tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17754833.post7697984790012880918..comments2023-04-24T09:38:11.881-05:00Comments on Why am I still here?: Paying to Wait?Tiny Shrinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14584375132138526435noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17754833.post-75513446557859330942008-10-22T03:44:00.000-05:002008-10-22T03:44:00.000-05:00Parkland is a tough place. It is a good hospital ...Parkland is a tough place. It is a good hospital that gives good care, but like many locations, it is overwhelmed. Back when I was in training (about 10 years ago), there were times when the ER would get backed up because the HOSPITAL was backed up (i.e. patients couldn't be moved up to the ICU's because the units were full). ER nurses were effectively becoming ICU nurses...even floor patients occasionally were "housed" in the ER because there were no beds upstairs. It becomes impossible to see patients in the ER when there are no beds/rooms to bring them back or nurses available to assist in care (those times usually happened in the winter months, btw).<BR/><BR/>I have moved out the Dallas area, but see scathing reviews of Parkland without much empathy or sympathy for a system that is over-burdened. Should Parkland just shut the doors when the ER is too full? That would solve the problem of patients expecting to be seen. Way back when (I think there were dinosaurs roaming the halls), the long wait times were never a reflection of callous docs or staff....it was a reflection of everyone trying to move as fast as they could in a system that just had too many patients, not enough room and not enough providers on some nights/days. If you pick the night that every other person rolling in via ambulance has a blood pressure of 65 or is a serious over-dose on random mind-altering drugs....it's going to take a while.<BR/><BR/>It does seem inappropriate to charge that much for a patient that wasn't seen by a doctor. Keep in mind, though healthcare operated like a lawyer's office, each encounter (nursing vs. doctor) would be billed. Patients would truly be shocked if doctors billed for time on case (and I mean ALL the time -- face to face time, plus nursing assessment, plus staff interacting with insurance companies to get approval for tests (including ALL of that wait time on hold.....)....just my jaded opinion too early in the morning.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com