"University of Alberta Emergency Department"

I’ve had to present to the University of Alberta Emergency Department on several occasions during the last 6-12 months. I want to speak about the experiences I’ve had- I have to refer to it as “experiences” because I cannot use the word “care” in any conceivable way. First, the triage nurses in my care are some of the most cold,rude and heartless people I have ever met. For a job that requires care and compassion- they were certainly void of such characteristics. They were argumentative with me, they have zero empathy or compassion and treat me like another number in the queue. I can’t help but wonder why they are in such a profession if they clearly seem to hate what they do? 

The whole entire atmosphere I experienced was so utterly hostile. I don’t understand why there was zero to no effort to be kind? Why isn’t that a prerequisite? Working with a patient who was vulnerable, scared, nervous, etc accessing emergency services and needing care- and the entire ordeal was robotic, hostile and extremely uncaring. 

It doesn’t get much better once you get called back to yet another waiting room.  The patient history taking, in my opinion,  is abysmal at best and patient care and referral is left up to the doctor’s interpretation of what they thought they heard you say. I felt the gaslighting in my care  was rampant and the gender bias I experienced was egregious. Women = hysterical female always it seems. For a trauma centre with a large number of homeless and patients experiencing poverty, their knowledge of the nutritional deficiencies in my case (outside of b12) is outright alarming. 

The service I obtained there was radically hostile, incompatable with any model of care and compassion and seems to be more focused on strict guidelines of patient flow than patient care at any level. 

Is this what “healthcare” has become? Hostile, rude, angry, void of any compassion? I hope there is never a need for me to access U of A ER in the future as if given the choice, I’d quite frankly choose not to seek care at all.