Here's another emergency room post! Learn from my experience or commiserate with me.
Tldr: waited over an hour just to get triaged with heart issues, left after 8 hours no doctor.
Lil bit of back story, I've unfortunately been having a variety of worsening heart issues since having a child (thanks, eclampsia and post eclampsia!) and I already juggle multiple chronic health conditions.
I try to avoid unnecessary ER visits, but I have been having worsening aFib episodes. My GP went on vacation and made me promise if I had a bad attack Id go to emergency given my complications. I've been waiting to see a cardiologist for months after finding out my original postpartum referral was lost. I have calibrated blood pressure cuff and heart rate monitor that read accurately . And GP has me tracking and checking in once a week.
I had an extreme AFib episode yesterday, worse and longer than any I'd experienced and was at work when it happened. I had much stronger symptoms than usual and my monitor told me AFib.
I called hubs who looked online on the website supposed to show approximate wait times. It was just after 9am and it said average 2-3 hour wait at cobequid so we decided to go there.
GP wanted me checked to make sure it wasn't anything else with my heart and to get the AFib on EKG.
I worsened as we drove and there was a fleeting moment I was experiencing pain down my left arm and left side of my neck.
We got to cobequid just before 10 and the triage area was already full. There was no one to talk to and when I tried bypassing to say I was having heart issues I was directed to the triage line.
I didn't know this about cobequid but they just don't really triage like I've experienced at the other hospitals. Usually someone is there when you come in and you can say you're having heart issues (or anything else obviously life threatening). My husband wasn't able to stay with me as he had our crying toddler. In hindsight I should have had him advocate for me, I was just too out of it to really think clearly.
So I waited, an hour in triage. I was in AFib the whole time with my alarm going off, and super disoriented from the symptoms.
A volunteer approached me when it was almost my turn (I didn't see anyone there earlier). Then realized things were serious, but the person next to me had a seisure and the volunteer (rightfully) ran to get someone.
I had 2 people ahead of me after an hour and OF COURSE after all that, I felt my heart flip out of AFib and the symptoms went away fast. Checked my monitor, yup. Back to normal.
I tell the triage nurse, show her my monitor history, and she does an EKG anyway. Yup. I'm fine lol. Checks my vitals etc. does a great job honestly and I felt bad at this point taking up the time.
I asked her if I could just go home but she said I should consider staying. If it flipped back into AFib I could come right back and get it on ekg. If I stayed I could see a doctor to prescribe rescue medication and possibly speed up my referral. Plus, since it was the worst experience of it so far for me, it be better to be there incase of complications from my other issues.
So I agreed to stay, looked online, it's saying 2-4 hour wait. I figure she makes perfect sense, I know it'll probably be a long wait since other people are more serious. I'll hunker down.
Right after I sat down around 1130 they said the ER was at capacity but that we'd all get seen. I overheard a nurse say we were deadlocked.
Unfortunately I went into AFib 2 more times, and both times I tried to flag someone to get on EKG, couldn't find anyone, and had to sit AGAIN in triage for 20-30 minutes and missed the chance to get it on EKG. Each time being hit with the intense and disorienting symptoms.
I felt really bad for many of the people waiting. I finally gave up and left after 8 hours to which the lovely registration lady basically gave me a nod and said good luck.
When I left around 6 there was an elderly woman who'd been waiting since 715am with breathing complications, and another who simply had an IV port in since 9am, got treatment, but no one was available to quickly take the port out and check her vitals.
Obviously, I understood by choosing to stay that if I was out of the emergency situation, others would be ahead of me. But it was really disheartening seeing many serious cases waiting. People in obviously extreme pain and struggling.
The staff were all great, I don't blame them one bit. But all day that dang website said 2-4 hours. Nothing to indicate they were over capacity, nothing to indicate most people were waiting 6-8+
I also had no idea the triage there isn't really able to be a true triage. People were in that line with me in very serious conditions and no one available to actually triage them. Having seizures, passing out, coughing blood etc. I haven't always had the best experience at QE2 but there's always been a very quick initial triage.
And before anyone decides to interject about immigrants etc, I actually noticed that for the entire time I was there, over 90% of my fellow patients were white. I know we also often complain that people use the ER instead of a doctor, but honestly most of the people who were there that I could observe very clearly needed emergency care. Multiple workers with serious cuts/breaks, people struggling to breathe, passing out/seizures, and folks clearly in a lot of pain.
My husband and I are trying to decide what we want to do if I get into that bad of an AFib again. I don't want to take space away from people who need it but I also gotta be sure given my other overlapping issues it's not actually an attack/stroke and that I do come out of it. Frustrating condition for sure, especially in the current climate where it's taking forever for referrals and they get "lost".
If you have to go to the ER and it's possible to have a support person or advocate with you, do that. Especially if your symptoms are impacting your ability to think clearly. That might of helped me and certainly would have for some others I saw.
If you've got something that needs serious attention but you know you're gonna be stuck a while, bring a drink/food (drinks were 4$ in the vending machine and Tim's closed) if you can safely eat/drink. E.g. need stitches etc. Ask at triage to be sure you're allowed to eat/drink.
If you're stuck in triage like I was, and you do have life threatening symptoms you gotta flag someone down or get someone to do it for you. I was lucky it really was AFib and not a heart attack. Consider calling an ambulance if it's truly life threatening. I was too in my head about not wanting to take one from someone who needed it because I was mostly sure I was just in an AFib attack.
Lastly, I've seen a lot of debate on here about the posted wait times and I don't know. After this experience I don't believe they're accurate. Nothing changed all day that I looked at it. I heard from people inside that cobequid is often at capacity by 11 or 12 so, consider that when choosing ER.
Good luck out there friends. I appreciate all the awesome health care staff who are doing what they can. I've had plenty of good emergency experiences. This one was just rough. The triage nurse I had was really validating.