Triage complaints- the good, the bad, and the shocking.

KentuckyNurseKim · Mar 28, 2013

Had to share... Had a f/m ring the videophone in the ambulance bay last shift. Asked how I could help. States, "I think my Mother-In-Law might have passed away in the car." 0.0. Grab a couple pairs if hands and sprint out to find her a hair's breadth from death, no response to painful stimuli, shallow, agonal resps, hardly any palpable pulse, blue as a fish, bladder release. Family calm as can be. Don't know how, but we kept her going. Posturing while we worked. Grabbed all the newbies to come work her because they usually do not get to come in on a code when they are busy elsewhere. Vented her and sent to the ICU. Good teamwork in our little ER. Bell ring to bed with IVs x 3, vent, NG, F/c, labs, levophed, bolusing NS in 10 minutes or so. :)

shoegalRN, RN · Mar 29, 2013

Had this one last summer:

A middle aged woman and man is standing in line to be triaged. Both are calm, quiet, and don't seem to be in any distress. The man has on a sweater which I found odd for summer time weather. Anyway...

Me: "what brings you in tonight"?

Woman: "WE need to see a doctor" (pointing at man), man is not speaking.

Me: (to the man) "what brings you in tonight?"

Woman: (before man can answer) "he came home and said somebody shot him in the chest".

Me: (rushing to get man back to a room) "come with me sir", I remove the man's shirt and there are two open wounds noted to chest. Minimal bleeding noted. There were no holes in the sweater the man was wearing, but there were holes in the shirt underneath.

Man: "I was shot"

Woman: "he drove himself here. We rode in separate cars".

Me: (puts man in wheelchair, calls out a trauma and pushes man to trauma bay)

Woman: leaves prior to police arriving

Man is tubed and placed in ICU. Woman was his wife. Story was he was caught cheating and wife followed him over to other woman's house, had altercation with both the other woman and husband and shoots the husband. Then he drives himself to the hospital and she followed him to make sure he made it. This is according to the detective who arrived later to "interview" the victim after mistress called police.

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Mar 29, 2013

Patient came in by EMS, told them he wasn't feeling well, but when I went to do his triage and asked what brought him to the ER today, patient stated, "they (EMS) just wanted me to get checked out and everything." Patient had NO complaints.

Nursing_chick · Mar 30, 2013

Had a pt come in for alcohol detox, while triaging him my charge nurse came out to get him.

Pt: "You didn't let finish my story, I can't go back yet"

Me: "what haven't you finished telling me?"

Pt: "I have my pet with me"

Me: pet? Where?

Pt: right here in my backpack

Both me & the charge rn look in the backpack - sure enough there is a plastic box w/holes in the bag - he had brought his pet rat. The charge RN spent 1/2 the night calling around to get offices to hold the rat for several days for the pt. then the ER volunteer had to sit outside until our hospital security could bring him to the vet

SweetMelissaRN · Apr 3, 2013

Had to share... Had a f/m ring the videophone in the ambulance bay last shift. Asked how I could help. States "I think my Mother-In-Law might have passed away in the car." 0.0. Grab a couple pairs if hands and sprint out to find her a hair's breadth from death, no response to painful stimuli, shallow, agonal resps, hardly any palpable pulse, blue as a fish, bladder release. Family calm as can be. Don't know how, but we kept her going. Posturing while we worked. Grabbed all the newbies to come work her because they usually do not get to come in on a code when they are busy elsewhere. Vented her and sent to the ICU. Good teamwork in our little ER. Bell ring to bed with IVs x 3, vent, NG, F/c, labs, levophed, bolusing NS in 10 minutes or so. :)[/quote']
Wow that's ultra impressive... 10 minutes?!? I'm in awe.

KentuckyNurseKim · Apr 4, 2013

Wow that's ultra impressive... 10 minutes?!? I'm in awe.

Probably shoulda clarified that she wasn't in ICU in that time... Sounded kinda silly when I reread that.., rephrase to say all the ER stabilizing done... And it was a REALLY slow day... We were a little bored, so enjoyed having something EMERGENT to do! :). It was one of those ultra rare times when there were plenty of hands on deck, resp was handy, X-ray handy, pharmacy on the ball.. The stars were in alignment. Never happen again in a million...

ER_Love_79 · Apr 7, 2013

Pt tells registration girl (who is a complete dumb butt) she bleeding...the board says "lady partsl bleeding after intercourse. We're all think ok sure...triage nurse come out of said pt's room with a funny look. We all said "what??" I look in pt's room and see 2 women...about that time the nurse says "they were using a damn cucumber..."! Pt had a lac and bleed a lot and ended up in the OR. It was a rather interesting night lol

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fairyluv · Apr 7, 2013

those are funny.

now I did take my 8 yo daughter to the ER at 11pm after she told me she accidently swallowed a LEGO. ( I wanted to make sure she didn't aspirate it as she was goin in to hyseterics crying and asking if she was gonna die from swallowing a Lego). Peice of mind for me and reassurance for her. the triage nurse just chuckled.

Sassy5d · Apr 8, 2013

All that popped up was 'he said he was an a--' and what it was about was he said he was assaulted. Good chuckle

brillohead, ADN, RN · Apr 12, 2013

Little_Mouse · Apr 16, 2013

^ omg that's great! Lol

outlierrn · Apr 21, 2013

Paraphrased for simplicity:

Pt. I think I have a kidney stone.

Me. Describe your pain.

Pt. Vague, diffuse, mild.

Me. ?? Have you ever had a kidney stone before?

Pt. No.

Me. What makes you think you have one now?

Pt. I have a diagnosed staph infection in my ear, and I read on the internet that staph infections can cause kidney stones.

Me. (to myself) If your ear infection caused a kidney stone, you must have a Eustation tube longer than my..., well, it'd be pretty long.