Letter to my local hospital (yet again)

[lesliepear]

I am writing concerning our attempted visit to the emergency room tonight (5/11/2009). My husband fell on some concrete near our house and I wanted a cut near his eye checked out.

We got there around 8:30. Our first problem was with the parking. On my last visit to the emergency room about 3 years ago, I was very confused about the valet parking and wrote an e-mail suggesting signs be put up. The only I sign I saw was for patient drop off. Since my husband could walk, I figured we’d park somewhere like the garage and walk in – I stopped to ask an employee where to park and then they told me it was valet parking. We got out and took the receipt. I think the signs for parking need to be VERY clear in mentioning there is FREE VALET PARKING people driving to the emergency room are often not functioning at 100% due to injuries, illness and stress. They may also not have money on them for paying for parking so the free should be mentioned.

We got in and I gave information about my husband to receptionist. And then we sat in the waiting room. After 10 to 15 minutes I asked how many people were in front of us – they said 8. It didn’t appear that they would be calling anyone soon (I only heard 1 name called), so my husband decided to see his doctor (who is not affiliated with your hospital) in the morning and left. I am very surprised that no one noticed the injury on his head and had him looked at sooner, or at least taken our insurance information. I even heard a patient in the waiting area cry “OW!” – I’m surprised someone didn’t inquire as to what was wrong – what if someone got sicker in the waiting area and passed out? People should be triaged as soon as possible when they arrive in the ER - the patient or the receptionist at the desk isn't always the best judge of their condition.

The last time I was in the emergency room at Hackensack Hospital was with my son in 2004 or 2005 – we came in on a Sunday evening for what turned out to be nursemaid’s elbow – but were put into a bed in the pediatric ER much faster than tonight. Yet, on that visit I had I still had to follow up with a letter to the hospital as I observed no signs on the 2 emergency rooms to differentiate, no parking sign and overheard staff on the internet for non medical stuff while we were waiting in the ER exam area.

Medically, I think Hackensack is a fine hospital – I had my son there via Csection in 2002 – but even then I had to write a letter about some issues concerning housekeeping in my room. Even when I’ve used the Breast Cancer Center for mammograms I’ve written in regard to the patient management/registration process. I don’t feel every hospital visit should be followed by complaint e-mail. I think my next visit to an emergency room will be to another hospital in the area.



Seriously, fix the non-medical issues (like better triage in the emergency room and signs for parking) - small things like that can leave a better impression than zillions on fancy buildings and art work and super fancy medical equipment that not every patient needs.