Accident & Emergency Wards *Rant*

AckwelFoley

Accident
: ac·ci·dent
Pronunciation: \ˈak-sə-dənt, -ˌdent; ˈaks-dənt\
Function: noun
1 a : an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance b : lack of intention or necessity : chance <met by accident rather than by design>
2 a : an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance b : an unexpected and medically important bodily event especially when injurious <a cerebrovascular accident> c : an unexpected happening causing loss or injury which is not due to any fault or misconduct on the part of the person injured but for which legal relief may be sought d —used euphemistically to refer to an involuntary act or instance of urination or defecation


Emergency
: emer·gen·cy
Pronunciation: \i-ˈmər-jənt-sē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural emer·gen·cies
1 : an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action


Ok, forgive my ignorance, but perhaps im taking the literal meaning of the above words to mean what i think they are, or am i missing something?

Im hearing the problems with out health service is entirely the fault of Mary Harney.. A pretty compitent politician somewhat i believe until she made a complete gob****e of herself by wantng to ban sunbeds... nice to see she has her priorities in order :rolleyes: Anyhow as much as i would like to now berate her for this and our health service and particularly the lengthy ques we have in our A & E wards, i really cant becasue after a visit to the hospital some time back for a broken bone and more recently family and friends repeating the same tale the blame is obvious as to where it falls...
Why.. why..why the FCUK are people clogging up ACCIDENT & EMERGENCY wards with sprained ankles, sore arses, minor cuts ands "pains" which in most occasions is a result of hangovers or gaestric wind.

There are people in A & E wards that seem in perfect shape.. now forgive me if im wrong - but if you are unfortunate enough to me the victim of an accident which causes and emergency i dont think i would be as calm to wait around -smiling, chatting and stuffing my face with sweets.

Now im well aware that there is a requirement that when attending an A & E that you hold a referral from your GP... it appears that many of these "patients" dont..

I dont understand people... there are facilities that cater for minor occurances on a 24 hour basis in most major towns.. Accidents and emergency wards in a hosptal are for what they are intended, and by people being selfish and crowding these wards with idiotic minor scrapes they are backlogging the services for people that really need it.. people that need assistance in an emergency!!

/end rant

brummytom

People are cunts.

Let them go to A&E for their petty things and hope they catch MRSA

Local-womanizer

Noticed this myself when I was in a few years back with a bad break.People who where there for hours looked grand,and were out in a few minutes of seeing a doctor.

It took me ages(4-5 hours) to go to the hospital with the break,because I dident realise how bad it was.Why people would go at the drop of a hat with minor bumps is beyond me

welcomeinjam

I broke my ankle and shattered 4 bones in my foot and was left in a and e for a few hours which was fine. There was a girl who was vomiting blood the whole time and wasn't getting seen too. While all this was going on a junkie who apparently was feeling "depressed" came in and got seen to before both of us and left happily with his anti-depressants

Mrmoe

Most of the problems are fairly straight forward to solve but unfortunately the powers that be do not have the backbone to follow through.

thomond2006

Spot on synper.

Don't worry though, King Enda will soon save us all.

AckwelFoley

thomond2006 wrote: »

Spot on synper.

Don't worry though, King Enda will soon save us all.

Id rather Otto Mann.. hes got better direction

Senna

There's a 24hr doctor service in my area, i've had to call them many times over the years on behave of patrons in my workplace. Nearly every time i give them the details about the person (usually elderly) the response is "take them to A&E" when i know fine rightly that there is no need for such drastic action. If it was serious i would just call an ambulance or get them to A&E straight away.

A&E is seen as a visit to the doctors by most people.

sunshine007

People need to be educated as to where they are supposed to go if they cut their finger so bad that it needs a stitch at 3am after they smashed the window of their house trying to get in when they loose their keys bla bla... where do they go when they are pumping blood?? People still go to the wrong hospital to sit in A & E for 5 hours to be seen about the lump of steel in their eye - only to be told at the end of the wait that they wont be able to treat them here, they will have to DRIVE for another hour and half to be treated. Parents bringing the child who has just lost the top of their finger to the nearest hospital to get it sown back on to find out 'we dont treat children here'.... You would have thought you would need to sew the feckin finger on pronto.... for fear of losing it.... People need to be educated who goes where for what treatment be in minor or major.... instead of clogging up A & E in the wrong bloody hospital!!!!

Local-womanizer

Senna wrote: »

There's a 24hr doctor service in my area, i've had to call them many times over the years on behave of patrons in my workplace. Nearly every time i give them the details about the person (usually elderly) the response is "take them to A&E" when i know fine rightly that there is no need for such drastic action. If it was serious i would just call an ambulance or get them to A&E straight away.

A&E is seen as a visit to the doctors by most people.

If thats the doctor service I think it is,they are not much use anyhow.Dident they nearly kill an elderly women not so long ago with the wrong advice?

Bandit12

I know a girl who went to A&E with a nosebleed.

AckwelFoley

Bandit12 wrote: »

I know a girl who went to A&E with a nosebleed.

..she probably got a head in the face by a junior doc near the end of a 32 hour shift in another A&E when she went in with an emergency case of thrush

waraf

thomond2006 wrote: »

Don't worry though, King Enda will soon save us all.

Yep A&E will be replaced by the local parish priest who'll give you 10 Hail Marys and 5 Our Fathers for your broken leg...

Overheal

For a tenner an hour I'll go down the line of everyone at the A&E and break their legs with a tyre iron.













wtf am i kidding, I'd do that for free.

welcomeinjam wrote: »

I broke my ankle and shattered 4 bones in my foot and was left in a and e for a few hours which was fine. There was a girl who was vomiting blood the whole time and wasn't getting seen too. While all this was going on a junkie who apparently was feeling "depressed" came in and got seen to before both of us and left happily with his anti-depressants

Urge to kill .... rising.

MelonieHead

So, you are bringing up the topic of people who are in the wrong place? Like, who are in one location when they should be in another? No, not should be, that's a bit harsh, just people who would maybe be better suited to somewhere else because the place where they actually are will serve a purpose but there is another area where their needs would be better suited?


Ironic.

Rev. BlueJeans

MelonieHead wrote: »

Ironic.

No. Pedantic.

MelonieHead

Rev. BlueJeans wrote: »

No. Pedantic.

No. Sauages.


On toast.

mikemac

I went to A&E after having trouble with a contact lense.

Don't hate me, I was the only one in A&E. No waiting at all
The porter had to unlock the door to let me in. Regional hospitals are great.....mostly

Dyr

snyper wrote: »

Accident
: ac·ci·dent
Pronunciation: \ˈak-sə-dənt, -ˌdent; ˈaks-dənt\
Function: noun
1 a : an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance b : lack of intention or necessity : chance <met by accident rather than by design>
2 a : an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance b : an unexpected and medically important bodily event especially when injurious <a cerebrovascular accident> c : an unexpected happening causing loss or injury which is not due to any fault or misconduct on the part of the person injured but for which legal relief may be sought d —used euphemistically to refer to an involuntary act or instance of urination or defecation


Emergency
: emer·gen·cy
Pronunciation: \i-ˈmər-jənt-sē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural emer·gen·cies
1 : an unforeseen combination of circumstances or the resulting state that calls for immediate action


Ok, forgive my ignorance, but perhaps im taking the literal meaning of the above words to mean what i think they are, or am i missing something?

Im hearing the problems with out health service is entirely the fault of Mary Harney.. A pretty compitent politician somewhat i believe until she made a complete gob****e of herself by wantng to ban sunbeds... nice to see she has her priorities in order :rolleyes: Anyhow as much as i would like to now berate her for this and our health service and particularly the lengthy ques we have in our A & E wards, i really cant becasue after a visit to the hospital some time back for a broken bone and more recently family and friends repeating the same tale the blame is obvious as to where it falls...
Why.. why..why the FCUK are people clogging up ACCIDENT & EMERGENCY wards with sprained ankles, sore arses, minor cuts ands "pains" which in most occasions is a result of hangovers or gaestric wind.

There are people in A & E wards that seem in perfect shape.. now forgive me if im wrong - but if you are unfortunate enough to me the victim of an accident which causes and emergency i dont think i would be as calm to wait around -smiling, chatting and stuffing my face with sweets.

Now im well aware that there is a requirement that when attending an A & E that you hold a referral from your GP... it appears that many of these "patients" dont..

I dont understand people... there are facilities that cater for minor occurances on a 24 hour basis in most major towns.. Accidents and emergency wards in a hosptal are for what they are intended, and by people being selfish and crowding these wards with idiotic minor scrapes they are backlogging the services for people that really need it.. people that need assistance in an emergency!!

/end rant

No me oul flower it's because we have a piece of sh*te health service, staffed by piece of sh*t administators and clerics, run by piece of sh*t consultants all of which was put in place by piece of sh*te politicians who were voted in by the sh*heads who now moan about recession and poor services when they were the very f**wits who landed us in it.

Was there enough vitriol in that? it's kinda hard to judge these days.

Mr Benevolent

I went to A&E because I woke up choking. Turned out that my epiglottis was badly swollen. Not an emergency but how the hell did I know that? Most of us are not A&E doctors.

Rev. BlueJeans

MelonieHead wrote: »

No. Sauages.


On toast.

Yes please. YR sauce on mine, cheers.

Overheal

MelonieHead wrote: »

So, you are bringing up the topic of people who are in the wrong place? Like, who are in one location when they should be in another? No, not should be, that's a bit harsh, just people who would maybe be better suited to somewhere else because the place where they actually are will serve a purpose but there is another area where their needs would be better suited?


Ironic.

Except healthcare is a Political Issue, and by its nature, not permitted in R&R.

Senna

Local-womanizer wrote: »

If thats the doctor service I think it is,they are not much use anyhow.Dident they nearly kill an elderly women not so long ago with the wrong advice?

Yeah you know the one;)
Its ridiculous, i dont know if they keep sending them to A&E just because they are older people and dont want the bother encase of further (future) complications, but as far as i'm concerned they do not provide a service unless its a simple case.

They "dropped the ball" with the case of the young girl who later died.

MelonieHead

Uh-oh. I think my tongue just came all the way through my cheek.

Which is an accident, but not an emergency. So where do I go? We need an Accident OR Emergency section.

AckwelFoley

Bambi wrote: »

No me oul flower it's because we have a piece of sh*te health service, staffed by piece of sh*t administators and clerics, run by piece of sh*t consultants all of which was put in place by piece of sh*te politicians who were voted in by the sh*heads who now moan about recession and poor services when they were the very f**wits who landed us in it.

Was there enough vitriol in that? it's kinda hard to judge these days.

I use tullamore hospital, usually it requires the promise of danger sex or the cure for extreme pain,- not necessarly caused by the former to make me go to anywhere in offlay, however tullamore hospital is a fantastic facility.

Its not quite accurate to say we have a "pce of sh1t of a health service"

Its rather like Liverpool FC. They have all the ingrediants of a top class outfit, but because of a tradition of mismanagment it will never be Man United

AckwelFoley

MelonieHead wrote: »

Uh-oh. I think my tongue just came all the way through my cheek.

Which is an accident, but not an emergency. So where do I go? We need an Accident OR Emergency section.

An accident is having sex with an ugly chick.
An emergency is getting stabbed in the balls when you dont call her back

Local-womanizer

Senna wrote: »

Yeah you know the one;)
Its ridiculous, i dont know if they keep sending them to A&E just because they are older people and dont want the bother encase of further (future) complications, but as far as i'm concerned they do not provide a service unless its a simple case.

They "dropped the ball" with the case of the young girl who later died.

Its strange alright.

They would be the last people I would call.That was a disgrace with the young girl.

Wishbone Ash

Local-womanizer wrote: »

People who where there for hours looked grand,and were out in a few minutes of seeing a doctor..... .........Why people would go at the drop of a hat with minor bumps is beyond me

It's not always that simple. For example, take injuries in the work place. Because of the 'compo' culture, employees who recieve minor injuries at work are usually referred to a doctor. This doctor will, to cover his arse as a precaution, almost always refer the person to A&E where thet have to sit for hours with very minor injuries. I've been that person several times.

To avoid all that hassle, there is a temptation not to report the injury (against company policy) but should the injury become worse or affect the employee in the future, any attemp at financial redress would be difficult as the employer could rightfully claim that it wasn't reported in the first place as per policy.

MelonieHead

snyper wrote: »

An accident is having sex with an ugly chick.
An emergency is getting stabbed in the balls when you dont call her back

But this is Accident AND Emergency, right? So the situation has to be both. Like getting knocked up and the baby coming early. Accident and Emergency.

Elessar

Confab wrote: »

I went to A&E because I woke up choking. Turned out that my epiglottis was badly swollen. Not an emergency but how the hell did I know that? Most of us are not A&E doctors.

Airway blockages are an emergency. You did the right thing.

If in doubt, get help. Be that A&E or a doc on call. Don't feel bad for getting help in A&E, unless you are stupid. But even the stupid deserve help.

My name is URL

MelonieHead wrote: »

Uh-oh. I think my tongue just came all the way through my cheek.

Which is an accident, but not an emergency. So where do I go? We need an Accident OR Emergency section.

It's the people visiting for really minor things that's the problem.

Not only for the A&E dept, but for other depts like the labs and admins. That takes up loads of man hours unnecessarily

People see it as easier to go to the ER than to have to make an appointment with their GP.

There should be more local health clinics to take the strain of already overstretched hospitals

BearsyBoo

It always seems to be the people that have medical cards in with the minor things a friend of mine swears by going in because he is "entilted to it" really gets on my nerves. Maybe if they had to pay they wouldnt be in there so quickly always seems to be full of travelers everytime ive been in there too.

johnnyrotten

thomond2006 wrote: »

Spot on synper.

Don't worry though, King Enda will soon save us all.

Jesus Christ help us

Senna

Elessar wrote: »

Airway blockages are an emergency. You did the right thing.

If in doubt, get help. Be that A&E or a doc on call. Don't feel bad for getting help in A&E, unless you are stupid. But even the stupid deserve help.

There probably needs to be some rule of thumb for going to A&E, as in; if your ailment wont get worse before a doctors visit is possible, you dont need A&E, e.g sprain, flu, earache, minor cuts, minor burn, skin rash, fever.

Bone breakages probably dont need immediate A&E admittances either, a lot of the time you will have to go back home until the swelling has gone down and a doctor can prescribe pain killers anyway.

AckwelFoley

MelonieHead wrote: »

So, you are bringing up the topic of people who are in the wrong place? Like, who are in one location when they should be in another? No, not should be, that's a bit harsh, just people who would maybe be better suited to somewhere else because the place where they actually are will serve a purpose but there is another area where their needs would be better suited?


Ironic.

I fail to see the Irony in being a nuisance at an A&E ward

MelonieHead

snyper wrote: »

I fail to see the Irony in being a nuisance at an A&E ward

I fail to build lego castles.

martyboy48

Well heres my thoughts.. The health service is sh^t because of years of mismanagement and no accountability... You can't go into A+E and judge people by what you think their injuries are.For example, person staggering in and slurring speech may not be a drunk but may have a severe head injury.You get the idea.. I do realise however that there are a lot of needless A+E visits. The one problem I have though is once or twice I went to Doc after an accident and he sent me to A+E for something I presumed he could treat, so amymore I go straight to A+E..
FINAL COMMENT, The problem with the health service rests with Mary harney and her predecessors IMO....

tallaght01

The crap that presents to A+E can be unbelievable alright.

I did a shift a while back where a ma brought her kid in....

"He has a rash".

"OK, how long has he had it?"

"oh about 5 years...could be 4, though".

Then another set of parents bring their daughter in coz she has a poxy eyelash in her eye.

How do these people cope in the outside world?

Mossy Monk

People are idiots.

Theta

To be honest id rather goto the VHI clinics I mean ill pay the 80 squid to get seen right away and to not add to the waiting list in an A&E

Dancor

I was in an A+E reception area one time fixing a printer. A gentleman who I happen to knew came to the window. The receptionist asked him his details etc then what was the problem with him, He answered saying he had the HICCUPS!!!! I kid you not. Dirty time wasting medical card flashing wanker. If he was paying the €100 to be seeing id bet he would try holding his breath or a glass of water before going to A+E.

Daroxtar

There should be an intoxication levy. If some fukwit gets pissed/gimped on yokes/whatever and gets themselves injured they should have to fork up €500 cash before they get treated and then get charged full whack after that.

If acting the cunt came with a fairly hefty blow to the pocket people would stop being such clowns and learn to behave in a semi civilised way when they're on the rip for the night. You only p1ss on the electric fence once.

toomevara

Daroxtar wrote: »

There should be an intoxication levy. If some fukwit gets pissed/gimped on yokes/whatever and gets themselves injured they should have to fork up €500 cash before they get treated and then get charged full whack after that.

I'm a nurse, I've worked in A&E recently...if you took alcohol, and bloody emo kids trying to top themselves, out of the equation we'd have feck all to do...

Quote of the week last week......

Dude on Trolley(pissed, with broken Leg laments); "Oh why has this happened to me, why! why! why!.

Nurse: Ahem, this happened because you drunk a bottle of whisky and chucked yourself down the stairs. Now cop on.

Dude on Trolley: Vomits all over self.

A pretty typical exchange.

galah

mentioned here before - it's also the GPs who as a precaution send everyone down to A&E for every minor thing. Now if some GP's had xray machines (like some doctors have in civilised countries) and other proper diagnostic equipment, most of these trips would not be necessary.

I've also tried to do the right thing and call Westdoc instead of going to A&E -with mixed results. The then boyfriend had sever trouble breathing, swollen joints, couldn't move, fever, the lot. I thought he was going to die on me - rang Westdoc, yer one says she couldn't make a house call, could I bring him in.
Brought him in under severe strain, he was practically crawling into the door, the doc turns around and says "well, in your state you shouldn't have come, why didnt you say his was THAT bad'. I told her that I said that he was THAT bad, and she says "ah well, sometimes people just say they're bad, and when they get here, they're grand."

eh????

ended up in A&E for another 11 hours anyway. Super. I thought I was in the wrong movie, there, though.
Couple of smoke-inhalation victims came in, severe shock, on trolleys. Caravan fire...Yer one wakes up, gets off the trolley, walks barefoot out of A&E to have - wait for it - a cigarette. Those people should NOT have the right to be treated in A&E. At all.

Opposite a drunk guy, sleeping off his drunkeness on another trolley. Wakes up, staggers out for a fag, comes back in, has another snooze, wakes up, orders breakfast, shouts across the hall "compliments to the chef", gets his stuff and leaves.

Next to us an old lady, practically dying, on a respirator - she seemed very very sick. She was on that trolley for 18 hours, the lady who was with her told us. I hope she survived, she was still there when we left (not because we saw a doctor and got treated, but because by then it was early enough for a GP to be open to refer us to a private clinic with proper facilities.

At any one time, there were at least 10 trolleys in that corridor. Blood-soaked people walked back and forth, one drug-addict kept walking in and out (dunno why), and it was a normal Thursday night, not even, say, Paddy's day. I have plenty more stories - hubby is kinda accident prone, so we see a LOT of stuff. I've already said - if anything should ever happen to me, put me on a plane, I fly home. I will not ever set a foot into Galway A&E as a patient, ever.

How the nurses work in A&E is beyond me, I really feel for them, I really do. I could not put up with that kind of sh*t day in, day out. You guys deserve respect.

RolfHarris

Are emo kids trying to kill themselves really an issue in A&E? I had no idea.

Not being sarcastic. I just thought they hung around the central bank then got the 46A back to Foxrock.

Senna

toomevara wrote: »

bloody emo kids trying to top themselves,

They're only confused misguide young kids, as a nurse you should really be trying to help and guide them, if they fail at suicide you should be showing them the correct technique to ensure success.

toomevara

RolfHarris wrote: »

Are emo kids trying to kill themselves really an issue in A&E? I had no idea.

Being serious for a minute, self-harm is a major issue in any A&E dept. The vast majority of self-harmers are teenage girls. They cut and mutilate themselves in ways you would not believe possible. Then of course there are the endless overdoses...paracetamol, codeine, ibuprofen, folk who drink bleach or other dangerous liquids they an get their hands on...IVDU's who overdose on heroin etc...you name it, it comes through the door and the huge majority of it is self-inflicted and avoidable...

RolfHarris

I honestly had no idea that it'd be such a regular event at A&E, nor did I think that Emos ever did anything beyond congregating outside public buildings and hugging each other.

toomevara

Senna wrote: »

They're only confused misguide young kids, as a nurse you should really be trying to help and guide them, if they fail at suicide you should be showing them the correct technique to ensure success.

hmmm yes, I didn't think I was going to have to point this out, but then a part of me said, don't post that last comment because someone will take it literally...sigh...I was being massively ironic and tongue in cheek of course. I love my job and I do it professionally and with sensitivity at all times, however in order to remain sane you need to have a certain sense of humour about it all and cultivate a certain gallows style approach.

You will find this on every ED, otherwise we'd all go mad....I don't know what you do for a living but I doubt you encounter the level of abuse and physical danger we encounter on a trauma unit every day....love it though, best job in the world, woudnt do anything else.

tallaght01

RolfHarris wrote: »

Are emo kids trying to kill themselves really an issue in A&E? I had no idea.

Not being sarcastic. I just thought they hung around the central bank then got the 46A back to Foxrock.

yep, they can be. They can be really troubled kids

I wouldn't say any one group in A+E are a problem though. Everyone deserves care if they need it, junkies drunks and knackers and spicks and people from Crumlin. It's just some people go reaching for A+E a little too easily :P

cython

Daroxtar wrote: »

There should be an intoxication levy. If some fukwit gets pissed/gimped on yokes/whatever and gets themselves injured they should have to fork up €500 cash before they get treated and then get charged full whack after that.

If acting the cunt came with a fairly hefty blow to the pocket people would stop being such clowns and learn to behave in a semi civilised way when they're on the rip for the night. You only p1ss on the electric fence once.

I think there may be something similar in place for ambulances, depending on where you are in the country. A mate of my brother's had to get an ambulance when he was hammered a while back, and got a bill through the door at home a few weeks later. However, I broke my arm a little under 5 months ago, and had to get an ambulance to hospital, and I haven't received any charge for that. This may just be down to the fact that I was in Kildare, and a different authority, but I'd wonder at that, in these times.