Mr. Rawles,
I am a long time reader who enjoys how thought provoking your blog can be. But have a disagreement with a recent post by Josh S.
I am a Emergency Medicine Physician, practicing in the Northeast US. Josh S.’s article is true in the detail of developing your medical network — it is quite easy to call up a friend or relative for some quick medical advice or help. And, furthermore, I appreciate this — I did get into medicine to help people, and I would much rather help friends and family than a vast majority of drug-seeking lowlifes that seem to frequent my Emergency Departments. While it is true that the ER is required by law to see you, there is really no “magic number” that states we have to treat you. The Visual Pain Scale, which is the 0-10 scale that we often use, is purely an estimate “in the patient’s own mind”. While Josh is correct, in that we (ER nurses, physicians, technicians, secretaries) have become astute at observing a patient for discrepancies, just because you say your pain is an 8 / 10, does not mean I am going to give you medicine, where-as at 7/10 I kick you out the door. You see, everyone’s pain is different, so my 7/10 is different than your 7/10. However, the pain scale is more appropriately used to see how an intervention or treatment changes your perception — a change from a 7/10 to a 2/10 (i.e. 5 points) is something that is quantifiable and seems to transfer between patients. I assure you that every junkie who wants percocet for their “back pain” tells me their pain is a “ten out of ten”. And, again like Josh said, we have become aware of things — if you are texting or laughing or playing video games, I am pretty comfortable in making the assessment that you are not “in the worst pain imaginable”.
In truth, if there is any advice I can offer as an Emergency Medicine physician, if people are just nice to me or my staff, usually we will bend over backwards for you. As soon as you get ugly or inappropriate, things will change. Nothing matches a woman’s scorn, except for an ER nurse who has been screamed at and called a b***h!
Emergency Room nurses are some of the best in the world, and they have saved lives and cleaned up puke, dealt with the dregs of society and come back with smiles. As Obama-care kicks in, we in the EM community realize that there will be a lot more people utilizing the ERs — hopefully, you won’t need to go. However, if you do find yourself there in dire straights, remember my words to be nice, and we’ll try to get you out ASAP.
Thanks for all you do for the prepper community, – Croaker