What Do Emergency Room Physicians And Nurses Loathe On A Day-To-Day Basis?

This question was originally posted on Quora.com and was answered by Zach Olson, Emergency Medicine, ACLS, PALS, ATLS, CCEMT-P, TP-C, SARTECH




I’m a critical care medic and have worked in hospitals and ambulances for years, so I believe I can answer this despite not being a nurse or physician.

In my experience, it is extremely annoying and frustrating when we get people who come in to the hospital with a non-emergent condition and expect to be treated in an emergent fashion. Like, the nose bleed who doesn’t understand that the cardiac arrest being worked on is somehow more important than their leaking nostrils.

If you want to become a nihilist just watch how quickly people become selfish when it comes to emergency medicine. It can make your blood boil.

A couple years ago, I was working in an ER and this particular day was f*cking insane. We were beyond busy and many of us were working a double shift. We were hungry, tired and worn out.

Because the universe can sometimes be cruel, we got a pediatric full arrest (drowning) victim. Because this day was so chaotic we started working on this kid in the hallway as one room was cleared out for us to continue rendering care.

I had stopped doing CPR and switched places with someone else when a different patient’s daughter walked up to me, handed me an empty Styrofoam cup, and asked me to fill her mother's cup with ice water. I think my exact words were, “Are you f*cking kidding me?”

This obviously pissed her off and she actually said to me, while I’m standing at the head of child who is technically and legally dead, to “speak to my manager.” The ER doc looked up and said, “That’s me. This can wait.”

Obviously I didn’t get reprimanded and, amazingly, the child survived and is doing just fine. But I lost a lot of respect for humanity during this experience.

But for me, this happens daily and it is really frustrating and I generally throw bedside manner out the window. I understand that people hate coming to the hospital and that they’re not feeling well, but imagine if your loved one was one of those people who is in a critical state and some person hinders care over something as mundane as getting ice water or a Bandaid.

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