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

Specialties Emergency Nursing Q/A

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 ?

Fairly sure they weren't homeless. Nothing about the appearance suggested homeless

You mean to tell me that yawning movement is normal? I'm asking seriously (nursing student) my second child would do this all the time, especially when she was sick. I had the exact same situation you explained above (except I didn't want to be admitted, they admitted us for possible menigitis instead). NO ONE told me was normal! And I even explained it just like you did here! I said that she does this exaggerated yawn and holds her breath and arches her back at the same time. They told me at the children's hospital that her arching could be a sign of the stiff neck related to menigitis and did a spinal tap and admitted us for 4 days. The culture later turned out to be negative. How come none of the young residents or the nurses told me this was normal?

Great now I lost countless hours of sleep thinking my daughter was going to die for no reason.

I even called the after hours nurse at our doctors office for advice before we went to the children's hospital and no one told me it was normal :(

The fact the you described our scenario a little totally makes be believe what your saying is true.. I just wish someone told me.

Specializes in Hospice.
Seattlemamalama said:
Sorry browsing through old threads here... But you mean to tell me that yawning movement is normal? I'm asking seriously (nursing student) my second child would do this all the time, especially when she was sick. I had the exact same situation you explained above (except I didn't want to be admitted, they admitted us for possible menigitis instead). NO ONE told me was normal! And I even explained it just like you did here! I said that she does this exaggerated yawn and holds her breath and arches her back at the same time. They told me at the children's hospital that her arching could be a sign of the stiff neck related to menigitis and did a spinal tap and admitted us for 4 days. The culture later turned out to be negative. How come none of the young residents or the nurses told me this was normal?

Great now I lost countless hours of sleep thinking my daughter was going to die for no reason.

I even called the after hours nurse at our doctors office for advice before we went to the children's hospital and no one told me it was normal :(

The fact the you described our scenario a little totally makes be believe what your saying is true.. I just wish someone told me.

There are over 2000 posts in this thread.

Using the quote feature will help the rest of us figure out who you're responding to, because ain't nobody got time to backtrack through 104 pages of comments!!

RainbowSkye said:
Well, I don't disagree with what you say, but I think it is more than not having access to a primary care provider. I live in a very rural area in the deep south, and even here we have a Public Health Department, a federally funded clinic for the indigent and working poor as well as a community mental health center.

- Avoidence (you can't hardly go back to your pcp for more Lorcet when you just got your 'script filled yesterday)

^^^THIS^^^^ was a biggie in the area where I worked at one time. It was a smallish city with 2 hospitals. I worked in the smaller (private) now where I floated between ICU and ER. We fixed this problem. sort of, by posting a pic of the doc on duty on the front door of the ED each night. The local druggies knew which ones wouldn't "help them out" with a fresh RX and would go across town to the other hospital where they might have better luck. Eventually, I think because of communication between nurses, the other hospital's ED caught on to what we were doing and started doing the same thing. Poor druggies just didn't know WHAT to do! :cheeky: I guess they had to go to the little rural hospitals after that. Hopefully those EDs caught on....they had some of the same docs because we all pretty much used the same group.

Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.
MrsWampthang said:
Tampon "lost" for two days. One of the few times I almost blew chow from the smell. :chair: :chuckle

Worst weirdest was a person that drank a cup of abrasive substance that wasn't supposed to be drank. Can't tell ya any more than that without violating HIPAA. Needless to say it wasn't pretty and that person is really messed up for life.

Another weird injury I saw once upon a time, a kid came in with a fishing lure stuck to his head. When he first walked up I thought it was something coming out of his head! (I was a registrar in the ER then.)

Pam

It's HIPAA. Just saying.

A patient came in by Ambulance for belly button lint

Specializes in Telemetry.
OREDPA said:
A patient came in by Ambulance for belly button lint

OK...things like this really make me wonder how the 911 calls for stuff like this go.

Dispatcher: 911, what is your emergency?

Caller: I need an ambulance. I have some fuzzy stuff coming out of my belly button!

Dispatcher: ... ???

OREDPA said:
A patient came in by Ambulance for belly button lint

Stop it...

Specializes in Pediatrics/Developmental Pediatrics/Research/psych.

Today a patient came in for a splinter

One am shift, our er door blasted open and a guy came and shouted 'I need help. There's something wrong with my sister'. being an ER nurse, I have seen quite a lot of 'stuff' already. I remained calmed and told him bring the patient inside. and they did, him and another guy carry this woman, one holding the hands, the other guy on her feet. woman seems unconscious. I told them lay the patient in the stretcher while getting oxygen cannula, a pulse oxy and bp app. when I approached the patient, I noticed tears running from her eyes. immediately I asked, did you broke up with your bf? or if you're married did you had a fight. she opened her eyes, told me ' its been 2 years since we broke up. but it still brings memories'

Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
ceres24 said:

One am shift, our er door blasted open and a guy came and shouted 'I need help. There's something wrong with my sister'. Being an ER nurse, I have seen quite a lot of 'stuff' already. I remained calmed and told him bring the patient inside. and they did, him and another guy carry this woman, one holding the hands, the other guy on her feet. woman seems unconscious. I told them lay the patient in the stretcher while getting oxygen cannula, a pulse oxy and bp app. when I approached the patient, I noticed tears running from her eyes. immediately I asked, did you broke up with your bf? Or if you're married did you had a fight. she opened her eyes, told me ' its been 2 years since we broke up. but it still brings memories'

I've been around the ER block a few times so I get what your saying, but if someone comes in yelling help, someone outside isn't acting right, I sure as heck wouldn't tell THEM to bring the pt in, nor would my initial assumption be that she had a bad breakup. Maybe that's just me though... I'm glad you were right in this situation, but if I was "carried in" by my family and that was the first thing I was asked, I'd be royally ticked off.

Sorry to hijack the thread, please continue with your regularly scheduled program... ?

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
gospa said:
Here's a good one. Few months back, someone comes in by EMS for dizzyness. When did it start? "Someone rang my doorbell at 10 p.m. and when I opened the door there was a brownie on the ground. I ate it and I've felt really weird since." Who the heck eats food randomly found food at their doorstep.

Imagine their luck, it was the special brownie.

This sounds like a cover story to be able to explain why they'd be positive for THC in a drug screen. We get people coming to the ER who want specific meds to cover themselves in case of the random drug screens of which the Army is so fond.

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