Was just in the ER for the past 2 days, actually.

My 9-year-old very suddenly had a lump in his abdomen, with mild pain. We waited for 4 hours to see a doctor, and by the time he did make it in, the lump was gone. We're presuming it was a mild hernia, and we'll be following up with a pediatric surgeon.

Now, I'll mirror the sentiment from a few comments here that everyone we interacted with was great. Every member of the staff was friendly, accommodating, and professional. The staff was very forthcoming about what was going on, the hospital's only pediatrician at the time had been pulled into an emergency C-section procedure upstairs. Very understandable. One staff member even went and tracked me down a portable phone battery somewhere, when I asked for a charger.

Point being here is that even when the industry is FULL of top-notch professionals doing all the important work, there's still a big problem in the system. This particular hospital is HUGE, it services hundreds of square miles. Why is there only one pediatrician on staff at-a-time, in the whole place?