How to Prepare for the Unexpected [Jason Domagalski]

This video explains how patients can be ready for unexpected medical situations and navigate emergency care effectively. It covers what to bring to the ER, how triage works, and what to expect during treatment and discharge.

  • Prepare essential items: Bring medical history, allergies, medications, photo ID, insurance info, and a companion if possible.
  • Triage prioritizes care: Life-threatening conditions like heart attacks, strokes, and trauma are treated first.
  • Initial assessment first: Vitals, medical history, and injury details are collected before registration paperwork.
  • Treatment is condition-based: ER staff follow standard protocols for trauma, heart attack, stroke, or other urgent conditions.
  • Follow-up guidance: Discharge instructions include medications, injury care, and follow-up appointments; patients can call if symptoms persist.

Frequently Asked Questions

Emergency care in the ER is immediate medical attention for urgent or life-threatening conditions. Staff assess patients quickly to stabilize their condition and provide timely treatment.

Patients should bring their medical history, list of allergies, current medications, photo ID, insurance information, and a companion if possible. These items help speed up care and ensure accuracy.

Triage prioritizes patients based on the severity of their condition. Life-threatening situations like heart attacks, strokes, severe trauma, chest pain, or shortness of breath are treated first to save lives.

Treatment is based on the patient’s presenting complaints, vital signs, and type of injury or illness. Standard protocols are followed for conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, and trauma.

Patients should follow discharge instructions, take medications as prescribed, and attend follow-up appointments. If symptoms persist or worsen, contact the ER or your primary care provider.

Video Transcript

My name is Jason Domagalski. I'm a physician assistant in the Brookings Emergency Room.

When possible, what should patients bring with them to the ER?

When a patient comes to the emergency room, they should have their medical history, a companion usually, somebody can maybe drive them home if needed, lists of their allergies, some form of ID with a picture, some insurance information, just kind of basic things to get your process through faster.

What is triage?

We prioritize patients' needs. Patients that get seen immediately would be heart attack patients, trauma patients, car accidents, strokes, chest pain, shortness of breath, those type of life-threatening conditions. So if somebody else comes in that needs that care immediately, they'll be first on the list. It facilitates everybody to get through the ER much faster.

What are the first steps in ER treatment?

When the patient comes in the emergency room and is put into a room, we'll get their vitals, ask them many questions on why they're here, who their primary care doctor is, their medications, their presenting symptoms, how long they've been there, recent procedures, if they've had anything done, the type of accident they may have been in that day, the type of injury, the specifics.

Why does registration take place after the initial assessment?

Registration happens after you come to the emergency room because we're...we want to get your needs met first and all the paperwork can wait until later.

How do you determine treatment?

I determine what treatment is appropriate based on their presenting complaints, their vitals, the mechanism of injury, if it's a trauma. We have standard of care for stroke, for heart attack. If they present with those type of symptoms, of course, we just...we proceed with their appropriate steps and getting their care as fast as we can.

What happens at discharge?

At discharge, we will go over all your discharge instructions. You'll receive a list of your new medications, also go over your old medications as well, talk about any contraindications, any interactions with that. We'll talk about your follow-up appointment. We'll talk about instructions on how to take care of any injuries that you have and get the appropriate follow-up of any specialist as well.

What should patients do if their conditions worsen after leaving the ER?

You can give us a call anytime if your pain is still present or any of your symptoms are still present. You should also contact your primary care provider.

What makes Brookings Health System a good place to receive emergency care?

The Brookings ER is a great place to receive emergency care. They're very knowledgeable, very experienced staff. We have a high level of training. We have very good numbers in treating heart attack and stroke, and we are in very good communication with the specialists in Sioux Falls.

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