"Wonderful experience in ed"

I presented to emergency at about 6pm because I was struggling with my mental health and the strategies I have in place weren’t helping. 

The triage nurse was absolutely lovely, she was transparent and told me that there would be a long wait (which I know is completely out of control of anyone working there) but also made it very clear to me that herself as well as all of the other staff were there to help me and that I’d done the right thing by coming in. 

I have a lot of medical trauma from a smaller regional hospital so I often get very overwhelmed and upset in hospital environments. About two hours into my wait this ended up happening, my previous experiences at the hospital before have basically been that they apologise for how I’m feeling but don’t do anything to support me. 

My experience in the ed here ended up being completely different. Within a minute or two of me becoming teary and visibly anxious a agency nurse who I believe was on her first or second shift came up to me and said she’d tell the doctors and ask for me to be taken back sooner. After she did that she came back and offered to go outside and take a walk with me. This calmed me down completely and I very quickly felt much safer. After that within about five minutes I was called through to a proper bay where I had another great doctor and nurse. 

I know that wait times are unpredictable and not up to staff, so I genuinely really do appreciate the thoughtful actions and words of both of the nurses in emergency. I can safely say that because of both of them, and the doctors I spoke to I am much less scared of presenting to hospital when I need to.