I’m an Aries, which I constantly use as an excuse for my persistent impatience. Yes, I read the last page of a book first. And I rarely see a movie unless someone has revealed the ending to me well in advance of the opening scene. (It drives my husband crazy.) So as I worked on this latest story, on what’s behind the wait in emergency waiting rooms, I felt extra compassion for all the people in the queue.
There’s no doubt, waiting is a drag, especially when you’re not feeling well. But the simple truth is, if you’re waiting, it’s busy behind those closed emergency ward doors. Every patient is given a “score” when they arrive in emergency by a triage nurse, depending on how sick they are and how urgently they need to be seen. But even with my Aries mentality, here’s a situation where I wouldn’t want to be first in line.
Because Sunnybrook deals with the highest number of sick people in the province, that can slow things down. But let’s face it, the business of saving lives can’t thrive on the fast food model. Acutely ill patients need many resources, and good medicine takes time. If it’s taking a while, rest assured, there’s someone much sicker being taken care of before you.
It’s also a tough go for staff. As Teresa Korogyi, Patient Care Manager of Emergency told me, you don’t go into the medical profession to keep people waiting. You do it to help, and it’s hard when that can’t happen instantly. Having done her job for years, Korogyi has heard many complain about the waits. The only exception was during a 2-week period when Sunnybrook’s emergency room was being reconstructed, and trauma patients had to come in through the public entrance. “The trauma patients would come in, some of them quite horrific, and not one patient in the waiting room asked why they aren’t first. They didn’t want to be first.“
That said, there are things you can do as a patient to ease the gridlock. Make sure you really do need to be seen in emergency before you leave home. While you’re waiting in emergency, make a list of all the medications you are taking and your medical history. And tell the triage nurses if your situation gets worse while you wait. That may change your score, and how long it takes to be seen.
It’s tough enough being a patient, let alone doing it with patience. But before your inner Aries coming seeping out, know that at Sunnybrook, at least there’s a good reason for the wait.
