"Iron deficiency"

Recently, I fainted at the nail salon, I was seated for over half an hour when the syncope occurred. They called an ambulance because I was out of it, fair enough. I have low iron, tested 2 weeks prior showing it at a 4 and affecting haemoglobin production. I told the ambos and the doc this, that I needed a transfusion but wasn't able to get in at my doctors surgery yet. The doctor said that they don’t do those here, but that I should definitely follow up with my doctor to get it done.

Because of the chest pain (I believe a common occurrence in low iron) I had to stay while they tested my blood for troponin, just to ensure I didn’t have a heart attack or any heart damage, again, fair enough, except that my bloods were taken at a certain time and the results weren’t available until 5 hours later. When I asked on their progress I felt I was given a passive aggressive answer that they take two hours to spin, again, totally fair, but it ended up taking 5 hours between poke and results, so what was happening in the meantime.

Well, it could have been how I was demoted on arrival to the hospital, the ambulance, that I hadn’t sought out myself, it was called because i literally passed out in public, a non-normal occurrence, had brought me in, I had regained motor and cognitive function by the time I was to be triaged, instead, they put me in the waiting room and told me to just wait. My paramedics tried to advocate for me, they didn’t agree on me being downgraded in priority, but the charge nurse was adamant. And fair enough, because I didn’t die or cause any fuss in the time after that.

I was then put in the eye examination room, this is a room with a rock hard exam table - not a bed, no pillow or blanket, with the aircon pumping and staff coming in and out to source different supplies from this glorified storage closet. I was cold, uncomfortable, tired, hungry and nauseous. After having no one check on me for 2 hours I went and asked if I could leave and they just call me with the results, they said absolutely not because if it’s a heart attack then it’s very important I’m here. Fair enough, surely I feel someone would have checked on me even once if it was that important, surely I wouldn’t have been demoted if it was that important. Surprise surprise, it was not a heart attack, but instead the result of being extremely iron deficient and anaemic, and being in dire need of an iron infusion, something I believe there was plenty of time for in the massive wait for the 2 hr bloods to be spun.

All in all, my issue was not resolved, I felt my time was wasted, and I felt like I was treated like a second-class citizen expected to lay on a table. And I understand that emergency rooms are for emergencies, but I didn’t present here of my own volition, fainting in public it turns out, not normal, ambos wanting to make sure I didn’t have a heart attack, because fainting from a seated position, not normal. Going to the bathroom while waiting and seeing a group of 6-7 staff standing in the hallway seemingly having a good ol yarn, I felt it was good for them that their workplace could be a place where they feel happy enough to chat with their co workers, but what did I do to be left alone, with no one checking on me, freezing, in the fluorescent lights, hungry, cold, not even some water, for hours and hours on end.

I also felt like I was going to get robbed in the waiting room, the toilets in the waiting room remained 'engaged' for over an hour. People who yelled I believe got preferential treatment. I recall there was a patient with presumably covid, who was so loud and obvious that they had been given a puffer, but still sitting in the waiting room, I watched them struggle to breath and not once use the puffer that had been given to them. In my opinion, that’s a waste of resources and an inability to care for the patient.