6 emergency-room survival tips

Patients now wait about 40 percent longer before receiving care in emergency rooms than they did in 1997. And nearly a quarter of heart-attack patients wait at least 50 minutes before seeing a doctor. Those delays can not only deprive you of needed care but also increase your exposure to the germs that often breed in E.R.s, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Some of the delays stem from fewer emergency rooms as hospitals close or consolidate and more uninsured patients resort to E.R.s for basic care. Here’s how to make your trip to an E.R. go more smoothly.

Recognize real emergencies. Get to an E.R. fast if you have severe blood loss or physical trauma, including a possible broken limb, or if you experience sudden chest pain, difficulty breathing, the inability to use a limb, vision loss, or an "explosive" headache.

Don’t go if you don’t have to. Conditions that don’t warrant emergency care include mild respiratory infections, minor aches and sprains, scrapes and bruises, and prescription refills. If your doctor isn’t available, go to an urgent- or immediate-care center.

Don’t drive yourself. Dial 911 for an ambulance. You can ask to be taken to a hospital of your choice. But for true emergencies it's generally best to let the paramedics take you to the nearest E.R. that is accepting patients. You can transfer to a different facility later.

Bring the essentials. That includes a card listing your illnesses, medications, and allergies. If possible, have someone come with you in the ambulance or meet you in the E.R. to provide vital medical information and act as your advocate.

Guard against infection. Try not to sit near people who are sneezing or coughing, and avoid handling reading material or other items in the waiting area.

Follow up. Before you leave the E.R., get your diagnosis, follow-up instructions, and the names of the doctors who treated you. Within a week, ask the hospital for a copy of the emergency-room report and your lab results. Also ask for an itemized bill, and check for any discrepancies.

This article first appeared in the July 2008 issue of Consumer Reports on Health.

Comments

[Propecia]

Goos suggesstions here...one last one...don't panic and use your common sense.

[Jackie]

Actually, we don't have the best healthcare in the world. Speaking both from personal experience and from extensive reading, you could hardly call what we have HEALTHCARE at all. What we have is a high tech medical industry, dedicated to illness, not to health. This industry is almost exclusively devoted to selling pills and procedures, not to health and healing. The cost is unsustainable and the results don't support the trend toward our "more is better" approach. The "system" is such a fragmented nightmare that you are advised to take your own personal advocate to help you navigate it, lest you be harmed or inadvertently killed. The real question is not "How long does it take to get care when you have a heart attack?" but "Why do we have so many heart attack patients in the first place?"

[Steve]

C'mon, Keith. We've got the best healthcare in the world. Heart attack patients probably wait ten times as long in socialist countries like..I don't know...all other countries.

[KeithTyler]

I blame socialized medicine. Without an insurance industry, these countries are going to have longer wait times for important surgeries, people getting sick because they can't get in to see a doctor, loss of productivity..

...oh, wait, this is in America?