Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center Emergency Department — Local services in Charlotte

I give Atrium Health CMC Emergency Dept 4-stars rating even though I arrived at around 8 pm and was only seen by the doctors from 1:45 am and discharged at around 2:15 am.

While my self-rated pain score is 8 out of 10, and my pain was genuine and felt, ER does not operate on a first-come-first-serve basis when there are more pressing priorities such as life-threatening patients. I can only speak for my situation, and I think the medical staff were professional and made the right call to bump other cases before me. While waiting for my turn, there were a few trauma cases and a code blue situation. I suspect they were why I had to wait that long after being assessed by the triage nurse. My ECG and chest x-ray would have hinted that I was unlikely to suffer a fatal or life-threatening outcome if I waited, but those bumped up the queue couldn't afford the wait. If I ever end up in those situations, I would want that priority.

All the staff was warm, professional, and really nice. They expressed sympathy that I had to be there and probably empathized with my agony of the long waiting. I expect professionalism regardless of the environmental factors, but to stay warm and compassionate is a lot to ask from medical professionals that work under highly stressful situations. That earns the extra star. I was seen by Dr. Blackwell, and Dr. Salzman, and they were attentive, professional, and empathetic. Janet, from the administration, was very caring and expressed regrets that I had to be there and wished me well when she was heading out. I wished I remembered the names of the triage nurse who was gentle with inserting the peripheral IV on my arm, drew my blood, and gave me the GI cocktail; the medical tech who took my ECG and walked me to the x-ray room, the staff at the front desk who did the registration, and the staff who took my vitals - they were friendly enough. I could tell that they were tired.

I contemplated a 5-stars rating, but I think that despite my pleasant experience, there is room for improvement. There is no appropriate waiting area for accompanying visitors who are probably very worried since they couldn't be with the patients. My husband called the number given to him for two hours before someone picked up the phone to let him know my status. Fortunately, we live nearby, so he waited anxiously at home instead of outside the ER or in the car for hours. I didn't have water for hours - I could've asked, but I was in much pain, so I'd instead not move an inch unless absolutely necessary; perhaps a water dispenser or vending machine would be helpful.

Overall, I am grateful for the care given to me.

How I rate:- 1-2 stars - Businesses/professionals that do not meet the minimum standard of service. 3 stars - Businesses/professionals that meet the minimum standard of care/service and nothing more; or when they try to make up for the lack of service by being really nice. 4 stars - Businesses/professionals that take extra effort to be nice in addition to meeting the minimum expected standard. 5 stars - Exemplary service/products and customer...

The Emergency Room Nurses have very poor attitudes towards mental health patients and their families. They stigmatize them and don’t treat them properly and then send them back out to the streets to continue to repeat the cycle. They then blame the patient for coming back over and over when they see their bandaid didn’t work. They over look the obvious signs that the person is not mentally competent just so they can give their bed to another person. What kind of non-critical thinking, non-patient advocating, nurses are they hiring over there at CMC Main. They do not care about what happens to the patients they send back out in the world who are obviously a Danger to themselves and others! We have called the so called “patient relations/complaint line” multiple times without so much as a call back. This hospital is grossly negligent when it comes to caring for the mentally impaired patients. At this point since no one wants to return a call or try to help, we are gonna have to go a different route. Do not go to this hospital if you aren’t a “Trauma” patient, since that’s the only type of patient nurses like “Brittany, RN” care about as she proceeded to tell me that they are a “Level 1 hospital with 40 patients waiting in the ED and they need the bed”! Brittany, RN then proceeds to tell me that she doesn’t write the orders, which I am also aware of, however, as a nurse you can advocate for a patient when you find out new information you didn’t know before the order was written. But I digress! Whatever happened to taking care of 1 patient at a time and triaging. I am very aware of their level 1 Hospital status being in the medical field myself and that comment was irrelevant and very unnecessary. The ED Social Worker during a different visit months ago, also without any empathy, told the patient’s elderly mother that they would no longer give him food, pillows, blankets, etc because he is abusing the hospital system. Smh, there is abusing going on alright, but it seems more like an abuse of power to me on the part of...

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