What kind of patients show up in your emergency department? Leana Wen, MD, an emergency physician at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. has created a Slate-published categorization of the types of patients that, in her experience, show up in the ED.
The types of patients include: the repeat customer, the second-opinion seeker, the Googler, the "pain-all-over" patient, the "totally healthy" person, the forgetter, the narcotic seeker, the small talker the yeller and the apologizer.
The humorous categorization includes advice for patients on how to help practitioners do the best they can given limited ED resources.
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