# Ask Someone Who Works In An Emergency Room! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 10, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417 "2010-02-10T13:39:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![freep5637](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@freep5637](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freep5637)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/1 "2010-02-10T13:39:22Z")
Go ahead, ask me questions that you’ve always wondered about pertaining to ER’s and their peculiarities… ---
**Author:** ![freep5637](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@freep5637](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freep5637)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/2 "2010-02-10T13:40:52Z")
supposed to end in ‘Room!’ lol. That’s probably the first problem with the ER, everyone has different pieces of info. haha ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/3 "2010-02-10T14:09:31Z")
[Emergency Roos](http://www.thisisapokalipsis.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/doctor-kangaroo.png) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/4 "2010-02-10T14:18:32Z")
What’s the (rough) percentage of your cases that are actually life-and-death (as in: person is in imminent danger of dying) as opposed to cuts/breaks/etc that require quick treatment but are not otherwise considered life-threatening? ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/5 "2010-02-10T14:28:46Z")
Do you ever see a physical trauma, like a severed limb, and then feel the person’s pain later then/later? Do you make fun of patients? I ask because the people that I know that work in various hospitals tell too many stories in which they mock patients. I ask them to stop so that I can pretend everyone in a hospital loves/cares about people. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/6 "2010-02-10T15:54:39Z")
[moderating] Changed last word of thread title from “roo” to “room” at OP’s request. [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/7 "2010-02-10T16:39:29Z")
What fraction of your patients turn out to be drug seekers? Can you spot them coming in, and what are the markers? Are you a doctor? ---
**Author:** ![drillrod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@drillrod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drillrod)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/8 "2010-02-10T17:42:56Z")
What type of hospital do you work in? Large urban hospital as shown in “ER” or a smaller suburban or rural hospital? Do you have experience in different types? What percentage of your patients in the ER are legitimate emergency patients vs. those that should have gone to a primary care or even smaller clinic? ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/9 "2010-02-10T18:46:58Z")
Where do you work? First off, which country - and also, is it a big hospital with a trauma center or a smaller community hospital? And what do you do there? How often do patients come in alone and unresponsive, and how do you find out who they are and contact family? ---
**Author:** ![Nightingale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@Nightingale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightingale)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/10 "2010-02-10T21:43:59Z")
What is your job – nurse, doctor, tech, clerk? ---
**Author:** ![freep5637](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@freep5637](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freep5637)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/11 "2010-02-12T03:32:20Z")
\*\*Gyrate: \*\*I would say that roughly 15 percent of patients that come in are here for traumatic injury. The majority of patients want meds, don’t have insurance, have a scratchy throat, burns when they pee, etc. Mostly they come in for stuff that anyone with a brain would never come in for like nausea, headaches, fevers, etc. The majority of patients that we see for serious conditions that don’t involve traumas are there for conditions directly related to obesity. **Philster:** No, I’ve never really ‘felt’ anyone’s pain, and yes we do make fun of our patients all day everyday. The more ridiculous you are, the more we talk. **ENugent:** I’d say maybe one out of every five or six are drug seekers. Sometimes you can just tell, other times it’s not so obvious. You just have to go based on feeling and what you can see / gather from their previous history. Most present for abdominal pain because it’s something serious that needs to be checked out, but also very hard to diagnose. Usually they get pain meds and bounce because 90 percent of the time there’s nothing wrong with them. **drillrod:** I work in an urban ER about a mile outside of Detroit, but have worked in suburban settings in different capacities. Also, literally 95% of our patients should have gone to a PCP or urgent care. It’s ridiculous really. \*\*Antigen: \*\* I’m in the United States, in the Midwest in a hospital with trauma bays. We see GSW’s and stabbings, car accidents, fights, lacerations etc. We’re a level 2, but we can and do handle level one traumas all the time. ---
**Author:** ![CTburns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a5b964/32.png) [@CTburns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CTburns)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/12 "2010-02-12T03:46:01Z")
Ok. Tell us about the gerbils and other foreign objects that you’ve seen sequestered in a rectum! ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/13 "2010-02-12T05:06:42Z")
What do you do in the ER? Doctor? Nurse? Security? Other? ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/14 "2010-02-12T05:09:11Z")
What is your plan to maintain your physical and mental health? ---
**Author:** ![freep5637](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@freep5637](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freep5637)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/15 "2010-02-12T13:18:06Z")
Maintaining my physical and mental health? Hmmm good question; It’s really, really easy to get burned out. The people that you deal with are for the most part really difficult and somehow the one’s with nothing wrong with them who think that something is wrong with them, are the worst. For everyone who keeps asking me what I do, I’m not going to say. If anyone read this and had an inkling of who I am I could get in trouble / lose my job. ---
**Author:** ![Zerc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/82dd89/32.png) [@Zerc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zerc)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/16 "2010-02-12T13:34:36Z")
What would be the approximate total cost for somebody with no medical insurance who came in with a simple broken arm that just needs x-ray and to be put in a cast? I’m always hearing stories about how expensive American healthcare is and I am curious as to how much something like a broken arm would cost. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/17 "2010-02-12T18:09:02Z")
You said you make fun of some of your patients. I once sat on a cactus, and when someone offered to drive me to the emergency room I refused medical care on the grounds that I thought the doctors and nurses would be rolling on the floor when I told them about this accident. Is this the sort of injury that would bring laughter, or would you just roll your eyes and reach for the pliers? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/18 "2010-02-12T18:21:51Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > You said you make fun of some of your patients. I once sat on a cactus, and when someone offered to drive me to the emergency room I refused medical care on the grounds that I thought the doctors and nurses would be rolling on the floor when I told them about this accident. Is this the sort of injury that would bring laughter, or would you just roll your eyes and reach for the pliers? Speaking as someone who works in a medical center - good medical staff won’t laugh. Until they’re out of the room. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/19 "2010-02-12T19:08:18Z")
It hurts when I do this. What should I do? ---
**Author:** ![Kelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@Kelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelby)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417/20 "2010-02-12T19:15:47Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > It hurts when I do this. > > What should I do? Stop doing that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-someone-who-works-in-an-emergency-room/528417.md?page=2)