Are the Uninsured Crowding Our EDs?

[Dr. Will]

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One thing that irks the sh&^ out of me is when girls come to the ED for a pregnancy test. Do any of you get that? 20 bucks at Wallgreens can save you a 600.00 ED bill that the hospital will sick collection agencies on you when you don't pay...To find out if you're pregnant... when you HAVEN'T HAD YOUR PERIOD IN 3 MONTHS. I've seen a number of these. Is this a local phenom or do any of you see the same thing.

We always joke that our census would decrease if we had a vending maching with Percocet, pregnancy tests, and work notes.

 

[enfuegoEP]

We always joke that our census would decrease if we had a vending maching with Percocet, pregnancy tests, and work notes.

I dunno Will...with everyone high and with an abundance of free time on their hands you couldn't keep the pregnancy tests stocked fast enough. I'll never forget when I was a third year medical student on my Ob/Gyn rotation and a teenage girl just gave birth..the guy in the room aka the baby daddy, leaned over and whispered "can we get one of those DNA tests?" 🙄

 

[docB]

Recently a nursing home patient was brought in my ambulance for difficulty breathing. Once the sputum-clog was suctioned out of her trach she was fine. 🙄 The NH refused to take her back because they didn't have enough staff. 😕

I can always tell when the nursing home sends a patient DNR (Do Not Return). If they have staff to take them back they come with "G-tube fell out" or "needs new foley." If they are short staff they add "and chest pain" onto the end.

 

[EM2BE]

Have you ever gotten the report from the paramedics before arriving that says "coming from nursing home, shocked 3 times with no result" then see the patient and they forgot/didn't have time to tell you they did get a heart beat and the patient was from a group home (much younger than expected)?

How's that for a long, run-on sentence!

 

[Farmer Jane]

I can always tell when the nursing home sends a patient DNR (Do Not Return). If they have staff to take them back they come with "G-tube fell out" or "needs new foley." If they are short staff they add "and chest pain" onto the end.

Emphasis mine. The day I send a patient anywhere to have someone else insert a foley is the day my license needs to disintegrate. Gah.

I handle admission, and I despise reconciling meds on patients from a group home. Obviously the patient doesn't know his/her own meds that's why they live in assisted living. The facility, of course, never sends along a med list, background, anything. So I call them and speak with someone who usually introduces herself as a "nurse" but is really an aide of some sort 🙂mad🙂 and getting an accurate medlist is like pulling teeth. They don't know how to pronounce anything and YES I need to know the dose.