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 ?

OK - dumb question - I understand that you can't refuse to treat someone in the emergency room. Can you refuse to see an obvious non-emergency like the hangnail?

No, the ER is not allowed to turn anyone way regardless of emergent or non-emergent. The ER I work in has been termed the after hours clinic. People come to it because no co-pay is required like the clinics.

no the ER can not refuse to see any person who presents to them regardless of emergent or non emergent.

I have discovered, in my town at least, that people come to the ER because the ER requires no co-pay like the clinics do.

we had a lady come in over the weekend presenting with what she initially termed "marbles in her uterus" that turned out to be two wooden eggs (yes, the size of small chicken eggs) inserted in the lady parts by pt and her partner that were for purposes of sexual gratification?!?! The eggs could not be removed except to be extracted with forceps by the MD.

AND.....MEDICAID is being billed for this, of course!!!!

when a patient came in and thought her xiphoid was a tumor... LOL

Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.
no, the er is not allowed to turn anyone way regardless of emergent or non-emergent. the er i work in has been termed the after hours clinic. people come to it because no co-pay is required like the clinics.

actually, what is required by law is a medical screening exam. once the doctor, or his/her appropriate designee (apn, pa) examines the patient and determines that an emergency medical condition does not exist, the er may discharge the patient without treatment. rns are not permitted to do the medical screening exam, so triage doesn't count, unless the md/pa/apn is present in triage (i have heard of some hospitals doing this to try to increase the patient flow). flat-out turning people away doesn't happen very often, mostly because we know they'll be back-- some have no other choice besides the er for their health care. it would just back things up even more to have them check in again and go through triage all over again.

Christmas Day 2 years ago, I was working triage, my first Christmas in the ER. I started out the day thinking "people will only come in if it's a real emergency today". Ha!

--5 day old baby with ingrown toenails

--female with "bump" on breast

--about 25 people who had small cuts from scissors from opening gifts, none of which were close to needing sutures

--"bump" on back (turned out to be a zit)

--person saw something hanging in back of his throat. Congratulations, you just discovered your uvula!

I find this stuff too hilarious to be mad.

A mother brought her 3 day old infant in because she found her 9 year old nephew sucking on the infant's umbilical cord. My thought was, I'd be more concerned about the 9 year old.

A mother brought her 3 day old infant in because she found her 9 year old nephew sucking on the infant's umbilical cord. My thought was, I'd be more concerned about the 9 year old.

Yeah ! Wonder if he was eating it with a side of Fava beans? :chair:

Z

I will never forget calling 911 for my Dad, who I thought was having an M.I. After giving the dispatcher explicit directions to our home, I sent my daughter outside to watch for them. She watched as the drove past the first cross street, then back up, came down it, then went down the wrong street, then another wrong street, despite my daughter flashing our front light off and on (you could see everything becuase of the circular roads and the lack of many homes). Thank heavens my Dad was alright.

911 is one of the best systems every instituted. It is some of the dispatchers and some of the firemen that need a little work :rolleyes:

Grannynurse :balloons:

A lot of times, the dispatchers just don't give all of the information to the rescue squad. They will assume that we know where we are going or not want to take the time to give us a cross street. I called 911 for an MVA once and told dispatch that we needed two ambulances, that one patient was unconscious and not breathing, and that one had profuse bleeding...they paged it out as an MVA, unknown injuries. They also wanted to ask a million questions like my phone number, address, etc...finally just told them I am a paramedic and was going to hang up because people needed help...

Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
Yeah ! Wonder if he was eating it with a side of Fava beans? :chair:

You forgot, "And a nice Chianti"

A lot of times, the dispatchers just don't give all of the information to the rescue squad. They will assume that we know where we are going or not want to take the time to give us a cross street. I called 911 for an MVA once and told dispatch that we needed two ambulances, that one patient was unconscious and not breathing, and that one had profuse bleeding...they paged it out as an MVA, unknown injuries. They also wanted to ask a million questions like my phone number, address, etc...finally just told them I am a paramedic and was going to hang up because people needed help...

I see you that one and raise you :beer: My frying pan caught fire and I could put it out. It also set my microwave on fire. I called 911 (that had the automatic address thing) She kept asking me questions, even when I told her I was having trouble breathing. To make a long story short, I ended up spending three days in the hospital due to smoke inhalation :p

But then I had a dispatcher who remained on the line, with me, until the paramedics got there. Then called my daughter, in Tennessee. She was a real nice lady :)

Grannynurse :balloons:

Have had a NH that was sent to ER for constipation, and was admitted. Abd, soft, nontender, BS x4, no n/v.

Had an ER from a different hospital call the desk demanding info on a pt on my floor. Turns out the man was admitted for headache, was r/o viral meningitis, and he had called ALL his family and friends and told them that "you need to go to the nearest ER for a shot, I've exposed you, and this is life or death!!!". The ER had over 20 frantic people who showed up for "exposure to viral meningitis." I referred that call to my supervisor, I was very leery about HIPAA implications. BTW, viral meningitis was ruled out, and pt was re-educated on his treatment plan by me, the super, the MD, and the infection control committee nurse who (luckily for me) happened to be working late that night.

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