Here's what's really happening behind the scenes when you make a trip to the emergency room. 

The older you get, the more you realize that institutions you thought were pristine and professional are actually just a bunch of real people running around making real people mistakes. That doesn't mean you can't trust the work that those institutions do, but it does mean they have some industry secrets you might not know about. In this AskReddit thread, hospital workers reveal what inside secrets patients should know.  

For one, it sounds like friends and family are usually the last ones to realize when their elderly loved one isn't going to make it. Even the lowly cafeteria worker bringing food to bedside tables knows what's about to happen when 92-year-old grandpa isn't eating his bread roll anymore. And no, stuffing his face with Cheetos you bought from the corner store isn't going to help. On a different note, unless your life is actually in danger, be prepared to wait in the emergency room line, whether or not you showed up in an ambulance. They are not "skip the line" free passes. Check out those, and 19 other interesting industry secrets from medical professionals who have lived them.