Share Your Emergency Room Experience

Yesterday, my daughter and I finally decided it was time to go to the hospital because our conditions weren't getting any better. We ended up in the Emergency Room at Duke Medical Center. I brought excerpts from my upcoming book, my cell phone and some writing materials to keep me occupied for what was sure to be a LONG wait.

I've blogged about going to Duke's ER before. Going there has never been pleasant. I always get the feeling there are never enough people on staff to handle the onslaught of people who need their care. Yesterday, one lady was complaining that she had been waiting for four hours and still hadn't been seen. Another woman claimed she had once come to the ER and waited 14 1/2 hours!

Maybe we looked really sick or the staff recognized me from previous visits because we were in an out of the ER in less than four hours---and on top of that---everyone was exceptionally nice and attentive. I'll be the first to tell you that has never been my experience in the past (11/23/07).

The attending nurse even commented on how some people had to wait up to eight hours just the day before so, in spite of the fact, that the ER was busy on the day we came, we got lucky this particular time.

So what has you ER experience been like? What do you think the overall problems ER staff members are faced with? How can they improve?