Here’s a basic truth of human life: No one plans a visit to the emergency room, and no one really wants to be there. The unexpected, oh-crap-now-I’m-in-trouble nature of the place means that everyone who’s rolled in there to be seen probably had a very different plan for the rest of their day.
But just because you’re sick and scared, you really don’t need to take your frustrations out on the people around you, especially the people who are there to help you get better.
“Patients and their families come to the Emergency Department on their worst and most stressful days, and we’re here to support them through it,” said Dr. J. David Gatz, associate medical director of the Adult Emergency Department for the University of Maryland Medical Center. “We’re extremely understanding overall, but we’re often seeing many cases at one time, and it’s critical that the behavior of one person not negatively impact another.”
What’s happening in ERs these days often is an emergency, and not just because of the sick people who are waiting there to be treated. Patients and visitors are acting out in increasingly troublesome ways, many staffers say.
HuffPost spoke to some medical professionals who offered very simple suggestions for making their lives — and yours, potentially — a little bit easier in the ER.
