Dealing with Emergency room visits hack
Submitted by Brianna B.
Perspective: Person with a disability
The following contains 3 separate parts.
Part 1: an account of a personal visit with an ER doctor
Part 2: an overview of what may be happen in an ER visit
Part 3: information of care cards
“Hi, I’m Ben,” the emergency doctor says, reaching to shake my hand. When he asks about my history of medical conditions, I cackle with involuntary laughter that reveals my state of exhaustion and extensive matriculation within the strange parallel universe of medicine. “How much time do you have? “ “I’m here all night. Give it to me! “From the first time I met Dr. Ben Isakson, MD in the emergency room, I have been simultaneously shaken and comforted by his warmth. A doctor is literally the last person in the world I could anticipate slicing open my traumatic medical wounds to; somebody I would never want to disrobe my scars with. He possesses a rare combination of humility and compassion that I’ve witnessed in few humans, let alone medical professionals. I felt seen. Throughout my lifetime, I’ve noticed a chasm between provider and patient, a divide that often compromises humanity on both sides. This is one factor that can make a trip to the emergency room especially stressful for those of us who have a disability or chronic health condition. Caught in a whirlwind of overwhelming symptoms, expressing personalized needs to facilitate a successful visit is often complicated.
A trip to the emergency room can be a stressful experience for anybody, let alone somebody with a disability or chronic health conditions. Caught in a whirlwind of overwhelming symptoms, expressing personal needs to facilitate a safe visit is often complicated and frustrating. It’s not only the patients who experience these frustrations, but emergency room doctors do as well. The infrastructure of the emergency room environment can make it challenging to build rapport. “The emergency room has a unique set of challenges,” says Dr. Ben Isakson, M.D., a Chico emergency room physician. “We don’t have much time with any one patient. We’re often pulled away in the middle of an encounter to deal with an emergency, and we don’t get to see our patients on a repeat basis to develop rapport and a therapeutic relationship. This makes it especially hard to pause and take into account the broadly variable needs of each patient we meet. This is frustrating for the emergency room doctors, but probably much more frustrating for patients who might not be getting the direct and personalized care they deserve.” As a person with a disability, I discussed the emergency room experience with Dr. Isakson, from both his perspective as a provider and my perspective as a patient, with the goal of determining the most important facts, needs, desires, dos and don’ts that will facilitate the best possible experience in the emergency room. Through this process, we created printable Care Cards that feature prompts intended to assist patients in communicating their needs to medical professionals and ultimately build a bridge to our collective humanity. Dr. Isakson knows it takes courage to explain again and again needs that aren’t always respected or well received by the medical community. He tells his patients, “Thank you for showing up for yourself, anyway.” We hope Care Cards may be a resource for self-advocacy and will bolster positive outcomes in the emergency department for those of us with disabilities and chronic conditions, as well as those without. Care Cards applicability extends beyond the hospital, into our communities. Whether at work, play, therapy, school or any other social event, sharing a card can open a pathway not only for self-advocacy, but for community, teamwork and inclusion.