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.😀

Eventung is obviously a very dangerous sport, but even so 5-6 A&E trips in a year is not normal! I know lots of top level eventers and they rarely get injured to the extent they need hospital treatment. I also evented myself for many years (albeit at quite a low level!) and have never needed to visit A&E. This amount of accidents would definitely concern me.

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.

Exactly. Boiled my blood. I realise people get frustrated with overwhelmed GP and other services but this is not the way. It won’t get you a referral quicker than seeing your GP and no, unless you are at immediate risk it won’t get you the tests you are waiting on any sooner either. Also, no we are not saying there is nothing wrong with you, there likely is, but this is not the correct pathway so you get to exit via front door and rejoin your queue (and yes, again we get you are frustrated).

Ex a&e here. Injuries never phased me at all, hazard of sports. Repeat drunks/drug addicts used to be a bit irritating, especially if they're abusive. Repeat MH crisis never phased me unless again, they were abusive. People coming in because they've had a sore throat for 3 days or because they can't sleep... Well that took all my energy to remain professional and I ended up leaving because of it.

I think Stampy is getting an unfair attack here.

I've been in psychiatric hospitals and I've been annoyed at patients who are stuck in the cycle, I was in the cycle! You recognise that a part of you is annoyed and you choose not to respond to it. Our thoughts are not us. Our thoughts are also not the same as judgements. You can be frustrated at a situation but not blame anyone.

When a child is driving me up the flipping wall. I notice my frustration and then act according to the situation and a way that supports the child. It doesn't make me unfit to be a parent because I have these thoughts. It's what you do with them that matters.

I think (and I'm saying this as someone who used to both event and work with racehorses!) that you need to look at what you're doing. Five A&E trips in a year is too much and there may be ways you can mitigate risks. If you're having accidents that regularly it sounds like you're maybe rushing things or are getting a bit complacent.

Not trying to victim blame, just went through it myself and decided to take a step back before I got seriously hurt. 💐

I was told by an A&E doctor that he quite liked doing horse injuries for adults. We were (usually) stone cold sober, patient in the waiting room because we felt like arses for ending up there, and presented by and large as fit, healthy individuals with a high pain threshold so more fun to sew up etc. He could always spot us on account of our tight trousers and all the mud. Of course, he might have been thinking I was an absolute loser and just have been being very professional.

The thing is most accidents are caused by carelessness, lapse of judgement & millions of people could take better care of their health but it's human nature to take risks, indulge etc

What a frustrating thread - if an honest answer wasn't being asked for, then why ask?

Of course healthcare staff are human and are not always sweetness and light. Of course people get frustrated. That is normal, and why we have numerous processes (supervision, reflective practice) to support staff to manage without patients being effected.

You're in the wrong job then. How dare you express (even anonymously) irritation with your sick clients - surely you're aware that addiction to drink or drugs and stopping taking vital medications are forms of self-harm?

I wish I knew who you are so I could report you, you should be struck off, your comment is incredibly damaging and has made me really angry. You have NO idea.

So use your supervision to discuss it. Your patients or people with similar lives to them) will be on here, reading your posts.

I don't think 5 times a year is unusually frequent. I've taken DS to a&e that many times and more due to recurrent bronchiolitis* and one injury, nobody recognised me on any of my visits. I know of people calling the blue light services three or more times a week (yes usually MH related), that is what would class as a frequent flyer.

*Happily DS is on a preventative treatment plan now so we haven't been to a&e for ages, touch wood.

I don't think 5 times a year is unusually frequent

It is for a fit and healthy adult.

Wouldn’t be irritated as long as you are using proper safety equipment ( a helmet in this case) .

Hmm. I broke my wrist and it needed surgery and at the same time fractured a vertebrae. Ambulance service couldn't take two injuries into account and would only triage in the basis of the worst one. I'm not sure how I was expected to know when on the pavement in my village - trying to assess whether my clearly badly broken wrist which was bent out of shape and swelling or a spinal fracture was worse. That's quite hard without an XRay machine. Therefore spent 2 hours in the pouring rain waiting because the people on the end of the phone insisted I was capable of getting out of the chair two passers by had lifted me into because I could steady myself with the other hand. Not with a broken back I couldn't.

We then had a delightful 12 hours in A&E - I was originally put in the urgent treatment centre - triage happened between ambulance and nurses.

I am surprised about comments around people behaving like arseholes in the waiting room. We saw only very polite patients who if they made an inquiry politely were laid into by admins and nurses alike. It was truly horrendous with no communication or organisation. I truly believe everyone was treated the same. The were all treated like sh1t.

The junior Dr we eventually saw refused to believe my back was injured and argued about it being XRayed to the point of saying I needed to think about the risks of radiation. When she showed me the XRay she was unequivocal that the damage was old (I had broken the L1 five years previously as I had explained to her several times along with giving details about the extent of osteoporosis and treatment being received). In fact the T12 had broken and I had to get it diagnosed privately because my GP refused a referral based on the hospital radiology report. It took the private diagnosis to get a referral back to my rheumatologist under whom I am already receiving treatment for osteoporosis!!!

My experience as a non drunk, and arising from a genuine accident makes me fearful. It really does. There was no help or kindness from those who should care and be professional.

My wrist was deformed and heavily swollen. It was pretty clear surgery was required. It was pinned and plated 4 days later. Not one person acknowledged the seriousness of the fall or would explain why the reduction was necessary. The paramedics had advised my rings needed to come off but no-one attended me for six hours, the junior Dr didn't notice and the Dr in resuss was frustrated when the reduction had to be delayed whilst they were cut off. To top it all the nurses who got them off also managed to cut my finger!

In my experience the staff didn't give a damn about anyone. It was truly horrendous.

I used to work in trauma unit and ICU, and I dont judge what/why people end up in hospital.. as I dont walk in their shoes. I dislike being treated with rudeness, bullying and verbal abuse.

I've nursed: muderers, professional footballer, jockies, professional stunt bikers etc and the lovely thing about NHS is everyone is treated the same.

If anything the sporty people have a much better recovery after trauma and higher pain threashold.

The paramedics would still take/send the patient to A&E if that's what's required

No not annoying at all. What is annoying is when people don't arrive for appointments or comply with treatment, e.g. physio, dressing changes etc. As I work it paeds if wastes my time from the missed appointment but usually means extra appointments in the long run to resolve the issues and as its children I have to follow up with safeguarding to ensure no possible neglect.

I used to have a mid fifties football player every Saturday morning with a different injury, we end up good friends tbh and I was a bit disappointed when he gave playing and I didn’t see him anymore. Have to say the spinal patients made me incredibly depressed, just knowing they’d never walk again and how much of life was closed off to them. I encourage my children to risk assess, particularly the older one.

I think Stampy is getting an unfair attack here.

I've been in psychiatric hospitals and I've been annoyed at patients who are stuck in the cycle, I was in the cycle! You recognise that a part of you is annoyed and you choose not to respond to it. Our thoughts are not us. Our thoughts are also not the same as judgements. You can be frustrated at a situation but not blame anyone.

Agree.

As to OP's situation - guess it's better to be active than a couch potato, but I'm not sure that level of repeated injury is sustainable. Healing isn't like 'return to factory settings', there's scarring and bone knitting and things that still ache years after. I wouldn't want to be looking at a middle/old age marked by pain and disability if it were avoidable. I think that would be my primary concern, rather than showing up in A&E with a genuine injury (which is what it's there for).

(not HCP but work in adjacent field)

As someone who was sectioned once for a severe mental health breakdown, I heard frustration in the staffs voices sometimes, because I was exhausting. I am very sorry to have been so unwell and if I were to meet these people now I’d thank them from the bottom of my heart. I have every conviction they still gave me the best care they could at the time. It’s human to get exhausted by what you do and wish for a break. I have every respect for people in this profession. People exhaust me when they are in best health, let alone injured.

I had to take my baby to kids a&e on a Sunday afternoon once and it was absolutely full of Sunday sporting injuries! No annoyance from the staff whatsoever (other than at the long wait to get patients their x-ray!) and an orthopedic Dr was doing the rounds so they seemed to have planned well for all the broken bones

If they are truely injures that warrant an A&E visit, and if you are using ambulances the injury itself is making it impossible for you to get there by own transport, then no problem. But if you have a low threshold for coping and like to be 'checked out' for what turns out to be relatively minor injuries then yes it would piss me off, but I wouldn't say it to your face.

I was in a car accident once. The car was an absolute state, but we all got out unscathed. An ambulance arrived, I don't know how or why, I didn't call it and insisted on taking me and two young DC to be "checked". I knew we were wasting everyone's time, but I was made to feel that I'd be the worst mother on earth if I didn't go.

One of my colleagues works in a&e and doesn’t mind the injuries at all, but gets more irritated with parents bringing their children in after they’ve vomited once or have a temperature without having tried any calpol or anything. It’s relentless in a&e at the minute, so busy and short staffed, and the worry is you miss the one sick child amongst the parents demanding treatment for something that will just pass on it’s own.

That'll be why those parents are there though. If the medical professionals can't be sure they haven't missed something serious, no wonder parents flap.