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 ?

My sepsis is acting up

Shaky arms

And just to add- when did it become ok to allow the large amount of preg tests?? At my facility we supposedly "don't do preg tests," so some nurses try to encourage them to come up with a different CC! Of course we don't want that negative feedback from the patient, heavens no, the CEO won't get as big of a bonus...sigh

11pm on the fourth of July had a man in his early 70's present with an ingrown hair on his face. No swelling, no pain, no attempt to remove it himself!

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Fever of 99.1...then proceeds to argue with the doc that it IS a fever.

I delegated that "fever" to the doc today. :yes:

Specializes in ER, Medicine.

Pregnancy testing. Or a few weeks back a patient came in for a rash that had been there for 1 year (I kid you not). He waited in the lobby for hours only to get screened.:roflmao:

Broken artificial nail. Doctor ordered it removed in the same way a nail salon would. So I ordered a bottle of Acetone from the Pharmacy, soaked the finger in it & wiped off the acrylic over and over again in the same way the nail salons do. :whistling:

Specializes in Emergency.

Well I work at an Urgent Care but wanted to throw some out there anyway.

- 40 y/o male with chapped lips

- 8 y/o female with "increased heart rate" brought in by mom. Mom felt daughters heart beat through her leg while child was laying on mom's lap and was concerned. Child's HR was 108.

-30 y/o female who started her period a day early.

-I have a random bug bite. What kind of bug was it Doc?

-I have horrible pain from my tooth. The filling fell out 5 months ago. No I never tried to see a dentist.

And then we get a ton of people who have already been seen by multiple physicians/specialists (ie unexplained rash or cough x 1 year) but it's not better so they come in 2 minutes before closing to be seen on a Sunday. They aren't too happy when all we can do is prescribe something and refer them to their PCP or a specialist they've already seen.

Definitely have had my fair share of stories, however, this was top 5.

Pt came in for psych issues, but then mentioned he had pain in his testicles. Come to find out the pt was high on meth and masturbated with super glue. Yes. 2nd degree burns on scrotum. And guess who was the lucky nurse that had to remove the dried up glue? That's right. This gal. ;)

Specializes in Cardiac and Emergency Department.

"throat sore for 1 hour". Have you tried anything for it? "I came here". Have you tried to help your sore throat at home prior to coming to the emergency department? "I came here". Exit room, bang head on clip board, and gaze at co-workers in utter amazement.

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

The PD brings them in, "he's drunk, staggering, its raining and he has no where to go. Doesn't really need to be seen, can he just sit in your lobby?"

From EMS, "he's drunk so the shelter won't take him back tonight, but that's where his pills are. Doesn't need to be seen but his BGL is over 300". So, what do you want me to do with him? If I've taken the triage report of an elevated BGL, don't you think I am required to do something about it?

Specializes in Blood Center Collections, Quality and Regulatory A.

A lady came in with a splinter in her butt. A very generous butt to be sure. And had 5 family members with her.

It it surprises me how many people think ER is primary care then complain about the wait for their clearly non-urgent issue.

Pregnancy test

Specializes in ER, Med-surg.

Had a patient come in with no complaint at all, she got kicked out of the local homeless shelter because she got into a fight there and she wanted us to keep her in the hospital to sleep. It's really sad, but if you need three hots and a cot at least make up a pretty good complaint!

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