Observing an ER Waiting Room

To get more familiar with the healthcare experience for many Americans, Judith asked us to observe an emergency room waiting room for two or more hours. I chose to visit Norwegian-American Hospital, which is near my home.

After dinner, I drove to the hospital and tried to figure out where to park for the ER. I followed the signs as best I could to be close to the ER entrance, but I must not have gone far enough because I had to walk quite a bit to the entrance. I figured I was in the right spot because of the ambulances idling in front.

I pushed open the doors and walked up a short ramp that I imagined must usually be used by EMTs wheeling people in on gurneys. As soon as I walked into the hospital hallway, a police officer standing next to the reception desk asked if he could help me. "I'm looking for the waiting room," I said. Down the hall to your right, he said.

I heard the waiting room before I saw it, because the place was crowded and full of adults and children. In fact, I had to stand for several minutes before a seat became available. These people would be my observation subjects for the next two hours, since there wasn't much of a turnover while I was there. By my rough count, there were about 32 people in a small room, half adults and half children. In such a small space, that was a lot of kids! A word I heard repeated several times was "play." As in, "I'm not playing with you" and "Don't play with that."

The chairs lined the perimeter of the room and several rows in the middle. The TV was on, but not many people paid attention to it. The chairs rows in the middle faced three vending machines, all filled with junk food snacks and soda drinks. A window that looked into the next room showed police officers and hospital workers doing something, but they did not interact with the waiting room.

Occasionally, a medical-type person would come and call out a name. Everyone associated with that person would get up and leave, only to return a short while later. Some of the children came back wearing an orange plastic bracelet, but without that signifier, it was hard to tell who the patient was. To my untrained eyes, no one looked seriously hurt or sick. Mostly, it looked like a lot of parents that couldn't take their kids to a doctor during the daytime.

After about two hours, I decided to walk around the hallways to see if I was missing anything. I had been reluctant to get up before that for fear of losing my seat and having to stand again. The corridor led to a hospital museum and closed snack shop. I saw clumps of families standing together, perhaps to have some piece and privacy from the waiting room. A couple brochure carousels were in the corners, containing information like "How to read your hospital bill" and prevention tips for infectious diseases.

I then decided it was time to leave and left through the same doors I came in. Outside were some of same the waiting room people, milling around. Leaving in my car was much easier than arriving, except for a no-left turn sign I encountered trying to get back to Sacramento.