Waiting isn't easy, a lesson from a children's book

Waiting Is Not Easy by Mo Willems is one of my favorite books that I read to my kids, because it has such a good lesson in it. In case you have not had the pleasure of reading it here is the synopsis: waiting is frustrating and can cause a lot of agitation and distress but necessary. But in the end waiting can be worth it for the right thing.

Waiting is not easy for any of us.

It will bring out the worst in people. I had the opportunity to work over Memorial Day weekend. When I walked into the veterinary ER for my shift midday Saturday there was a 9 hour wait. This is obscene but not unheard of especially for a holiday weekend. Many general practices are closed, people are congregating and celebrating with their pets congregating with them. This leads to all sorts of emergencies from lacerations to toxicities. Then there is the extremely worried pet owner that just can’t imagine watching their dog scratch his ear for the next 3 days without help.

A full waiting room with grouchy people, anxious animals, and on edge employees trying to stay afloat creates a tense hospital environment. Then you add the emergent hit by car traumatic case coming in the door on a stretcher making the wait even longer, and the veterinarian/technicians/workers are even more stressed, and you have a bad combo. I got yelled at about 3 times that day. All different reasons that were 100% out of my control: the cost of the estimate for diagnostics and treatment was too high, the prognosis was unknown or poor for several cases, or simply that they had been waiting for hours and saw me addressing other clients sooner that had more emergent cases. This is a hard situation for everyone. So, I nod, listen, and apologize for the distress these people are experiencing. Because what else can I do. I am doing my best, so are my coworkers, and we all want the same thing-to help the pets that need us at that moment.

I experienced another type of waiting last week at the happiest place on earth, Disneyworld. People were subjecting themselves to 2+ hours of waiting in the sun to experience a 2-10 minute ride or show. They were making the choice to wait in that line, but it did not make them any less miserable. I saw and heard their irritation and physical discomfort from waiting all around me. I heard kids whining, parents’ snapping, saw couples fighting, and Disney cast members getting reamed for things that were outside their control. Being bored and feeling like time will never move on can really test your mental fortitude. But in the end when they are getting off the ride after experiencing the amazing thing they were waiting for it is all smiles, high fives, and awe. This is the Mo Williams book in action.

Disney does a fantastic job of both minimizing the wait and making the wait more enjoyable with distractions in the wait lines, comfortable areas to wait, and virtual ques. I work at so many Emergency Veterinary Hospitals around the country and we are never going to be Disney. But I can tell you we are trying. More hospitals have virtual ques, they are remodeling to provide a comfortable waiting area with refreshments/entertainment, and provide clear expectations about wait times. If you are a pet owner there are a few things that you could do to reduce the very uncomfortable situation of long veterinary ER wait times.

First of all, before packing up you animal and rushing in, call the ER and make sure they are seeing patients. Many hospitals frequently only have one doctor working. That one DVM is seeing all the ER cases coming in as well as taking care of all the ICU patients already at the hospital. Many people do not realize we have hospitalized patients that are under our care as well. If that doctor is in surgery or overwhelmed with critical cases, they may not be taking new cases until the next doctor comes on shift. The busy Saturday over Memorial Day weekend, we had three doctors covering the 24 hours with staggering overlapping shifts and in that 24 hours we saw 85 patients. Many of them quite critical. This was more than overwhelming.

Be aware of what you should be bringing your animal in for. If you would rush into the human emergency department for the same ailment than you probably should bring in your pet. This includes, reoccurring long seizures, poisoning, vomiting repeatedly and not keeping anything down, extreme lethargy, severe wounds with excessive bleeding, severe trauma, trouble giving birth, and much more. If you are coming in because you cannot get into your regular veterinarian timely for non-life-threatening issue then consider coming during a slow time, or seek an urgent care clinic instead of an emergency hospital. Avoid weekdays between 6pm-10pm, all day Saturday and Sundays, and holidays/holiday weekends are all particularly busy. Early mornings are usually used for rounding the next shift and no patients are being seen for a few hours between 6am-8am. Every hospital is different but with my experience at over 15 ER hospitals this has been the standard.

Lastly know that we are all there trying our hardest to do our job to save lives! And that the other clients in the hospital are just as frustrated as you are. We know we are not the happiest place on earth but we can all be civil and give each other grace for difficult situations. And remember as Piggy taught Elephant, the waiting can be worth it.