The worst reasons why people visit A&E

A&E stands for Accident & Emergencies but for some reason people seem to think it stands for “All & Everything”.
The A&E is not a polyclinic to treat all your minor ailments. Non-urgent cases do clog up the A&E services and even with triage systems (green zone for the non-urgent), patients do not understand and complain about the waiting.

Which brings us to this news item we came across about the NHS UK on The worst reasons people visit A&E when they shouldn’t.

We thought we’d ask our doctors for their experience on worst reasons for people coming to the A&E in Malaysia and here are some howlers

1. I had one mum bring her child in to the A &E in HUKM for a year’s history of rash . When I asked her why she chose to come to the hospital and at that late hour she said ” sebab waktu ni tak ramai orang”
2. I have mole on my toe, can you remove it?
3. Knee pain / Back pain for (insert number > 1 here) years
4. Dandruff (I kid you not)
5. Myopia for 3 years, comes at 5:30am ‘cos doesn’t want to wear spectacles
6. Claims to have been bitten by a frog
7. Child can’t sleep, keeps crying x 1 day. Patient was triaged to the green zone and waited approx 2hrs (peak period unfortunately). Baby was fast asleep by the time I attended to the mother..
8. Toothache at 3am. Already been seen by dentist earlier during the day and been given antibiotics and painkillers. Refused to take painkillers.
9. Itchiness for as far back as he remembers
10. Saya demam dua minggu yang lalu. Sekarang dah tak demam, tetapi kakak saya suroh check.
11. I want an MC

So if you think the NHS is in crisis and the A&Es over there burdened with ridiculous non-urgent cases, spare a thought for our local A&Es and Emergency departments. We face the same thing too. Please do not clog up our A&Es. Go see your GP or Outpatient department doctors for your trivial complaints.

Credit and hat tip to our doctors in the Dobbs forums for their contribution (P.S. if you are a Malaysian doctor, feel free to join, and the instructions on how to join are in the link)