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 ?

3:00 in the morning, Mother brings two kids to get x-rays to see if they had been smoking. Told them go to the clinic. Mother must have been smoking something.

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.

:chuckle :rotfl: :chuckle :rotfl: :chuckle :rotfl: :chuckle

:banghead: :banghead: Too many people need an anatomy lesson....:o :o :o

Oh seriously, YES! We have so many people come into L&D and get upset when a catheter is placed. They say, "Don't put that up there! You'll run into the baby's head with that thing and hurt it!" Really, and seriously, there are many women who don't know that there are two meatus' down there. One for baby's exit (among other things) and the other for urine!

I was shocked when I found out that people close to me didn't know that.

Really, if they are teaching anything in sex ed in schools, it needs to be some anatomy.

Specializes in ER.
Sometimes I really feel like one of those stupid people. :o We now have a $700 ER bill because I didn't know how serious my son's injury was. Just last month we were at a picnic. My son and another boy got into an argument and the other boy decided to settle it by cracking my son on the head with a metal broomstick. Ben (my son) came running to me, blood dripping down him. It was a head wound and there was just so much blood! We went to the ER where he ended up with 5 stitches! I didn't know it wasn't severe. If I had, I would have taken him to the pediatrician's office. They would most certainly have seen Ben and taken care of him with the same care that he was given in the ER (they were awesome, btw), and I would have been given a $70 bill instead of a $700 .:crying2: We have no insurance, so we are working out a payment arrangement with the hospital. I just feel so stupid, though. I can't wait to get to the part in my nursing training where I can rationally decide what is and isn't an emergency. I saw the blood and freaked. I know you all are talking about some pretty silly reasons to end up in the ER, but I feel just awful about my own decision that landed us in this situation. Do a lot of people who just need a few stitches end up in the ER, or is just me? Ugh!

I needed stitches a few years ago and my regular doctor's office told me that they did not do stitches and told me to go to the ER. :rolleyes: I called around and got into an office that does urgent care after office hours. They got me in within an hour and stitched me up.

Tracy

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Another thing that is always fun is when parents bring their chidren in th ER because the School Nurse told them Strep is going around. Or that child had bumped his head playing and needed a CT. Its always amazing the things School Nurses tell these parents, while granted, it loses something in what the parent decides to tell you.

Another is when the school nurse tells the parents scabies is going around, and they all come to ER for exams. Rather than have the parents take a look for themselves or get some OTC treatment, they come to the ER because the school nurse told them too.

Ive never met a school nurse, but if I ever do, I dont know whether I will just tell her off about how little I think of her or just roll around on the floor laughing at her.

Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

Ive never met a school nurse, but if I ever do, I dont know whether I will just tell her off about how little I think of her or just roll around on the floor laughing at her.

Oh please! Some idiot parent brings a child into the ER because scabies is going around, and it's the school nurse's fault!

Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

One thing you have to understand about school nurses - their hands ar tied behind their backs so hard that they cant SAY or DO anything!!!!!!!

They do things the rest of us have NO clue about - and the coordination based on state mandates is amazing.

They are Not ALLOWED to give a parent a diagnosis, they are only allowed to say "Your kid cant come to school with that rash". So what happens when the parent says "But we dont have a doctor"? The school nurse gives them a list of local physicians and also tells them they can go to the ER, but that it is not an emergency. So what happens? The parent realizes it is after office hours and the kid cant go to school the next day unless he has seen a doctor - so where does that parent take the kid? Yup....to the ER....

Dont rash on school nurses until you know what they do - If you work in the ER, I'd recommend you find one to go spend a day or two with so you aren't so ignorant about their abilities and restrictions. I felt the same way you did until I saw it with my own two eyes! Those nurses are not any less skilled or intelligent than the rest of us - but they are dealing with parents who may not be all that bright and set of rules that are designed to keep the school district from getting sued above all else.

Specializes in LTC, ER.
Oh seriously, YES! We have so many people come into L&D and get upset when a catheter is placed. They say, "Don't put that up there! You'll run into the baby's head with that thing and hurt it!" Really, and seriously, there are many women who don't know that there are two meatus' down there. One for baby's exit (among other things) and the other for urine!

I was shocked when I found out that people close to me didn't know that.

Really, if they are teaching anything in sex ed in schools, it needs to be some anatomy.

i honestly did not know that there was a urinary meatus and then the vag opening. i found that out when i took a&p for my lpn school. i was about 19 at the time, not sexually active, and it just never occured to me that there were 2 holes there!:imbar

The funniest thing I ever had in the ED was a guy dressed in a penguin suit..and I mean dressed as a penguin who could not get out of the suit. He was just passing and thought that a nurse would probably have a pair of scissors!!:chuckle

This is a wonderful venting tool!!! I'm so glad I found this!!! Let's see......I see so many stupid complaints, but there are some all time great ones. A mother presented at midnight, by ambulance of course with medicaid card in hand, on a school night, with her 6 year old. He had a loose tooth and she was afraid he might swallow it in his sleep. A 13 year old came in by ambulance and stated she was playing cards and as she was laying a card on the table she felt pain in her hand "for a second", but no pain now. I am REALLY cynical after 15 years of ER nursing. Glad to see some more nurses in my same frame of mind!

This is a wonderful venting tool!!! I'm so glad I found this!!! Let's see......I see so many stupid complaints, but there are some all time great ones. A mother presented at midnight, by ambulance of course with medicaid card in hand, on a school night, with her 6 year old. He had a loose tooth and she was afraid he might swallow it in his sleep. A 13 year old came in by ambulance and stated she was playing cards and as she was laying a card on the table she felt pain in her hand "for a second", but no pain now. I am REALLY cynical after 15 years of ER nursing. Glad to see some more nurses in my same frame of mind!
I'm here to save your butt, not kiss it!:banghead:
Specializes in ER!.

Pt showed up the other night c/o eye discharge. No pain, no itching, no vision changes. D/c thin and clear, sclera the lightest shade of pink detectable to the human eye, sort of like when I'm around my sister's bulldog for any length of time. I asked when this started, and pt replied, "Thirty minutes ago."

Who the **** goes to the ER for half an hour of eye discharge???? I do love my job, but often I find myself asking, how on earth did this individual come to the conclusion that his/her presenting complaint was an emergency deserving a trip to the hospital?

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