Ugh, that’s no fun. You probably know this, but I will mention it since I didn’t! Make sure you STAY hydrated. The one time I was hospitalized (other than for giving birth), I had a kidney infection. I was very dehydrated when I went in, and they had a horrible time getting a needle in for an IV. It took seven tries. They finally found a vein in my hand that worked. Ouch.
I’m glad you’re back home. 
Sorry you got so dehydrated–sometimes Urgent Care can see folks MUCH sooner than the ER. I’ve always thought ER was the best place but my friend fell off a horse and said she had to wait many, many hours to be seen. The next time they needed care, they tried the urgent care place nearer their home and were in and out promptly, with excellent care. When I broke my fibula, they were VERY prompt–xrayed me and diagnosed and gave me assistive devices in much less time than it would have taken to even drive me to the ER.
The problem with ERs these days is that they are full of people who really could be seen elsewhere but see it as a convenient place to get Rx, be seen by a healthcare professional, etc. It overloads the ERs and makes it more difficult to triage those who really need care urgently. Sadly, the problem is worsening, not improving. Over a decade ago when I went to an ER to try to find our S who cut himself at a BS camp, I waited hours and never saw ANYONE leave (much less be seen) the ER. When I’ve been at the ER with my folks, they are seen fairly soon because they’re older (80s & 90s), and generally come in an ambulance, which get priority around here. :-&
ERs and hospitals pretty much HAVE to take whomever shows up, whether or not they can pay. Urgent care places can require payment and/or insurance for treatment and are located in communities. They’re especially good for things like broken bones. I’m not sure if they have IVs as well, but wouldn’t be surprised if they do. I was pleasantly surprised at how well equipped the Urgent Care place was.
I’ve had an IV for hydration after the flu at an urgent care.
My two recent visits to urgent care resulted in (i) being sent in the ER right away, so $15 copay and time was wasted; and (2) me heading for the ER after an incompetent urgent care doc told me that a large piece of glass embedded in my foot was no big deal “because human bodies deal with foreign objects all the time.” X( Both times the ER docs were excellent and promptly got to the root of the problems. The staff manning the access to the triage nurse is a different story…
Urgent cares are unfortunately not all equal. Some provide much better care than others and have better staff and more equipment. Some are pretty much glorified “minute clinics,” and can give antibiotics if you have an infection, maybe do a throat culture and give immunizations, plus perhaps do basic physical exams for sports or employment, staffed by very basic “medical assistants” with varying degrees of training and little to no supervision (at least in Hawaii). Some have xray machines and excellent ER docs on staff who will see you after you are worked up by the PA/NP on duty. I avoid the former and only patronize the latter.
If I can avoid the ER, I will do my best to do so–get to one of my personal MDs or the Urgent Care before the ER. So far, I’ve been very fortunate and never had to go to the ER or hospital for my own care (other than to give birth or simple outpatient procedures). We did take D to pediatric ER hospital twice–once when she was dehydrated and once when she was VERY ill and listless. They seem to be much quicker at seeing the patients there–maybe she was just so ill. It was decades ago, so perhaps things have worsened since then.
@CTTC - because you asked, thought I would update you. Patient relations did answer the phone on my second try earlier this week, and were wonderful. They called a meeting with the first ER doctor involved in my D’s care, the eye machine was fixed, and they are not billing us for the first ER copay. (Although I think they are still billing the insurance company, so they are also following up with billing for me, which is great having to avoid that, to make sure that our insurer will in fact cover both visits so that if not, for some strange reason, the second ER will be the one that’s paid). Fingers crossed.
The only reason I went to ER was because it was too late for urgent care. I will not make that mistake again…
It really, really depends. Our closest urgent care is well-equipped and has access to all of the equipment in the building, but the docs who are assigned to work urgent care shifts must have been in the bottom 1% of their class. 
The other urgent cares would require more time to get to than the ER, so… Given my experience, I will head straight for the ER next time (knocking on wood that it will not happen any time soon). That ER mostly deals with weekend warriors’ and soccer kids’ injuries and an occasional chest pain, but things like gunshot wounds and similar horrible things are very, very uncommon to be brought there. I think I spent about an hour there when I needed that piece of glass removed. If it had not been for the patient intake screwup, I would not have had a bad time there the first time.
I have an urgent care by my house that I really, really like and has generally been very good. But it closed at 9.
We got to the ER (at the main Univ of Michigan hospital) around 10 last night and it was packed. They did the triage and said that they would get me started on IVs because I was obviously dehydrated. I went to the waiting room and they drew blood about an hour or so later. I reminded the nurse (?) that I was supposed to get an IV and she said that that would happen soon and that she forgot to start my IV (I was still in the blood draw room when this happened). I wasn’t taken back until about 3, 3:30 AM to a room. It took the nurse about 10 minutes to find a vein and then my rehydration finally started at that point.
I think I finally saw a doctor around 7 or 8 AM and at that point he said my labs were fine (I see in my patient portal that this is not true). They basically said they didn’t know what was wrong but it’s probably related to my Lupus (the symptoms I had/have are not typical to Lupus) and it seemed like a cop out answer. They then told me to order some breakfast and if I wasn’t feeling nauseous after, I could be discharged. I felt incredibly nauseous after eating a banana and informed my nurse of this but next thing I know I was being discharged (around 11 AM). I was so sleep deprived by this point that I didn’t fight it. I regret that.
I will follow-up with my PCP and Rheumatologist tomorrow but I am just very aggravated by the whole experience. We should have just left and gone somewhere else but I kept thinking that I’d be admitted “any time now”.
Whoa. Sorry to hear that, romani.
A note for Seattle area residents. I would strategically avoid the UW Hosptal and Harborview, the two busiest ERs in my neck of the woods, if I think my issue is routine (like glass removal) and drive to a less busy one (Evergreen or Overlake or even Swedish).
Romani, I so hate that you are going through this. Hugs, and as an RN, I wish I could be there to give you some nurse love. 
I have been to hospitals many, many times and this was the first time I really had a bad experience with a nurse. I do believe it was an anomaly.
I went to U of M because they have all of my medical records online and I wouldn’t have to bring all of my paperwork and everything with me.
Sorry for the thread hijack!
@romanigypsyeyes - Sending you a ((HUG)) and hoping you are feeling better soon.
Thanks for the update, @NinaReilly! Too bad the insurance company probably has to pay for both ER visits, because that’s really not much incentive to improve things, is it? Glad you only pay one co-pay!
As long as they don’t charge for a service they did not provide, it’s probably, while annoying, ok to bill aspects of the first ER visit to the insurer. But review the bill carefully (even though you don’t have to pay the copay) and feel free to contact the insurer if there are charges for services that were not provided. That s not ok.
BUMP! Another question. 3 months for a doctors appointment. Is that a reasonable wait or should I try to go elsewhere? How is it possible that doctors get booked up that far in advance? I’m guessing a lot of if you can book an appointment for May 25 two months ahead, it’s probably not an urgent issue. What are patients with more pressing matters left to do?
Most physicians usually have different categories of appointments, routine vs. urgent, etc. Routine appointments may be booked many months in advance, I usually have to book my routine ophthalmology appointments 2-3 months in advance for example but they have some appointments reserved for emergencies. When my husband sees patients that are followed routinely on a schedule they often make their follow up appointments as they are leaving the office so his routine appointments are often mostly booked 5-6 months in advance but he has some appointments reserved for new patients and more urgent concerns.
At my addiction/pain clinic, I don’t want the waiting time to exceed 15 min. I think 30 min past the appointment time is unreasonable.
One dentist used to do this all the time, after half an hour my husband would leave, politely saying their allocated time is up. They were consistently overbooked and always trying to upsell and squeeze you for more (oral cancer screening - only $35!) My dentist is always on time, never keeps you waiting and I’ve been with him for 40 years. He’s 72 and I dread the day he retires, but trust his partners will maintain his good name,
@CaliCash with my dermatologist…I would be thrilled to get an appointment in three months. My ophthalmologist books 6 months out and it takes the doctor’s intervention to get an appointment sooner.
For my PCP, I can usually get an appointment within a week for non-urgent care…and the same day for urgent.
So…what kind of doctor are you talking about? Oh…and it often takes longer for new patients to get appointments than established ones.