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, ER and ICU!!!.
I just found this board, and I'm LMAO at these stories! I haven't worked in an ER yet (new student) so now I can see what I have to look forward to!

Ok...sharing a stupid story about myself:

One night my son (6) woke up SCREAMING (he's usually a good sleeper so I knew something was wrong).

I made him get up thinking it might be a cramp or something...but he just keeled over in pain and screamed "My stomach! Please take me to the doctor mommy". All I could think was his appendix burst.

My husband stayed w/ the other kids, and I sped to the hospital with him screaming in the backseat.

I carried him into the ER and they took us back right away b/c he was screaming so loud and they saw me struggling to carry him, so it was obvious he couldn't walk. Triage took quick vitals and sent us back to the dr right away. The doctor felt his belly and sent him for Xray (he's still screaming mind you).

He calmed down a bit for X ray, and after we got it back we saw that he was just backed up w/ POOP!

The kid was constipated! :madface:

I was horrified. The staff was nice though, they just laughed and had this "what can you do" type of attitude. The doctor did ask though why I hadn't noticed he hadn't pooped in a few days.

???? The kid is 6! He's in school all day, I don't check the toilet after he goes anymore. Geesh.

Anyway... a little Colace did the trick!

I felt like an idiot!

Don't feel to bad. The same thing happened to me. He was about 6 also. The Dr. Was awesome, and even gave Dommenyque the X-ray. He has it hanging on his wall. Uggg.

hi everyone, i just found this forum and i'm glad i did. about 10 yrs. ago my future daughter-in-law came to me in tears because the condom my son and she used was nowhere to be found. i tried not to laugh and reassured her, had her do a good vag check and told her to go back to bed. i sure did. but noo, off they went to our local er. never found of couse but a good laugh for er nurses. in conclusion, my kids feel it must have fallen into a knothole in the floor of our old house! i'm still chuckling over that one.

Specializes in MedSurg/ER FLoat/Charge/LTC/Oncology.

I have a better one................working ER in Central Valley CA, woman came in at 230 AM with a 2 month old baby and said at the window "my baby doesn't recognize me, she's not looking at me enough"............this is a no sh**er.................I think the whole ER staff had blank stares (4 of us plus MD)

Ear wax

an elderly man arrived in a medical center I was working in and wanted his ears cleaned

Ok. Can't believe I'm going to admit this one.

I was on vacation last year in Florida. During our first night, we went swimming in the hotel pool (no earplugs) and I came out of the water unable to hear in one ear. I figured no biggie, needed to drain.

The next morning, it was still completely blocked. So, went to CVS, got some OTC medicine.

Next day, still no improvement. I called my gen. pract. doc back home, explained the situation. He suggested several things, and after 2 additional days of not being able to hear in that ear, called in a script for me in Florida.

So - no additional swimming, snorkling or other water activities, and the pressure in my ear sucked.

Fearing an ear infection, I went to the ER upon my arrival home. Diagnosis? You guessed it.

A HUGE ball of wax. :trout: I am an idiot. :lol2:

no you're not. same with me just last week in key west. went to cvs and got ear syringe and spent an hour over the sink. i wasn't stopping till i could hear again and thankfully it worked. thats an annoying feeling in your ear.

Specializes in Emergency Dept.
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!

Yes, a physician's office probably could've dealt with it and would've saved you some money, but since it was something that required stitches (which has to be done within a certain amount of time of injury) an ER visit is not out of the question. It's the people that come in for a scratch that most of us wouldn't put a bandaid on that frustrates us.

Specializes in med/surg.

When I was a student nurse on triage in the UK, many moons ago, a guy pushed another patient - who was incidently a rather nasty shade of grey & clutching his chest - out of the way because his daughter had broken the wire on her brace!!!!

Needless to say he got rathyer short shrift from me & my mentor who I called PDQ!

Ok, this is a 'near miss' story; but it could have been REALLY embarassing. My son was playing baseball at about age 10. When he came off the field, and took off his glove, his hand was purple. One of the mothers saw it and said 'OMG, better get him to the ER; it looks like there is no circulation in his hand! So we made a big ice pack and took him home first. He had been playing catcher, so he said it was 'a little sore'. My hubbie decides to call the doctor first. The doc listens over the phone, then says 'Get some alcohol and some cotton balls, and wipe the hand. We did, and the purple came right off! Turns out it was dye from the inside of the glove. Doc must have seen that one before! The dreaded 'purple hand syndrome'!!:lol2:

Specializes in oncology,med/surg,corrections.

Funniest thing i ever saw in the ER was a man had put a plastic pear up his orifice and could not get it out again.....

Funniest thing i ever saw in the ER was a man had put a plastic pear up his orifice and could not get it out again.....

which begs the question, which part of the pear went in first?

Specializes in ER, Hospice, CCU, PCU.

On the same line we have a patient that comes in every once in a while to have something removed from his rectum, You would think by now he would be embarrised :imbar enough to go to different hospitals. His last three abdominal surgeries were to remove a coke bottle, a very large zucuni, and the one that really had us puzzled was the hammer (head first).

Everytime we see him come is with that very distinctive walk we all try to guess what he lost now.:spam: :smackingf :confused:

Ok, so the eastern United States is suffering through 90+ degree weather that feels like 100 degrees.

This is the God's honest truth - had a 34 year old male come in to the Emergency Room today. Complaint? Hot and sweaty.

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