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Wait- say that again. It was the ER reception person who was told these symptoms? Or was it the ER Triage nurse? It's very important to make that distinction, because they are not at all the same. The reception person is not a registered nurse. The reader has to understand- the receptionist is usually trained to follow certain parameters, but in my experience, every ER I have gone to that had a receptionist who signed you in first generally had a longer waiting time.

This is just my personal opinion, but I think that ERs should do away with the receptionist. My ER does not have one, and the first person every single patient sees is the triage nurse and not some unskilled volunteer. As a result, when a person comes in with chest pain or one-sided weakness, we know it's chest pain or one-sided weakness. Sorry to all you volunteers out there, but when it comes to cardiac or neuro symptoms, you are just not qualified to be the first person a patient encounters.

Well as a lay person I really don't know if it was a "nurse." The ER is set up with 3 cubicles a patient enters and tells the person what is wrong. They take a pulse, blood pressure, symptoms, log in your name and insurance.

I think that ERs should do away with the receptionist.

Boy, do I agree with THAT. I once saw a receptionist tell a guy with chest pains to sit down and wait while she got the paperwork completed on a guy with the flu. I had to flag down a nurse to get the 'chest pain' guy seen quickly.

There's a book that's about thirty years old now, written by a physician and called something like "how to be the world's best doctor". One of his highlighted pieces of advice: If you hire a receptionist, watch her like a hawk.