What you can do to help
Friday, August 19, 2005
The holidays can be a very busy time in the Emergency Department. Doctors’
offices often have reduced hours during the holidays, and the Emergency
Department is always extra busy at this time.
If you or your family needs medical care, here are some advice that may
help.
1. Come to the Emergency Department only when necessary
2. call your family doctor and your local pharmacy to find out what their
hours will be over the holidays and ask about any backup coverage
arrangements.
3. Walk-in clinics are offered at the George Town General Practice Clinic
and in all District Health Centres, try to go there for your less urgent
illnesses or injury.
4. Medications - make sure that everyone in your family has enough of their
medications, both prescription and non-prescription, to last over the holiday
season.
5. If you must come to the Emergency Department, come prepared
6. waiting times are generally shorter in the mornings, so try to come
then.
7. bring reading materials, crafts, or other distractions to pass the time.
8. don’t bring any more individuals along than absolutely required (it adds
to the congestion of the waiting room).
The Emergency Department staff may be very busy but staff will do their
best to attend to your medical needs as quickly as possible. Patients are
assessed by a triage nurse, into three general categories, based on their
medical history, physical signs and an evaluation of their illness or injury.
The categories are:
- Immediately life threatening
- Urgent, but not immediately life threatening
- Less urgent
This categorization is necessary so that someone with a life-threatening
condition is not kept waiting because they arrive a few minutes later than
someone with a more routine problem. “For example, heart attack patients and
accident victims are usually seen before patients with cuts or broken bones.
That is why some patients who arrive after others may be attended to first.
They are not more important, but their needs are simply more urgent. Priority
is obviously given to those people who need immediate attention, and this can
affect the waiting time for people with less urgent problems”, says Dr.
Robertson. The triage nurse usually keeps people in the waiting room informed
of any change in the waiting time.
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