Insider Tips for Your ER Visit

Nobody wants to go to the ER. Not only because we don’t want to be sick or injured, but because frankly, the whole thing is simply awful.

Now more than ever it’s a place of chaos. An ER visit may take hours (or days) to navigate.

I want to offer you a couple of tips. I’ll offer more in the future.

1. First of all, if you need a very specialized service consider calling the local hospital and ask if they have it.

For instance, not all hospitals have a labor and delivery unit. Many don’t have pediatric inpatient care.

Some may or may not have an orthopedic surgeon on call. (Or any of a number of specialties.)

Obviously if it’s an emergency, go to the nearest hospital available.

But the hitch is, if you need something very specific, you may then need to be transferred to another facility.

Transfers are complicated. They depend on finding another hospital with the specialty services you need, availability of beds in that hospital, and the ability to get you there by ambulance or helicopter.

Which brings me to another point.

2. If you are being transferred and it isn’t a life-threatening affair (say you have a tendon laceration without active bleeding, or something like that), ask if you can have a friend or family member take you in their car.

Ambulance transfers can be much harder to arrange. And are obviously more costly. Sometimes it simply makes more sense to go in a car.

Now, what if they say that you have to sign out ‘AMA,’ or ‘Against Medical Advice’ to do that? Which brings me to…

3. Someone might tell you that it will void your health insurance. However, that’s generally not true. It might be worth checking with your insurer if you have time, but that’s certainly not a rule that’s universal.

And you can also say, ‘I’m not going AMA, I’m just trying to do what’s best for me. I consider this shared decision making.’ In which case, a rational physician will recognize that it isn’t confrontational, it’s just you trying your best to take care of yourself (or your loved one).

In my opinion we ask far too many patients to sign out ‘AMA,’ when they simply can’t stay. (For family or logistic reasons…a sick loved one at home, or the need to catch a ride.)

Here’s a link on the AMA issue:

https://insuranceinformant.com/if-you-depart-against-medical-advice-will-your.html

That’s a few for today.

I’ll circle back with more tips soon!

And thank you, thank you so much for supporting my writing!

Is there some topic, medical or otherwise, you’d like me to cover? Please drop it in the comments!

Have a great week!

Edwin

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