What was the MOST ridiculous thing a patient came to the ER for?

And did you have to treat them?

I am just curious. Your stories always seem to either crack me up or shake my head in amazement.

Thanks for sharing ?

[SWFlorida]

These trivial complaints are generally not covered by any form of insurance and even medicaid is cracking down on non emergent visits. The patients are usually very angry when they receive a bill for $600.00 in the mail. More and more hospitals are becomming more and more aggressive at collecting on these bills also. The way to treat under educated consumers who utilize a resource for the wrong reasons is to hit them in the pocket book. Paying a huge bill will get them to think about visiting their primary care physician first or trying home treatments. People just dont want to think any more. They'd rather go crying to "Mommy" aka the "ER" than to try to take care of it themselves. We've created a very dependent society.

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

mjlrn97 said:

I agree.......kidney stones are an experience in pain that Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition, could never have topped! I had two of 'em several years ago---one in the right kidney, and one in the bladder, both of which were almost a centimeter in diameter---and ended up having to have them blasted out by laser lithotripsy. A couple days before the procedure the bladder stone had tried to pass on its own, but of course it was far too big to get through, and I'm telling you, I sat on the toilet for about three hours (it felt like I had to pee every two minutes, so I ended up just staying in there), the sweat was pouring off me in rivers, and it was all I could do to keep from screaming! I'd never been in such agony in my life, and I've been through appendicitis, unmedicated childbirth, and three C-sections. On a 0-10 scale, this pain rated at least a 12.5.......I'll never forget it.

Then, of course, after you have the laser lithotripsy, there's the little matter of having stents in your ureters to keep them patent. Every time I went to the bathroom---and that was pretty danged often---it felt like someone had lit twin blowtorches in my lower back. The first time I was able to pee without pain, after my urologist had removed the stents, it felt so good I literally burst into tears........Needless to say, I make sure to ALWAYS drink at least two liters of water and other non-caffeinated fluids every day, as I know the statistical probability of a repeat performance (and thus live in fear of another attack :chair: ).

I also went to the ER twice in 24 hours (admitted the second time) for kidney stones. They are NO laughing matter and anyone working in the ER who's ever had one has nothing but sympathy for us poor souls who have this problem. Toradol was great, it was the only thing to turn the pain from a 9 to a 0 within minutes, and no narcotic haze! I had been doing the dance that the other poster mentioned, alternated between rolling around on the bed and pacing the room - it's like if I stopped moving the pain got worse. But you were lucky your urologist removed your stents. I had to remove my own!!! Had a cystoscopy to remove my stones from the ureter (two smashed together and not budging despite huge IV fluid boluses) and was told to pull the stent 3 days later. It had a string attached to it and they said to pull it out real slow...so I did...very very weird feeling...and I just kept pulling and pulling and pulling. Thought it was maybe a 2-3 inch little stent to keep the part where they pulled the stones from swelling. NOPE. Curled end in the bladder, curled end up in the kidney. Like maybe an 8 french soft tube, about 12 inches long. :uhoh21:

[kids]

Gompers said:

...and I just kept pulling and pulling and pulling. Thought it was maybe a 2-3 inch little stent to keep the part where they pulled the stones from swelling. NOPE. Curled end in the bladder, curled end up in the kidney. Like maybe an 8 french soft tube, about 12 inches long. :uhoh21:

Anyone else feeling a little dizzy and queazy? I can't imagine having to do that to my self. Someone else no sweat, myself, I'd have passed out (and smacked my head and ended up with an ambulence ride to the ER).

[LydiaNN]

kids-r-fun said:

Dumb reason to bring a healthy child in.

And I swear this is not a hijack.

My grandson had open heard a 10(?11) days old to correct TVG. He is dong fine and only needs annual follow-up, however the Peds cardiologist says he remains at risk for MI. His parents have instructions to take him to the nearest ER for crying without cause >30 minutes.

You would obviously give this information to the triage nurse, though, and your grandson's ER visit wouldn't end up in a thread like this. My brother-in-law has a condition that can be caused by strep and the predisposition to develop this condition has a genetic component . Our son's pediatrician gave us a letter that if he ever has strep symptoms, and are traveling or in some other situation where we can't get to his office, our son needs to have a shot of gamma globulin. Going to the ER at home instead of waiting till morning to see the ped would be abusing the ER system. Going to the ER while on vacation, if I can't locate a peds office or urgent care, wouldn't be, IMO. I don't know if the hospital we showed up at would agree.

[MrsWampthang, BSN, RN]

babynurselsa said:

Got a tetnus shot 2 days ago aand now her arm hurts.

I swear we had that same complaint over the weekend, and of course we were swamped! Flew several people out to bigger trauma center, but had a waiting room full of people with STUPID complaints. Oh well, like someone else said:

Stupid people = job security! ?

Pam

[hogan4736, BSN, RN]

The number one reason our ERs are crowded is because most people lack insight...

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

Ruby Vee said:

Half the world's population has a below average IQ!

Sometimes I think that we have more per capita in this area.

[stevierae]

I'm tellin' ya, I worked ER as a corpsman 30 years ago, and it's like deja vu all over again hearing these stories--people using the ER as a convenience clinic, that is, because to call during the daytime and get an appointment in the appropriate clinic would disrupt their day.

But, hearing how you have to feed people nowadays--nope, I would never, ever do that. Ever. I don't care if they are homeless and hungry--there are other resources available. Especially when they manage to be able to afford cigarettes to go out in the ambulance bay area and smoke while hollering for their meal and snack trays and sodas. Hell with 'em, I'd say.

I feel like I am a burnt-out ER nurse just from READING these posts! I don't know how you folks put up with the nonsense! I'd go postal!

[kids]

Oh, and no offence, but maybe Hot Tamales aren't the greatest choice of foodstuffs with your recent medical history. But, that's really none of my business.

No offence taken, I could have been more specific...the vomiting stopped 6 weeks ago.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Stitchie said:

But did he find God? :rotfl: :rotfl:

I asked him that -- but I don't remember the answer. It's been 23 years!

[Stitchie]

coffeedrinker said:

Pt brought in tonite BY AMBULANCEfor head lice!

OK, that's just abusing the system...shouldn't there be a line drawn somewhere that says "If you are this lazy that you cannot figure this problem out for yourself, or least call before coming in to get RN advice for a dumb@$$ problem, you should pay full freight for the ambulance, the ER staff and the guy w/the tib/fib fx who drove himself here, waited in Triage and never once c/o pain!"

That's just wrong. That's all it is.

[JWaldron]

SWFlorida said:

These trivial complaints are generally not covered by any form of insurance and even medicaid is cracking down on non emergent visits. The patients are usually very angry when they receive a bill for $600.00 in the mail. More and more hospitals are becomming more and more aggressive at collecting on these bills also. The way to treat under educated consumers who utilize a resource for the wrong reasons is to hit them in the pocket book. Paying a huge bill will get them to think about visiting their primary care physician first or trying home treatments. People just dont want to think any more. They'd rather go crying to "Mommy" aka the "ER" than to try to take care of it themselves. We've created a very dependent society.

Well, there's a lot of truth to what you say, but the really sad thing is that an awful lot of these people just don't have a primary physician, and this is their only entry into the health care system. We have all these ridiculous things being brought to the ER, and we also have the people coming in who should have had medical treatment long ago, but have no MD and no insurance and no $ for health care.. Pretty sad state of affairs.

Savvy