British medical treatment.

[IWMP]

Following the chat, I just wanted to see what others think is normal.

Took p to minor injuries at hospital. Was there about 5 hours. From my experience, you go in register, wait, triage, wait, see a Dr and then go home. It can take hours. Paracetamol is available over the counter and it isn't unusual for triage to give out over the counter meds.

Is this abnormal?

A simpler better option was missed and even I didn't consider it at the time. I will speak to the GP tomorrow and see if there was a reason this option wasn't offered and see what they feel needs to be done.

[Marcus]

It would probably help if you explain the minor injury was a splinter.

[Fence Sitter]

In my experience, an emergency room visit normally takes at least 4-5 hours and sometimes more, so that part seems normal to me. Especially if the visit is not really an emergency in the sense that it needs immediate attention. I have spent 8-10-12 hours waiting at an emergency room for minor stuff. I once took my then 4–5-year-old grandson to one when his uncles had fallen on his leg and he would not put any weight on it. By the time we actually got to see a doctor he was jumping off the beds in the emergency room. I still got a bill.

[Marcus]

Following the chat, I just wanted to see what others think is normal.

Took p to minor injuries at hospital. Was there about 5 hours. From my experience, you go in register, wait, triage, wait, see a Dr and then go home. It can take hours. Paracetamol is available over the counter and it isn't unusual for triage to give out over the counter meds.

Is this abnormal?...

Not at all. But, you also said they removed part of a splinter without any local numbing agent, and then told you that you might need to have a plastic surgeon put your child under general anesthesia to remove the remaining splinter part.

That's not normal, in my opinion.

[ajax18]

Following the chat, I just wanted to see what others think is normal.

Took p to minor injuries at hospital. Was there about 5 hours. From my experience, you go in register, wait, triage, wait, see a Dr and then go home. It can take hours. Paracetamol is available over the counter and it isn't unusual for triage to give out over the counter meds.

Is this abnormal?

A simpler better option was missed and even I didn't consider it at the time. I will speak to the GP tomorrow and see if there was a reason this option wasn't offered and see what they feel needs to be done.

I don't go to the emergency room for any reason in the US. In many ways I'd prefer death to the emergency room, if not for the bill alone. Emergency rooms are for people with bad credit who have no intention of paying their bill. That's the way it will always be as long as it's against the law to refuse someone service for nonpayment at the emergency room. It makes me wonder how countries with universal healthcare and open borders manage to avoid bankruptcy in what seems like an impossible situation to me. We have ReadyMed and private walk-in clinics. When my son was burned himself with scalding water, we took him to ready med. It was cheaper because they didn't have to care for nonpayers at the walk-in clinic. They could refer them to the emergency room. Hence my son got better care, with better equipment, faster, and at a lower price than we would have gotten in a hospital emergency room.

[IWMP]

Following the chat, I just wanted to see what others think is normal.

Took p to minor injuries at hospital. Was there about 5 hours. From my experience, you go in register, wait, triage, wait, see a Dr and then go home. It can take hours. Paracetamol is available over the counter and it isn't unusual for triage to give out over the counter meds.

Is this abnormal?...

Not at all. But, you also said they removed part of a splinter without any local numbing agent, and then told you that you might need to have a plastic surgeon put your child under general anesthesia to remove the remaining splinter part.

That's not normal, in my opinion.

I initially went into detail but then thought it would only result in giving me more anxiety so removed it.

I agree with you. I thought you were saying giving paracetamol before seeing the doctor was abnormal.

I will take her to the GP tomorrow to discuss it and find out whether she really needs antibiotics or not and just go through it all with them and see if they should have offered numbing cream. I do think it strange to put a kid under for a splinter but I assumed because the splinter was half the width of her palm that that was why. They managed to remove a large portion but the remaining part was furthest from the hole.

[Gunnar]

I don't go to the emergency room for any reason in the US. In many ways I'd prefer death to the emergency room, if not for the bill alone. Emergency rooms are for people with bad credit who have no intention of paying their bill. That's the way it will always be as long as it's against the law to refuse someoene service for nonpayment at the emergency room. It makes me wonder how countries with universal healthcare and open borders manage to avoid bankruptcy in what seems like an impossible situation to me. We have ReadyMed and private walk-in clinics. When my son was burned himself with scalding water, we took him to ready med. It was cheaper because they didn't have to care for nonpayers at the walk-in clinic. They could refer them to the emergency room. Hence my son got better care, with better equipment, faster, and at a lower price than we would have gotten in a hospital emergency room.

I'm glad your son got good care at an affordable price.

I have had very few experiences with emergency rooms. They always involved real emergencies and they (so far) have always resulted in me receiving competent, compassionate and timely treatment, including hospitalization on a couple of occasions. Maybe I'm just unusually lucky in that regard.

I have also had occasions to visit the local urgent care facility (only a few blocks away from my home), probably comparable to the ReadyMed and walk in clinics you mentioned. On those occasions also I was always treated with exemplary care and concern. I had no complaints, and my costs were covered by Medicare and Tri-care For Life, with little or no co-pay. I feel blessed and lucky to have these medical care resources so close to where I live. I wish that more people had such ready access to good and affordable healthcare!

[Fence Sitter]

I don't go to the emergency room for any reason in the US. In many ways I'd prefer death to the emergency room, if not for the bill alone. Emergency rooms are for people with bad credit who have no intention of paying their bill. That's the way it will always be as long as it's against the law to refuse someoene service for nonpayment at the emergency room. It makes me wonder how countries with universal healthcare and open borders manage to avoid bankruptcy in what seems like an impossible situation to me. We have ReadyMed and private walk-in clinics. When my son was burned himself with scalding water, we took him to ready med. It was cheaper because they didn't have to care for nonpayers at the walk-in clinic. They could refer them to the emergency room. Hence my son got better care, with better equipment, faster, and at a lower price than we would have gotten in a hospital emergency room.

Nonsense.

Hospitals can and do provide levels of care well beyond what can be had at walk-in clinics.

Do people with no other options use/abuse them? Of course.

But try getting a cat scan or an MRI for a serious injury or illness at a walk-in clinic. And, why bother going to a walk-in clinic if you're going to end up at a hospital anyways?

I took my late wife to a walk in when her headaches first started and they misdiagnosed her with a sinus infection, while a couple of weeks later when the headaches persisted, we went to the ER where the cat scan showed the tumor. There are times when the ER is the best place to go.

[Marcus]

Not at all. But, you also said they removed part of a splinter without any local numbing agent, and then told you that you might need to have a plastic surgeon put your child under general anesthesia to remove the remaining splinter part.

That's not normal, in my opinion.

I initially went into detail but then thought it would only result in giving me more anxiety so removed it.

I agree with you. I thought you were saying giving paracetamol before seeing the doctor was abnormal...

I do think that! I've never experienced an er staff dispensing drugs before a patient is seen by a doctor. I also think there were many additional things about your daughter’s visit that I would have been very, very uncomfortable with.

I guess the main one for me is the recommendation to have a plastic surgeon put her under general anesthesia. For a splinter??!!! No.

[Fence Sitter]

I initially went into detail but then thought it would only result in giving me more anxiety so removed it.

I agree with you. I thought you were saying giving paracetamol before seeing the doctor was abnormal.

I will take her to the GP tomorrow to discuss it and find out whether she really needs antibiotics or not and just go through it all with them and see if they should have offered numbing cream. I do think it strange to put a kid under for a splinter but I assumed because the splinter was half the width of her palm that that was why. They managed to remove a large portion but the remaining part was furthest from the hole.

My 6-year-old grandson shot himself in the hand with a BB gun. (Why his parents think having one is a good idea is a beyond me but...)

Anyways they took him to the ER where they were unable to get it out because of how deep it had penetrated, so they arranged for a surgeon to remove it the next day and they administered a general anesthesia to do it. His mother, an ER nurse, seemed unphased by the whole process.

for what it's worth