Ironic

[slonezp]

So, Yesterday I'm driving down the highway and saw a billboard for an app to see how long the wait is in a certain hospitals emergency room. I thought to myself "Why on earth would anybody use that? If it's an emergency, it's an emergency. Get your @$$ to the hospital." Today while driving myself to the ER to get my finger stitched up I received a phone call from our HR girl who says "I just checked online. There's a 2 minute wait in the ER so you should get right in"

[telmomarques]

Stupid is as stupid does

[Gatorbassman]

Because most of the people that we see in the ER use it as their regular DR. Don't get me started on people who abuse the system. Let's just say that healthcare is already free for some.

[SirSnookalot]

I'll back off the political innuendos. Emergency rooms take the serious emergencies first, I've waited for many hours before. I may have been there with little or no wait, then a stroke victim or a car accident or some other extreme emergency victim gets wheeled in. Not that I enjoyed waiting, but it was totally understandable, me sitting with a hook in my finger or a person near death.

[Sam]

Inorder to produce business for the hospital, emergency room wait times are being posted to show the public that a specific health center can provide assistance very rapidly.

What they are not telling you is that the wait time is how long it takes for a nurse, doctor, technician to speak with you and then you sit and wait for another period of time to be treated.

ERs are a strong profit center for hospitals and the hospitals want you to go to their ER in lieu of the "Docs in a Box" emergec care centers that do not charge the outrageous prices of an ER.

[Lund Explorer]

Aside from all the woes of life in the ER, I think Slonezp might be onto something.

See the sign one day, find somebody that uses the service the next?

Somebody needs to find us a billboard advertising an app for wait times for lunch at the local "gentlemen's club". That's an app we could use!

[Fishing Rhino]

The app is a waste. Anyone experiencing a genuine, life threatening emergency, should dial 911 and request help. An ambulance will likely get there quicker than you could get to a hospital, and be treating the patient quicker.

The staff will be in contact with the ER and be treating the patient in accordance with a doctor's instructions, while enroute to the hospital. When you get to the hospital, they will be prepared with the appropriate staff and equipment ready to immediately begin treatment.

Better than any phone app is OnStar, or similar program on your vehicle. Press the button with the red cross and you'll be dealing with someone who knows your precise location and will contact the closest emergency responder.

[MCS]

Inorder to produce business for the hospital, emergency room wait times are being posted to show the public that a specific health center can provide assistance very rapidly.

What they are not telling you is that the wait time is how long it takes for a nurse, doctor, technician to speak with you and then you sit and wait for another period of time to be treated.

ERs are a strong profit center for hospitals and the hospitals want you to go to their ER in lieu of the "Docs in a Box" emergec care centers that do not charge the outrageous prices of an ER.

Especially with the private hospitals. You should see the billboards and commercials here for st Luke's trying to pry business away from baptist medical. I never realized this before, thinking most hospitals are public. In southern md and north va there was only ever 1 hospital in the county. Crazy

1800 dollars(had a high deductable insurance) for 8 stitches in my 2.5 yr old. Then the regular docs say oh we can't take stitches out the face u need to go back to the ER. Uhmm NO....Siscors, tweezers and cross face choke hold we had them out and the memory is priceless.

[Brandon Dozier]

I cut my thumb off and still waited an hour before the doc took me back. Then waited 30 more minutes for him to come back to the room and *****. Another 15 while he got supplies. Finally, decided he had no idea what he was doing so he just put a bandage on and called a plastic surgeon. I had insurance (thank God) but still got reamed. The hospital charged me just as much for the ER visit as the surgeon did to save my thumb.

[Jake P]

Im in and out of hospitals in the entire DFW Metroplex all day for work and sometimes all night. Its crazy how many billboards there are for all 60 hospitals in the area. There is one particular hospital North of me in Denton county. On the highway near the hospital there are 4 or 5 billboards about 1/4 mile apart that have there current ER wait time and a quick 2 line sentence on why you should go there. Its so ridiculous.

[Captain Obvious]

On the highway near the hospital there are 4 or 5 billboards about 1/4 mile apart that have there current ER wait time and a quick 2 line sentence on why you should go there. Its so ridiculous.

HAHA I know exactly which signs your talking about. Not to mention that Denton has two major hospitals with in like 5 miles of each other.

[K_Mac]

I'm not sure that advertising wait times is a bad idea. There are many hospitals to choose from in most areas. I recently had an ambulance ride to the hospital and the first question to my wife was, "what hospital do you want him to go to?"

The closest hospital is a small rural one that may be fine for getting a few stitches or a hook removed, but for a cardiac related emergency not so much. They have several billboards around claiming 5 minutes or less wait times. What they don't say is that they have only one doctor there most of the time and he may or may not be competent. Relying on an EMT to make the choice of hospitals in a life or death situation may not be in your best interest. I worked in health care facilities all over the area for years, and can say with confidence that the more info you have to make an informed decision about health care the better.