How to beat the Emergency Room queues

I bet you might have had reason to visit the Emergency Room (commonly referred to as ER), at some point in your life. If not, there is no particular rash to desire a visit to any ER departments.

Those who have ever visited ER departments will attest to inevitable unending waiting queues.

I’ll give you some clues on how to beat such queues, or avoid ER visits altogether.

As the name suggests, ERs are meant for medical emergencies. These are situations which are immediately life-threatening, and could mean your life if not immediately treated.The spectrum of emergencies is however a bit greyish. There will be situations where life is not immediately threatened, but urgent attention is nevertheless required to negate rapid progression to a precarious state. You need to exercise some judgment to separate emergencies from benign ailments. And therein lies the main issues contributing to unending ER queues.

Walk into any ER department in the city hospitals and you will be faced with a wide spectrum of patients.Some will be really sick, hanging onto every little breath. On the other extreme, some will look so well as to be out of place. Others will be somewhere in between. The well ones may have some reason to be there, but they are the main contributors to prolonged waiting times in ERs. They waste everyone else’s time, and contribute to the majority of complaints about inefficient services. They feign complete ignorance of what ERs are meant for.

If a grave emergency occurs, you must always make your way to the ER pronto. If you however find yourself debating whether an ER visit is warranted, take a minute and reconsider. If in doubt, can a phone call to a colleague help you make decisions? Could you consider a home remedy? Calling your regular healthcare provider’s helpline could easily sort you out. All you might need is an appointment at some convenient date and time.

Once you find yourself going to the ER with some mundane ailment, take some steps to help with the inevitable queues. Call the department ahead of time and ask how long you should expect to wait. Better still, ask if you can reserve an ER appointment for the not-too-sick individuals like yourself. Then only make your way there closer to your slotted time. But always be aware that a real emergency may come along and jump the queue.

Keeping as healthy as possible will limit your ER visits to the minimum.Make maximum use of pre-arranged clinic appointments for all non-emergencies. Refrain from vainly berating ER personnel with perceived inefficiencies if you find yourself in a queue. Better alert them of initiatives like ‘InQuicker’ that have transformed waiting times in ER departments elsewhere. And avoid adding onto the queues yourself with unjustified ER visits.