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 Med/Surg.
Triaged a fellow who said "I sat on a shooter glass." "I tried to remove it with some pliers but I can't get it." Thinking he has a piece of glass in his xxx, no....you guessed it. Xray shows a nice silhoutte of a shooter glass. Stood by his story of sitting on the glass. Locum surgeon had to bring the pt. to the OR to have the shooter glass removed. He is lucky he ended up o.k. even though he was literally a PITA.

:lol2: :lol2::lol2::lol2: :lol_hitti :selfbonk: :lol_hitti :selfbonk: :lol_hitti :selfbonk: :lol_hitti :lol_hitti :selfbonk: oh boy keep em coming!!!!!

Specializes in Med/Surg.

:barf02: :barf02: :barf02: :barf02: :barf02:

the one patient that comes to mind here and there are so many from my 10 years in er........i have seen many like u all have experienced......i was triage on an always busy sunday eve/night was a lady c/o hemorrhoid pain......it was obvious it was painful to sit.....and while in the waiting room he mother called to tell me she was in pain and needed to lay down.....so i went to the back after my triage time was over and yes, i got her chart.....well she was already ina treatment bed and was going to xray for a chest film......she had a congested bronchitis/smokers cough on exam.....so after the Dr had me put her in the gyn room so he could examine her hemorrhoid complaint.......well when i put her feet in the stirrups and spread her legs with the doc seated appropriately this tan oooooooze flowed and i mean flowed not from her hemorrhoid.......she denyed any knowledge of lady partsl discahrge......omg i didn't breathe because i didn't want to know if it had a smell or not......the doc was like Woa.....then after obtaining cultures he finally lanced her smal thrombosed hemrrhoid.......would love to see the drg/insurance people on this chart......all of the above could have been treated by pcp..

also while in er i used to say at triage we needed boxes for pt.history forms that they complete for 1)work excuse...2)drug seeking..3)really sick....4)others......of course admin says *educating* the public will not do any good......it couldn't hurt.

finally in my area ambulances now charge for taxi runs and really has cut down on the abuse.

as i read i am sure i will remember many many more stories...

:barf02: :barf02: :barf02: :barf02: :barf02: HOLY CRAP

Specializes in pure and simple psych.

He is lucky he ended up o.k. even though he was literally a PITA.

Sarah, what means PITA??? Thanks:confused:

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

Pain in the .....

He is lucky he ended up o.k. even though he was literally a PITA.

Sarah, what means PITA??? Thanks:confused:

Pain the the @$$.

I was working triage last Sunday and Dad brought in daughter for "psyche reasons" stated that she might be suicidal and that she was not acting normal. 16 year old calm (not looking too happy) in chair answering all questions appropriately--denies suicial ideation, plan etc. Dad standing there holding religious book--telling me that she is disobedient and everyone is concerned in their family. Pt. states she just didn't want to go to church today....Dad told her she had to go to church or he was bringing her to the ER...she said fine- take me to the ER. Dad states "she is disobedient and not acting normal--and wants to date" I ask Pt. if she is the oldest child in the family (thinking that perhaps parents aren't familiar with teen age behavior???) She tells me that she is the youngest of 5. She then tells her Dad "fine I won't have a boyfriend then..." all the while looking at me like she is embarrassed and somewhat defeated. There was no indication to hold her in the ER so I sent her to urgent care...as she rounded the corner and looked back at me with sad eyes she mouthed "thank you". It broke my heart...me thinks parents need to be evaluated by psyche...don't threaten kids with the ER to try to control them...UGGHHH!:angryfire

Specializes in Burn/Trauma PCU.
not only did i have a young lady present to the er with a pimple on her nasal septum, i later retrieved the chart from the "orders" rack and had to read it twice to believe this doc actually ordered iv levaquin. (since when...?)

discharge dx was cellulitis. now, i did not attend medical school, but i was present for puberty, that sure as he** looked like a plain ol' garden variety pimple on the nose to me.

ha! i thought i was reading about me... when i was 22, i got what i thought was a pimple just under my right nostril. didn't go away, kept getting bigger, didn't come to a head, and it was very tender - i didn't even want to think about doing anything to it myself except put lots of steaming hot washcloths on it and pray for it to go away somehow. one morning i wake up, and the entire right half of my face is pink, slightly swollen, and tender. i knew it was related, but my brain couldn't put two and two together to think "infection" - i *still* thought it was a zit and was really embarrassed by that time and didn't want to have to show it to someone and have them laugh at me.

i called my pcp (great doc - known me since i was 6 so i figured he wouldn't laugh at me) and asked him what to do. i didn't even think he would need to see me in person, so i was floored when he told me to run, not walk, to the er. so, so embarrassed when i walked in - there was a guy ahead of me who was literally three shades of ashen gray, and another guy holding a *very* bloody hand, and another kid who was moaning in pain and barfing into a pan. and then there's me... with the zit. triage takes one look at my face and put me in the "express" line in front of mr. bloody hand, barfy boy, and the ashen-faced guy. np sees me, lances it (owwwwww!), "pops" it (triple owwwwwwww!), and hooks me up to iv antibiotics. i was bawling, it hurt so bad, and the np, looking at the amount of stuff he squeezed out, actually said to me: "whoa, that was a lot - cool. wanna see in the mirror?" (uh, no thanks.)

i was embarrassed on so many levels that visit, too: first, for coming in with a nasty "zit"; second, for not having the brainpower to realize it was an infection and not just hormones gone awry on my face; third, for wailing like a baby when the np lanced it; and finally, the paramedic/tech who is hooking me up to my iv (and was completely hot) looks at me, then my chart, and says, "hey - you know we went to middle school together!" ughhhhh... i wanted to hide under a rock. thank goodness there aren't any middle school reunions, or he would have had a *great* story...

Specializes in Corrections, neurology, dialysis.
A patient came in via ambulance for a sunburn. Needless to say she waited in the waiting all night, I don't know if she was ever seen or left, but even hang nail patient would have been seen before her.

Aww, come on.

I recently sent my daughter to the ER for a sunburn. She is from a northern state, is very pale, has never had a tan, sat out in the Florida sun for 2 hours in the hottest part of the day wearing a tanning accelerator.

I spoke to her on the phone that night and she was in tears. Her lips were swollen, she could barely walk and had blisters on her back. I was worried that she was dehydrated and all that goes with it.

They gave her a rx Daypro and she was extremely grateful.

Sunburns can be serious. I was worried that she might have had heat exhaustion or sun stroke. I've never seen either of those things but I would rather be safe than sorry.

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

A sunburn with blisters like that needs to be seen - the sunburn we were referring to is the type that is barely pink and probably wouldn't ever even peel. The kind you couldn't do anything for other than tell em to go home and smear some aloe on it. Not an emergency by any means.

Specializes in Emergency Department.

We were in the triage and someone came in c/o vomiting, which is alright. I said when did it start and they said "I vomited 1 week ago" and I was like..."What is different today" they were like..."nothing, I just vomited one time a week ago and want to make sure i'm alright?"

We had a pt who came in yelling he was stabbed with a pencil. We checked it and told him he will have to wait (we saw no bleeding no puncture wound nothing) he yelled that he was going to die of Lead poisoning. Our doctor told us to bring him in to the main Ed even though we had no beds, she said put him in express and she will send the PA to look at him. Turns out he took a pencil and mildly poked himself in the stomach but he really came in because he had an STD and was embarrased to tell the triage nurse. I was told to give him three different meds and unfortunately I was a little busy so he got his meds after I brought in the 7 people he jumped over. The MD was not happy but I was the charge nurse and everyone was watching what I would. Had I given him the meds and sent him out in less then 15 minutes there would have been an all out war in my triage area not to mention the unit. It would also get into the community how to get in real fast when the unit is busy. (I did offer to medicate the pt immediately if the PA went out and explained to the people in the waiting room why he got preferential treatment but she turned me down (moonlighting doctor not on our staff rarely works ED scary....)

i have an ingrown toenail that i've had trouble with before, and it was just starting to gear up when i went away on holiday. by the third day it was agonising, swollen, very red, and oozing grey goo, and my mate was trying to tell me to go to a+e at the hospital for some antibiotics, and she totally didn't understand that that's not what the emergency dept is for! she kept saying 'but you need to see a doctor', and got really mad when i said i could easily find a local GP instead!

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