I was taken by ambulance to the ER on a Friday afternoon. It is hard to describe the scene and cast…read moreof characters you encounter there. This institution has been my family's healthcare provider for all my life.
You first encounter the triage nurse station. Staffed by two, this should have been my first clue of how this day would go. One nurse seemed to care about my situation, while the other was rude and only going through the motions. Deemed not to expire anytime soon, I was told there were no beds and sent to the waiting room.
The waiting room was filthy. The floor was dirty and needed a good cleaning. Trash, including bandages, washcloths, and food wrappers littered everywhere. The badly padded and unfriendly seating is arranged in a tight unorganized manner. Many seats were filled by individuals laid out across them sleeping. I later found out that most of them had been waiting more than twelve hours for a bed.
During my time visiting the waiting room, I also had the unlucky opportunity to visit the restroom. This room took filth to another level. It was questionable that it had been deep cleaned in a long time, as some substance was oozing away from the corner of the room. Porcelain surfaces were dirty and stained. The floor was wet and dirty.
In a short time, a doctor called me back to a small office and conducted a 30-second interview. Again with no immediate danger detected I was instructed to wait for labs and radiology and sent back. It should be noted that when reading the doctor's office notes from that interview, my reasons for being here were misquoted and it would appear that they had completed a very thorough examination in those 30 seconds.
Radiology quickly appeared and while whisking me away for the scans seemed to side-swipe anything possible in the aisles.
Labs were taken upon my return.
Two hours later the doctor returned and informed me that everything looked ok but I needed to be admitted for observation, monitoring and to see the 'Special Cardio Team". But still no beds, so back to the waiting room.
Seven hours into this ordeal, the irony of it began to surface. I needed observation and monitoring, yet I was in a waiting room, now filled with a multitude of hacking and coughing people. No one was keeping track of my condition. It is now late enough in the day, that I doubt that the special Cardio Team was even still in the building.
Walking to reception I asked who I could speak to about my situation and was told that there was no one and I just had to grab an available nurse, if possible. Finally, after a few failed attempts a nurse lingered long enough to hear me out. After agreeing with my logic, I was told there was nothing that could be done, that some people had been waiting 33 hours now for a bed, and that the Charge Nurse would be called. The Charge Nurse never showed.
After another hour I confronted the Triage Nurses, who listened to my query, explained the shortage of beds, and sarcastically mocked my interpretation of the doctor's office notes. When I elected to go home and observe myself in a cleaner, more sterile environment, the one nurse pulled my IV port, roughly pinched the skin applied way too much tape to hold gauze on my hairy arm, and waved me on my way.
As a final note in looking at the McLaren Patient Experience Representatives web page, I find it interesting that some locations seem more dedicated to the patient. Contact names, emails, and fax numbers are included. Flint though lists only a phone number.
