Quick question for A&E/Hospital staff/paramedics !!!!

[Quickquestionmate]

Do you ever get annoyed at patients for coming in with the same things?

I take part in a dangerous sport (eventing) and have been sent to hospital in an ambulance several times especially for cross country accidents. The staff have always been lovely to me but I was just curious if it gets frustrating seeing patients continually come in with injuries from dangerous sports?

5 a&e trips last year (either from being kicked by my horse or thrown off). It’s not because I’m a hopeless rider- cross country is extremely dangerous and I was also rebacking an ex racer which was challenging to say the least, hence the higher than usual number of injuries! Like I said, all the staff were lovely, but I was just curious from the POV of those staff about if it gets frustrating to see someone do a dangerous sport and continually end up hurt and do they see them as timewasters having to go to hospital so often? Eg other potentially dangerous behaviours like trampolining or drinking excessively, do staff feel annoyed or frustrated at patients for that?

just being nosey here on the POV of people dealing with this.😀

I’m a HCP but not a paramedic or ED staff so can’t comment on how generally they perceive revolving door patients such as yourself.
I do however use patients like you OP do explain principle 3 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 with students, which relates to an adult’s right to make unwise and unsafe decisions. I usually use caving as my go to example, but might switch to eventing now.

My thoughts with be that presumably you're not the only person getting injured on this event. Therefore the organisation that is running it should pay for paramedics to attend that's not putting additional pressure on the service. Loads of events do this.

As admin, I'm going to say no. Working closely with nurses with A&E experience taught me a lot about empathy and seeing things from the patient's point of view. They see a lot of people who are responsible for their own illness/injury but they always have compassion. Pretty much the only thing a patient will get judged for at A&E is for repeated inappropriate attendance and not using the NHS appropriately. Oh, and for being an arsehole in the waiting room, obviously.

I imagine it varies from person to person - I mean, medical staff are only human!

This is ridiculous. The alternatives are not no sport at all or a sport so dangerous you're injured to the level of needing A&E treatment 5-6 times a year.

The OP may also be risking long term harm to herself, repeated concussion can cause permanent neurological problems and if she injured her spine she could end up permanently paralysed.

I'm not saying she should stop riding altogether, it sounds like this year has been unusual for her, but I do think she should think about how to reduce her risk of further, potentially life altering injuries.

@RedHelenB the point is that not taking meds is a form of self harm. So saying 'you should take your meds' is equivalent to saying you shouldn't self harm or be mentally unwell. It's quite worrying for someone who works in MH to not get that.

They are called Frequent Flyers

I think they probably do have a little sigh and think not again. When people keep returning to my work with the same issues that you've sorted for them multiple times you do start to get a bit annoyed.

Only one person, in my old role. But she was in every 1-2 weeks with the same thing, self-inflicted because she doesn’t take her type 1 diabetes seriously, demanded strong IV antiemetics, IV morphine (for what?!) and was rude to staff and obstructive towards being discharged every single time. Rinse and repeat fortnightly.

Horse riding/eventing/hunting no I don’t get frustrated (unless you decided to ride without a hat or fell off because you tried to jump a huge ditch with wire and a blackthorn hedge on the other side, then I might think ‘not again’ but I wouldn’t let it show). Or if you were galloping on tarmac or something silly.

Equestrian accidents aren’t that common in A&E, it’s more drunk teenagers and ODs (both accidental and deliberate) and people falling down stairs while drunk or tripping over in high heels. Motorbike accidents, mountain bike crashes. And lots of elderly people who’ve fallen or become confused due to infections. I don’t feel frustrated with any of the above apart from frequent fliers who are drunk especially if they’re abusive to staff.

I feel secretly irritated when people present with problems that aren’t emergencies eg a sore knee that’s been sore for a month, or an ingrown toenail or blocked ears (they often say they couldn’t get a GP appointment but going to A&E just wastes everyone’s time, including theirs as we can’t treat things like that; they wait hours then get signposted back to the GP/pharmacist if they’re otherwise well.

As for not taking medication, a lot of people stop taking MH meds when they become psychotic or manic (they either forget, have a delusional idea they nolonger need them or get paranoid about the meds) so I can’t judge them for that.

My role covers A&E and I regularly assess people who are dependent drinkers/drug users. I find almost all of them refreshingly authentic and honest so never mind seeing them. It is frustrating when people leave with a plan in place, don't follow it and then return some time later expecting us to recommend something different without trying the original plan. So I guess if they have given you advice and you don't follow it then that may prompt some raised eyebrows, but assuming you wear a helmet etc then crack on... rather you than me, I find horses terrifying

This is ridiculous. The alternatives are not no sport at all or a sport so dangerous you're injured to the level of needing A&E treatment 5-6 times a year.
The OP may also be risking long term harm to herself, repeated concussion can cause permanent neurological problems and if she injured her spine she could end up permanently paralysed.

Do you seriously think people aren't frequently injured in other sports? Injuries, some of them serious, and yes, including concussion and spinal injuries come with the territory with most contact sports - the type of sports thousands do every weekend!

But drink/drugs and not taking meds are all forms of self harm. Your attitude is pretty shitty. I suggest you rethink your job if that's what you really think about people with MH issues

I used to get bronchitis frequently - v pissed off at getting the "well if you didn't smoke" lecture and telling GPs year after year that I don't smoke and never have. Particularly from the locum GP who smelt like a stale ash tray.

My sister works in a and e ( and is sitting eating her poached egg on toast next to me after a loooooong busy shift.)

She says, yes, frequent flyers get noticed. Some people she can greet by name, without looking at the file. They do not judge, that helps no one.

but after a few visits to a and e they would have a word with mental health services in case your sport was being used as a method of self harm, or as a masking activity for DV.

Back in the 1980s, I used to curse when, 56 hours into an 80 hour continuous on call shift for anaesthetics, the ambulances would roll in from our nearby ski slopes with eight spiral fractures of tib/fibs, all needing surgery!
But I never voiced my fatigue and frustration to the inept skiers who had gone up there with no previous tuition.
Thankfully, I’m now retired, working hours for my young colleagues are much more humane, and modern ski bindings release on impact instead of twisting the leg in a circle.

If I someone to go a&e five times in one year because of, for example, extreme hip pain due to obesity, I don't think people would be best pleased. But sure, risk serious injury or neurological damage as long as its a sport.

Married to an ITU doctor. At one point they literally were only treating Covid patients who were unvaccinated. I know he was frustrated that they were in so needlessly, but felt sad about it because of the regret those patients had. Most pleaded for a vaccine not realising it was all too late.

I don’t think most medics get angry, but it certainly makes him more cautious. For example no child of ours would be encouraged to get a motorbike! I did ponder giving birth at home but he was dead against that too after the last minute interventions he’s been involved in.

I work in A&E. As a pp above said, it’s more about the attitude to staff I judge on rather than repeat attendance.
Also, repeat attendances are usually a sign of something-not coping/abuse/sign that medical issues are worsening/breakdown of mental health, etc. It can be used as a flag to dig deeper about what’s going on for that patient.
We’re finding we have a lot of repeat attendees at the moment because there are just not the community services anymore to help support outside of A&E. That is really frustrating-but obviously not the patients fault.

This post is awful. Find it really difficult to believe you actually work in MH tbh with such a basic lack of understanding. Look for another job for the sake of your patients!

Medical people, I took my son aged 14 to A and E with chest pain recently. He was otherwise well, so not cough induced, and as he'd been doing exams all week I knew it couldn't be a strain from sports. My dh was very scathing and said I was wasting A and E time. He did turn out to have pericarditis (abnormal eeg but troponin was fine) but it got better on its own. Would this visit have annoyed you?

No it didnt bother me just made me sad when someone who was discharged then returned.(mental health also) Usually returned because they stopped taking their medication as they thought they were now OK when it was their medication that was helping them.
I never heard any other staff saying anything either as think they felt the same.

It's not so much repeats that bother me but inappropriate A&E access. So if you have an accident or emergency, that's what we're here for. If it's not that but you've just come to A&E because we're open and available 24 hours or your GP can't magically fix your chronic problem then that's more irritating.
It's also a reflection of resources. If we're overwhelmed and short staffed and it feels dangerous it's easier to get frustrated at patients that come with 'technically avoidable' injuries etc, because we have enough to deal with, but that's a reflection of the pressures on staff (who are only human) and not a judgement on a patient.
If it's inappropriate healthcare/drug/attention seeking too, it's frustrating for all because we're not best placed to address/offer/relieve that so no one feels satisfied by the interaction.
I do get a bit irritated with parents that bring their kids in because they're unwell/have a temperature, and they haven't tried simple things like given calpol, but obviously it's such a fine line to tread there and we'd never want a sick kid who needed to be there not brought in because parents tried to manage it at home/were afraid to bring them in so it's usually gentle education and definitely not judgement, and especially the last few years so many people have been parenting in isolation without the knowledge exchange/support system they might usually have.
I do remember one insanely busy day feeling (privately) frustrated by a 90 year old that went up a ladder with a circular saw and ended up cutting his finger off. Obviously he needed to be in A&E with that but I remember thinking "for fucks sake you went 90 years without cutting your fingers off could you have just not chosen today to do something stupid", but again that's sharing the dark thoughts of an overworked NHS bod, not a fair judgement of the poor guy who I'm sure would rather not be there with a missing finger either.

Anyone working in a n e that I've known personally always say that they'd prefer it if you took a child in to be checked over than not if they are OK. Most people ring 111 anyway and they often suggest you take them in. I've always used my own instincts and never go by what my dh says about time wasting.

@FainaSnowChild

No not at all!!