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 ?

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

I don't like rodents running through my kitchen, so i sure as heck don't want them running around in my colon.

I don't like rodents running through my kitchen, so i sure as heck don't want them running around in my colon.

Hey Marie...don't knock it til you try it ! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Maybe we're missing out on something.

Z

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

Sharp teeth and germs, two reasons why it'll never happen lol

A few weeks ago some dude walks into the ER via the hospital hallway..which is now CLOSED. He walked in and demanded that his Methadone script be refilled. He was told to go out into the waiting room and wait to be seen. The dude took out a can of pepper spray and sprayed the ER docs and Nurses. The hospital had to close down the ER. I was upstairs when I heard a Code Gray repeated several times.

A week later, I'm sitting in the supply room eating my dinner in peace. The door was closed and it was peaceful...UNTIL...The house supervisor opens the door, sees me and screams. She said, "Oh My God! Oh My God!" She started to cry and told me about what had happened in the ER the week before. She said she didn't see who I was at first and told me she was gun shy.

First thing I did was laugh....But, I suppose that wasn't really funny. I just had never made anyone scream so bloodly violently before.

Hello. I'm a lurker and just getting started with prerequisite classes.

But I'm curious what you all think ... how about strep throat in a teen over a 3 day holiday weekend? Just wait 'til Tuesday and see the PCP? It's emergent. He might not die, but he's sure gonna be miserable.

Do you have an urgent care clinic, where he can be seen, have a "RapidStrep" throat culture, and be started on antibiotics, if needed?

I don't like to mess with Group A Beta Strep, for ANY reason. Untreated, it can lead to rheumatic fever, and damage the heart valves severely, and also cause glomerulonephrtiss eventually leading to ESRD . People used to get (maybe still do, in poverty stricken areas) rheumatic fever from untreated strep pharyngitis or scarlet fever, (my late mom and her brothers and sisters did, as children, due to poverty and neglect) and all of them ended up with severe valvular heart disease later.

Strep pharyngitis IS horribly painful, (very difficult to swallow) and highly contagious. I wouldn't feel guilty about taking the poor young man to the ER, if there is no after hours or urgent care clinic.

My moms friend is a nurse and she said once while working in the ER, someone came in with a lightbuld up his butt. Of course the reason he was rushed in is because the buld shattered.

OUCH.

And then there are the stories of gerbils up the butt. I guess some people get off by giving the gerbil a steriod shot, letting it run up a tube that is already up the butt and....

well, you can figure out the rest. :uhoh3:

Ah, gerbiling----a well-known urban legend; usually attributed (falsely) to a very well-known and very handsome movie star who shall go unnamed here. This urban legend's been around since the early '80s.

Read more about it on snopes, or here:

http://www.well.com/user/cynsa/newbutt.html

Oh, while we're on the subject-----has anyone ever seen the episode of "Seinfeld" where Kramer gets the wrong set of vanity license plates, which read "Assman?" And, then, in the end, they find out who the REAL "Assman" is, becuase they have to take George's father......well, you gotta see it--I don't want to give away the ending. I just saw it for the first time the other night, and nearly rolled on the floor laughing. It just rang toooooo true.

Do you have an urgent care clinic, where he can be seen, have a "RapidStrep" throat culture, and be started on antibiotics, if needed?

I don't like to mess with Group A Beta Strep, for ANY reason. Untreated, it can lead to rheumatic fever, and damage the heart valves severely, and also cause glomerulonephrtiss eventually leading to ESRD . People used to get (maybe still do, in poverty stricken areas) rheumatic fever from untreated strep pharyngitis or scarlet fever, (my late mom and her brothers and sisters did, as children, due to poverty and neglect) and all of them ended up with severe valvular heart disease later.

Strep pharyngitis IS horribly painful, (very difficult to swallow) and highly contagious. I wouldn't feel guilty about taking the poor young man to the ER, if there is no after hours or urgent care clinic.

Actually, we do, and we went there first. Of course the first thing they asked for was the insurance info, and informed me that our insurance co. wouldn't pay for the urgent care clinic. If I'd been thinking straight (hey, it was a loong weekend) I'd have just self-paid. But instead I drove to the ER. The doc was kind of rude. Everyone else was nice. After testing for mono (negative) the doc finally ordered a penicillin injection. Never did do a strep screen. Ah, well, it's over now. Insurance balked at first, but paid it.

Specializes in Anesthesia.
and do 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 :)

List of silly things people have come to ER for:

1. Blood Shot eyes ( normal common variety; no pain just redness ); picked him up in the ambulance. The patient walked out and met us at the curb....

2. Shin splints

3. Blisters on feet

Things probably totally unique for military ERs:

Patient driving 2 hours one way for a free bottle of motrin at the ER (didn't want to be seen just wanted the motrin).

God love my older retirees, but they will drive right past 50 other ERs to get to a military hospital. Point in case, I had elderly gentleman drive within a couple of hundred feet of a local ER and come driving up to our military ER with an unconscious wife who was severly hypoglycemic.

I had a guy a few nights ago with sore arms. Now you might think muscle breakdown? fever? odd chest pain? But no....he had been fishing with his Dad that day and came in at 1am because his arms were sore.

No- he didn't take any Motrin beforehand...how ridiculous of you to think that. :D

:angryfire

Actually, we do, and we went there first. Of course the first thing they asked for was the insurance info, and informed me that our insurance co. wouldn't pay for the urgent care clinic. If I'd been thinking straight (hey, it was a loong weekend) I'd have just self-paid. But instead I drove to the ER. The doc was kind of rude. Everyone else was nice. After testing for mono (negative) the doc finally ordered a penicillin injection. Never did do a strep screen. Ah, well, it's over now. Insurance balked at first, but paid it.

After re-reading my post, I think I didn't explain well. Kid has painful throat, fever, and feels really terrible. Is asthmatic and claiming to have trouble breathing. Starts puking. We call the PCP office, but while waiting for them to call back, realize the urgent care clinic closes soon, so we just drive there, where we go through the insurance spiel. So we go to the ER. They seem to focus on the breathing thing, though his O2 is fine. Chest x-ray -- nothing. I'm trying not to TELL them the diagnosis, but suggest it might be strep, and the doc (whose first sentence was "so you don't feel too good huh? welcome to the club") finally looks at his throat, says "it does look pretty hot" and orders the mono test. It's neg. Then orders the penicillin "but I don't think you need it". Within days, 3 other family members who were with us over the holiday weekend are diagnosed with strep (confirmed with test). I apologize for beating this dead horse, but remembering it just makes me mad all over again.

Specializes in NICU.
. Is asthmatic and claiming to have trouble breathing.

You did good.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

Hey, I had one of my family member's go to the ER for constipation. No abdominal pain, no nausea or vomitting just constipated. I told him to take some mag citrate and call it a day. His doctor told him to go to the ER to get "flushed out". He got a bottle of mag citrate from the ER. I'm sure he's now on their list of stupid things people come to the ER for.

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