Medical professionals say this is the worst thing you can do in the ER

Here’s a basic truth of human life: No one plans to visit the emergency room, and no one wants to be there. The unpredictable, oh-***-now-I-am-in-trouble nature of the place meant that everyone who had sneaked in to see it had very different plans for the rest of the day.

But just because you’re sick and scared, you don’t really need to use your frustration to help the people around you, especially the people who are there, get better.

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“Patients and their families come to the emergency department on their worst and most stressful days, and we’re here to help them,” Dr. J. David GetzAssociate Medical Director of the Adult Emergency Department for the University of Maryland Medical Center. “We’re very understanding overall, but we’re often seeing multiple cases at the same time, and it’s important that one person’s behavior doesn’t negatively affect another.”

What’s happening in ERs these days? is Emergency, and not just because of sick people waiting there for treatment. Patients and visitors are acting in increasingly problematic ways, many staff say.

HuffPost spoke with a few medical professionals who offered several simple tips to make their life — and yours, potentially — a little easier in the ER.

And if you think, “Why do we need to remind people of this?” We agree with you, and we hope this article helps. Here’s what to do – and not to do.

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Don’t punch your doctor (obviously, it needs to be said).

If you’ve ever been to an emergency room recently, you’ve probably seen a big sign declaring the check-in area a “healing environment” and knowing that the staff would super-duper appreciate it if you could see fit to avoid physically or verbally assaulting you. thank you

Why would someone punch someone who is there to help them get better? Doctors and nurses also want to know this, as many of them experience frightening and dangerous patient behavior.

An alarming 66% of emergency room physicians report having been assaulted in the past year, more than once, according to one study–A third reported multiple attacks. In another study, 71% of physicians have seen an attack at work; 97 percent said the perpetrator was sick.

If this seems unbelievable, it’s important to note that every health care professional interviewed for this story cited physical and verbal violence as a top concern. To drive the point home, here are some recent incidents that Gatz has seen in his ER:

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• Breaking tools and computers

• Throwing body waste on surfaces and walls and smelling

• Removing the IVs themselves as the blood drips on the floor and then exits

• Calling 911 from inside the ER to complain they didn’t see it (this wins the award for “most meta”)

Even with “brutal” wait times, try to stay calm.

Let’s say you recently stubbed your toe and decide to go to the ER. While you’re there, a massive traffic accident has flooded the local healthcare facilities, and all the staff are struggling to save lives. You may have waited too long, but can you understand how your debt, while painful, may not be a top priority right now?

Apparently, a lot of people don’t do Understandably, that leads to ugly scenes between angry patients and aggrieved staff.

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“We prioritize based on acuity,” Dr. Jared L. RossA board-certified emergency physician who was an EMT, paramedic and firefighter before becoming a doctor. His point is that until you have access to a “board” of all incoming patients, you don’t know how serious your case really is compared to others. Ross admits it’s a harsh truth: “I know that wait times in busy ERs can be brutal,” he said.

Sometimes, though, patients increase wait times that force things to take longer than necessary. Emma W., a second-year emergency medicine resident who asked that her full name not be used, recently entered a treatment room in which a patient flashed her a “not now” finger sign, because they were on the phone with a friend and didn’t want to be “interrupted.”

“The patient later complained about how long it took to see it, urging them to ‘speed it up’ because they had a concert that night that they couldn’t miss,” she said.

“I’ve also had patients talk to me about only seeing a male doctor (I’m a woman), but when a male doctor wasn’t on duty, the patient was upset because they had to wait for a male doctor on the next shift or ‘give in’ and see a female doctor,” she added.

While Ross encourages patients and family members to be good health care advocates, there are more effective ways to do so. If something is changing about the patient’s condition, and, for example, their mild chest pain is getting worse, then let the care team know. But reminding everyone how long you’ve been waiting and repeatedly asking when you’ll see them isn’t the best strategy.

“Trying to be seen right now disrupts staff focus, scares other patients and creates unnecessary stress in an already high-stress environment,” he said. Then Pickford, An acute care nurse practitioner with over two decades of clinical experience in emergency room settings. “People forget that ER teams are juggling trauma, sepsis, stroke and COVID, not just mild fevers or big toes. Courtesy and patience go a long way.”

Be careful who you call or bring along.

“I’ve seen firsthand how patient and family behavior in the ER can support or seriously hinder the care process,” Pickford said. “The ER is not a place to scream, take a phone call on speaker or bring five people into the room to ‘check on mom.'”

“Who do you bring to the ER cases,” said the registered nurse Karen Selby. “A calm, supportive companion can ease the experience. But bringing large groups into a small treatment space creates noise and chaos, making it difficult for staff to work quickly and safely.

“Unfortunately, family members and visitors sometimes exhibit verbally or physically aggressive behaviors, such as yelling about wait times, demanding immediate attention or threatening staff,” Selby said. “This diverts attention from patients in critical situations and can delay care if security must be involved.”

Do some “self-triage”.

If the emergency room seems more crowded than ever, there are several reasons. One of them, ER staff, said that while urgent care and clinic visits may be the correct course of treatment for many situations, many people rush to the ER instead. Then they wait longer in crowded waiting rooms because non-emergencies are not treated as quickly as medical emergencies.

“ERs are designed to prioritize life-threatening conditions like heart attacks, strokes and trauma first,” Selby said. “If you come in with a minor problem, you can wait hours while more serious patients are treated.”

There’s another reason to reconsider an ER visit if your condition isn’t truly an emergency, he added: “ER visits are one of the most expensive options for care. Even with insurance, copays and deductibles are generally much higher than urgent care or primary care visits.”

Ross said, “There are a lot of patients who come to the ER and don’t need to be seen there, and then they’re not willing to understand that they may not be the top priority all the time. Of course, you should never hesitate to seek care, and we’re really here to help in any emergency, but it might be a good idea to ‘self-triage’ to ask if you can be seen more medically. The facility doesn’t always have to be the ER.

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