The Ridiculousness of Rockyview General Hospital

[GT.....O?]

First i would like to say that if you ever plan on going to emergency i reccommend you read this. Because I'm pretty sure it will save you time and pain.

So about a week ago i was lying in bed with my girlfriend studying for a midterm the next day. It was going great, she was sleeping and i was starting to think that an A for a grade was achievable.

I should mention that my girlfriend was diagnosed with Lupus about a year ago.

At about 11:30 Pm, my girlfriend was awaken by sudden pain in her chest. (Being only 20 years old I highly doubted she was having a heart attack, and thought it was probably a pinched nerve, which I get quite regularly). Suddenly she said she felt like her heart just skipped a beat. I laid my ear to her chest and listened to her heart, sure enough she was having a irregular heart beat. It would be normal for a little while, then slow down and right as I though it couldn't get any slower it did a triple beat in less then half a second. Then speed back up to normal for five minutes, then repeat.

We proceeded to Rocky, were we told the triage nurse about our night. In the midst of telling the nurse she took her pulse and my girlfriend told her how she was having trouble breathing whenever this triple beat happened and she felt like there was pressure in her chest. The nurse responded with
" well your breathing fine now so it must not be that bad"

I resisted my urge to go in there and say something.
Then my lady continued to tell her that I had listened to her chest and heard the strange triple beat. What the nurse said next pissed me right off, saying " well does your boyfriend have a stethoscope, or is he trained in the medical field?"


Yeah, thanks you cunt, I have only been living for some twenty odd years and yet you expect that I wouldn't know what an irregular heart beat is? WTF is wrong with you.

So after the whole conversation she told us to sit down. I though OK, if it happens again we can come up and tell her, thinking it would only be a matter of time before we got to see a doctor after that.

I really don't know what I was expecting after coming there about 6 months last time, with abdominal pain and blood in her urine. After about a 6 hour wait, the doctor said it was probably craps and told us to go home. While 2-3 days after she has a complete kidney failure and was rushed to emergency.

Back to the story.

While i recognize that we do have an overcrowded health care system, you would think that a 20 year old woman with chest pain would be taken pretty seriously, or at least more seriously then a person with a broken arm.

While we were sitting, the triple beat happened again, so we walked back up to the triage nurse and continued to tell her about it. She proceeded to take the pulse for about 30 seconds, and while doing so my girlfriend explained to her that if we went back and sat down it would be too late for the nurse to witness the triple beat and we would still be back at the beginning. She continued to tell her to sit down.

We waited for about two hours ( of which time no one else was admitted) and decided that we were going to go home because no one else was being taken in, and after the two hours we were still at the back of the line. She was feeling a little bit better although the irregular heartbeat continued and i had a midterm the next morning, and was planning to stay up all night studying, and maybe get an hour of sleep or two, so i could watch over her and make sure nothing happened in her sleep. While trying to leave the nurse continued to bitch saying " you have a very serious condition, and we are trying our best go get you examined, but if you want to go home you are either making a mistake or it must not be a serious problem anyways"

How about this you dumb triage nurse, if you realize she has a serious condition how about you start taking her serious and bump her up in front of the people with broken arms and a cough, instead of leaving us behind the 17 bloody people in front of us.

Next day the heart beat continued, and it was suggested that we go to the new clinic on 12 ave and 4 th street. I think its called Sheldon Shimir clinic or something, and i would like to say props to everyone there.

after only a two hour wait we were admitted and received a ECG heart monitor, constant watch by a nurse, Xray, and blood and urine work done within the next 4 hours. All the while being taken completely serious everyone there

I again would like to thank everyone at the clinic for being professional and actually giving two shits to figure out what was wrong.

The pain ended up being inflammation in her chest lining which was causing a PVC. While i cant remember what exactly that stands for its something to do with a once in a while heart beat.

I would like to end by saying if you have something wrong and need to go the emergency go to the clinic on 12 th ave and 4th street. I will almost guarantee you will get in faster and they will actually find out what the problem is instead of trying to feed people though. [/rant]

[Kona9]

Next time (other than Sheldon Chumuir sp?) Take the extra drive to Okotoks or Canmore. Sure you drive further, but you are in and out and home faster than waiting locally. The care is generally a bit more sincere as well. (from friends accounts)

Good luck to your girl in a healthy recovery.

[sputnik]

Sounds like standard triage procedures to me.

What did you expect them to do? You have no idea how many people are working that night, or who was admitted before you. You also have no idea how many ER doctors and nurses might be dealing with other patients rushed in via ambulance.

Your girlfriend may have had chest pains, irregular heartbeat and shortness of breath but the fact that she was able to make it into the hospital on her own strength says a lot about her state. If you feel that something like that is an emergency then be prepared to wait.

My wife and I went into Rockyview about a year ago and she was rushed in immediately because her condition was serious enough.

I have nothing but good things to say about the staff at Rockyview.

[GT.....O?]

Thanks Kona9

Still, all in all i am disgusted with Rockyview.

Anyone think I should get the triage nurse's name and send in a complaint. Not about the wait times, or about the over crowded health care system, but about her attitude.

Please don't flame, I understand they have to be stern because of the people that do come in that claim to be dying, and they have a cough or the flu. But I believe this nurse's attitude and rudeness was above disrespectful and unnecessary.

What do you guys think?

[GT.....O?]

Originally posted by sputnik
Sounds like standard triage procedures to me.

What did you expect them to do? You have no idea how many people are working that night, or who was admitted before you. You also have no idea how many ER doctors and nurses might be dealing with other patients rushed in via ambulance.

Your girlfriend may have had chest pains, irregular heartbeat and shortness of breath but the fact that she was able to make it into the hospital on her own strength says a lot about her state. If you feel that something like that is an emergency then be prepared to wait.

My wife and I went into Rockyview about a year ago and she was rushed in immediately because her condition was serious enough.

I have nothing but good things to say about the staff at Rockyview.

I am not complaining with the wait, nor the overcrowded health care system, I am complaining the nurse's attitude.

I myself was there two months ago and required stitches. While i though it was a little ridiculous i had to wait seven hours, I didn't have a problem waiting because i realized it wasn't that serious to get some thread stuck in my arm to hold my skin together.

I just would have expected them to take things a little more serious. And from the attention we received at Sheldon Shimir (sp?) i just wanted to say props to them and i will never return to RGH.
Just though i would let other people know as well

Did you read the part about her kidney failure?
Pissing blood and sever abdominal pain should be taken seriously, no?

[em2ab]

Ya, sounds pretty standard. Do you know how many sissies complain about a pain in their arm and think the world's going to end? They sneeze and think they need to be admitted for a week. To be honest, if it was as serious as you say I probably would have ordered an ambulance.

A wait for someone who walks in on their own with an irregular heart rate is normally as long as you say. I broke my leg in 2 places and waited 6 hours for an x-ray. Then they confirmed it wasn't broken, sent me home and the next morning a specialist called and said, "Bring him back now, it's broken in 2 places." Another time I waited an hour or two before the doctor telling me I was on the edge of dying of kidney failure with extreme food poisoning from ecoli 0157, No ambulance = no care.

[GT.....O?]

I agree, no ambulance = no attention, and sissies.
but due to financial reasons, an ambulance was not an option because they currently do not have any healthcare because they were hit by the recession pretty hard.

I crushed my spleen a couple years ago, had massive internal bleeding, sever breathing problems because the sack around my spleen was filling up with blood and pushing on my diaphram and lungs, and terrible pain in my right shoulder which apparently was due to the spleen issue,(doctor even said the pain in my shoulder is comparable to the pain i would have experienced if i was having a heart attack) but still sat around in the hospital for 3 hours before i was seen by a doctor.

the only reason i didn't die was because that sack around the spleen temporary stopped the bleeding because it was too full. other wise i would have bled out.

maybe im just aggrevated, and fed up with our health care system.

but im pretty sure if one of your loved one was in the same situation, having an irregular heartbeat, and pressure in the chest, all of you would have expected more, and more respect then from a nurse who seemed to have a stick up her ass.

but w.e.......... its over now, and i wont be returning to RGH... [/rant]

[kertejud2]

Originally posted by GT.....O?


I am not complaining with the wait, nor the overcrowded health care system, I am complaining the nurse's attitude.

With 17 people in the ER, all of whom think their condition is the most serious, all trying to make it sound worse than it is to get seen sooner, and you're complaining about their attitude? People have bad days, and nurses put up with more crap than pretty much anybody in a hospital (and I mean that both literally and figuratively).

[reno97637]

All hospitals are like that. The best thing to do is go to those 24 hour clinics. If they find something wrong, they'll call an ambulance, get you transported, and you will receive immediate care.

Also, does anyone know what happened to the clinic on 8th Ave. and 8th St. SW? Did they relocate? Anyway, that was the best clinic to go. I always recommended that place.

[TheCheff]

^^It relocated to the place the OP is talking about Sheldon Chumir on 12thave & 4th st

[wts]

I also have a horror story about the rockyview. A friend of mine went into emerge ( about 10 months ago) because he was having trouble with blurring in one eye as well as a few other signs. The attending doc told him to go home and to see an eye doc the next day. Well he didn't make it to the eye doc because he a f--king massive stroke.

He had all the syptoms and the doc told him to go home. Well he's at home now, everyday, because there's basically nothing else he can do.

Thanks to the Rockyview emerge unit!!!!!!

[Aleks]

Originally posted by wts
I also have a horror story about the rockyview. A friend of mine went into emerge ( about 10 months ago) because he was having trouble with blurring in one eye as well as a few other signs. The attending doc told him to go home and to see an eye doc the next day. Well he didn't make it to the eye doc because he a f--king massive stroke.

He had all the syptoms and the doc told him to go home. Well he's at home now, everyday, because there's basically nothing else he can do.

Thanks to the Rockyview emerge unit!!!!!!

Stories like this are pretty scary!

Our health care system is pretty hit and miss. I think the doctors basically guess most of the time and have no idea what is going on unless it's really obvious.

[em2ab]

Originally posted by Aleks


Stories like this are pretty scary!

Our health care system is pretty hit and miss. I think the doctors basically guess most of the time and have no idea what is going on unless it's really obvious.

They have to guess because people can't convey the message properly, shit most people on this forum can't even spell properly. I sometimes do desktop support and people have the most ridiculous ways of explaining computer issues to me and I often end up treating it as a completely different issue just because it was explained incorrectly. It's not always someone else's fault.

[dandia89]

I don't understand why we have such a shortage of doctors. I see so many kids who have 4.0 gpas who are struggling getting into medical school

[TDFTW]

I hate that hospital too. When I crashed my motorcycle, I had to wait 9 hours to even fill out paperwork, meanwhile I had a broken arm, a knee cap that twisted to the left side of my knee, skin peeled off my legs from sliding and not even a pill of tylenol.

Then they checked me out and sent me home told me to buy tylenol, didn't even xray my arm. After that I hopped a cab to peter lougheed and got admitted in 15 minutes and xrayed and splinted and the rashed skin was treated and bandaged.

That hospital is a joke. The citizens of our city are a joke, who the fuck goes to an ER cause you have a cold?

Adrenaline is a wonderful thing though, cause after I crashed, (i lowsided on gravel) i was able to ride my bike to the hospital and get treated. About 1km before I arrived is when the pain set in and i could barely see where I was going.

[Ca_Silvia13]

Haha good stories, i was there with my bro when he broke his collar bone for the 3rd time. We have already been there for 7 hours then we called for pizza, after the pizza guy delivered, we got right in. Funny how that works...

[cashflow]

About time when they stop using education as a money making scheme and putting doctors through 15 years of education. We need a lot of them and need them to graduate faster. At least 4-6 years faster. I've seen doctors and their kids leave for school together. What a sad sight. And people in pain listening to dumb nurses who were left alone by their husbands/wives/kids.

[berbatov]

Originally posted by em2ab
To be honest, if it was as serious as you say I probably would have ordered an ambulance.

If one gets there by ambulance does not mean they will get ahead.

Originally posted by cashflow
We need a lot of them and need them to graduate faster.

No thank you. I want my doctors to be rigorously prepared.

[cancer man]

At an Emerg Site there should be a user fee for all the bullshit
hypochondriacs out there.

When i was sitting in emergency when my wifes water broke there was a guy sitting down screaming like Freddy was chopping him up and it turned out to be he hit his finger with a hammer and
cracked his finger nail.

Hope your Gal is Doing Fine.

[forkdork]

Originally posted by cashflow
About time when they stop using education as a money making scheme and putting doctors through 15 years of education. We need a lot of them and need them to graduate faster. At least 4-6 years faster. I've seen doctors and their kids leave for school together. What a sad sight. And people in pain listening to dumb nurses who were left alone by their husbands/wives/kids.

LOLZ

Because having physicians who are clearly under-prepped and lack clinical skills treating patients would be ideal.

I mean 1 year of Medical School is all you really need anyways right? The following 3 are just redundant anyways.