfriend and the distant relative that just flew into town??? *sigh*
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