In Tara Parker-Pope’s Well blog for the Times, she explores what two other articles revealed—”secrets”— about what bugs workers in emergency rooms…and invites you to participate in comments.

All of these secrets, and more, are true.

TPR offers this.

Please do not be a scene-thrower, whether you are patient or family member.

Scene-throwers merely eat up valuable time which could be better used for you, your loved one or somebody else.

There is enough real drama in ER’s.

These workers know who truly is in danger from those who simply want to go to the front of the line. When you see as many super-sick people as these workers do, as the story notes, their BS detectors are finely tuned.

Check out this article as well as the comments from readers, who tend to be well informed or to offer information that you do not see other places.

The New York Times

“What’s the worst thing you can say to the nurse in an emergency room?

“This and other questions are answered in an informal survey of doctors, nurses and paramedics, who offer their own insights into the inner workings of hospital emergency rooms. Every year, the nation’s emergency rooms treat 117 million patients, and the average patient spends nearly three hours in the E.R.”

Source: New York Times, February 18, 2010