Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda
Having to go to a hospital or UC is absolutely horrible right now. I was pretty sure I had a small abcess under my armpit, but I didn't go to get it checked out right away because every medical center in the province is an absolute gongshow right now, and I was hoping it would clear up by itself. It didn't, got worse, so I finally bit the bullet and went to the Airdrie UC yesterday. Got there at 10am, waited about 2 hours to see a doctor, they put me on an antibiotic IV and then sent me to a diagnostic clinic to get an ultrasound done on it. Waited another hour there for the appointment, went back to urgent care to review the results, only to find out I had to go back in line again, which of course was way longer. Waited an hour in line to get triaged again, then 2.5 hours more to see another doctor. First thing he said was "Why do you have an IV in your arm? You should have gotten oral antibiotics". Well great, it's not like having a needle stuck in my arm and wrapped up in gauze for the last few hours wasn't an inconvience or anything. Then he says he'll be right back to apply a numbing cream to the area and they can make a small incision to drain it. An hour later he reappears and asks "So is the numbing cream working?" to which I reply "What cream? No one came by since your last visit", which caused him to rant a bit about some new AHS system they implemented that's causing grief. So instead of making a cut right away he goes to grab an ultrasound machine to see where exactly he should cut, which made me wonder why I had to go to a seperate facility for an ultrasound earlier if they had one there. After the 2nd ultrasound the doctor says it's not one big abcess but a cluster of small ones, so he can't make an incision to drain it all
So after over 10 hours, most of it waiting in purgatory, all I end up with is a prescription for more anti-biotics, which I probably could have gotten from the local walk-in clinic in under an hour. What a complete waste of a day
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I think they can bill the Province per test or something like that?
This is the thing, the system needs some serious overhauling. Its not just a lack of resources or funding, its like there is a complete runaround for everything. The Doctors and Nurses have hoops that they have to make you jump through like you're some kind of show-dog.
So I sympathize with you, that sounds like a hellish day.
I'm currently arguing with my Family Doctor because whenever I need tests or something done she tells me:
"Just go to the Hospital. They have all the equipment needed to do all of this."
Yes...but thats not what the Hospital is typically for. Thats why there are testing facilities, Urgent Care, etc. I want to go to the Hospital as near to 'Never' as I can possibly manage.
It reminds me of the Education system sometimes, the people doing the actual work, whether its Teachers, Doctors, EMTs or Nurses are doing the best they can under this weird and convoluted system that at times makes no sense.
Again though, whats the solution? I kind of feel like they need to get Margaret the grizzled 30-year Veteran Nurse from the 3rd floor and just hand her the keys and say "You've seen it all. Fix It."