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 ?

Hmmm, I'm surprised no one has mentioned these yet:

Stubbed toe

Hey, watch it! I went to the ER 3 1/2 weeks ago with exactly this!

I stubbed it on a corner in my house (wasn't watching where I was going) and later decided to mow the lawn even though my toe hurt, and when I put my old lawnmower shoes on, something bent that shouldn't have.

Yes, I had a broken bone.

And I'm also very aware that a large number of ER visits could be prevented by wearing shoes to mow the lawn. Not flip-flops, not sandals or bare feet, but SHOES.

I'm sure everyone has about the same story. But just about two weeks ago we had a person call the ambulance to bring them to the ER for a broken fingernail, now I am not talking about I ripped the nail out of the cuticle thing. I mean literally had broke a fake fingernail. I know it can be painful but come on, a ride in the ambulance and then an ER visit. Man they just kill me sometimes... Then wonder why it takes so long to be seen. I have many, maney more

Holy smokes! How do some people keep themselves alive???????

Before my grandmother went to a nursing home, she was calling EMS fairly regularly with legitimate complaints and had no other way to get to the hospital. She expressed concern to my parents that maybe one day they would tell her that they weren't going to take her there any more.:rolleyes: They had wondered themselves if that would ever happen and I assured them that it wouldn't, and that's what EMS is for. Heavens, my dad ought to know, he was a firefighter for 35 years!

An aside: After this incident, I asked my dad what the dumbest call he ever had was, and he really couldn't think of anything in particular. Late one evening when I was in college, I was talking on the phone to a friend and happened to notice flames shoot up from an apartment balcony across the street. I got off the phone with my friend and called 911, and it turned out the guys across the street decided to barbecue chicken at 10 pm! I felt like a total doofus and apologized to the FFs for wasting their time, and they assured me they didn't feel that way and the guys invited me in for dinner. I declined, but all I could think about was, what if something really terrible happened and they couldn't get there in time because of my call?

My dad said not to worry about it.

Specializes in ICU, ED, Transport, Home Care, Mgmnt.

Blue legs. 17yo female had just been discharged by small community hosp ED, couldn't find anything wrong. She had her Dad bring her in to us because she was feling so bad. 45 min drive. I looked at her legs, yep, blue ankles to crotch. I asked a few questions then took out an alcohol swab and swiped her leg, blue wipes off, hmmmmm. She swore she didn't have any new jeans! She still wanted to be checked out, she still felt bad! I wonder how much those two ED visits cost Dad. I wonder if Dad ever got a clue about his kid???

I just thought of another story.

When I was in junior high, in the late 1970s, someone came out with "tanning pills" which were basically beta carotene and would turn your skin slightly orange if you took them as directed.

One girl decided to expedite the process and swallowed half the bottle. The next morning, she woke up orange from head to toe, including her palms, soles, and whites of eyes, and her parents shoved her into the car and floored it to the nearest ER.

When they walked in, the personnel knew exactly what she had done, and told her not to do it again.

Those pills were withdrawn from the market soon afterwards.

I remember those! People were overdosing on those. Someone had said that the basic ingredients were equivalent to tomato sauce (nope, can't remeber who "someone" was). I think the makers were insinuating that they were harmless. Nevertheless, it was pulled from the market.

I remember some interesting tanning products in the late 70's to mid-80's, when it was very vogue to have the deepest, darkest tan you could possibly get. Not that I tanned all that often (I burn anyhow, auburn hair and fair skin), and the tanning I did do I totally regret now. I suppose it could have been worse.

I'm rambling, sorry. :)

Beta carotene (a precursor of vitamin A) is NOT non-toxic in that it's very poisonous if you get too much of it. If you know anything about Arctic exploration, you would be aware of all the explorers who died of vitamin A poisoning after eating polar bear liver, which the Inuits knew to be poisonous and did not even feed it to their dogs, and were known to starve rather than eat it. I guess a standard "serving" contains about a year's RDA of vitamin A, enough to be toxic.

I know a dark-skinned black guy who has joked about going to a spray-on tan place to get his skin lightened.:jester: I know someone else, a very fair-skinned blonde, who did that before going to a wedding and it looked awful. It only works for certain skin tones.

ME two nights ago my daughter fell and smashed her face on the tiles in our bathroom and bit her lip it bled and swelled up so bad I was sure she was going to need stitches....well after two hours we find out nope no stitches :mad:

Specializes in ER, CCU/ICU, Trauma, Hospice.
Gee, let's see:

-broken acrylic nail

-child vomited once, now sitting on mom's lap eating chips and drinking coke

-laceration too tiny to be seen by the naked eye ("it was bleeding just a minute ago" as patient squeezes the alleged laceration trying to make it bleed again)

-totally well, but needing a work excuse for a sick day sometime last week

-child sleeping all day (up all night crying the night before)

-prescription refill (could be anything from bp meds to oxycontin)

-viagra request

-mosquito bite (yup, just a plain old mosquito bite with no allergic reaction or infection)

-child "lethargic" (mom's words) as kid is running up and down the hall and, you guessed it, eating chips and drinking coke

Definitely the mosuito bite...pt anxious abput West Nile. Just happened last night. Also requested (check this out) Vicodin for the itch. They got a blood draw and told "bubye", You'll get the results of your blood test in about 3 days. Then they wanted a food voucher and a cab ride for 50 miles away. (Homeless).

Specializes in ER, CCU/ICU, Trauma, Hospice.
Someone has already mentioned it but its happened to me to on more than one occasion. Patients who use the ambulance service for a taxicab. They call 911 with a made up complaint and get transported to the ER, then leave AMA. The pickup location was of course miles away and they simply wanted a ride. The boldest bolt out of the back of the ambulance without even checking in.

Most selfish and ridiculous....As the charge nurse I had been called to the triage area to explain to an irate young lady why a particular patient was going back before her (she had checked in first with her chief complaint of hang-nail); it was an older man with known brain cancer and a mental status change/neurological deficit who had checked in after her but gone back for treatment first. She was escalating and accepting none of my explanation of acuity. I got frustrated and said...."look, he's got brain cancer, okay?". She came back with..."well, he's already dead then and you should have seen me FIRST!". I was speechless....That was eleven years ago and I still havn't forgotten it.

This poster hit the nail on the head...

"These trivial complaints are generally not covered by any form of insurance and even medicaid is cracking down on non emergent visits. The patients are usually very angry when they receive a bill for $600.00 in the mail. More and more hospitals are becomming more and more aggressive at collecting on these bills also. The way to treat under educated consumers who utilize a resource for the wrong reasons is to hit them in the pocket book. Paying a huge bill will get them to think about visiting their primary care physician first or trying home treatments. People just dont want to think any more. They'd rather go crying to "Mommy" aka the "ER" than to try to take care of it themselves. We've created a very dependent society."

I for one will be happy when the undereducated and unemployed/receiveing tax-dollar paid for insurance and benefits are penalized in a real way for the ER abuses. Like coming to the ER for tylenol and saying they can't afford it, but they have a pack of cigarettes in their pocket plainly visible. I've said it for years,,,,if the average citizen new what went on in the ER on a DAILY basis, i.e. saw how their tax dollars were being spent, there would be a popular revolt!

Stupid people do = job security in the ER to a point, stupid people with private insurance that they work for to earn. Stupid people without insurance or with tax dollar paid for insurance, on the other hand, are bankrupting the healthcare system. Hospitals end up closing from losing money and this is happening all over the country.

Regards,

David

I had another last week that called EMS for chronic back pain (yes frequent flier). Took the radio call and stated she was triage appropriate. EMT gave me report and girl was on the pay phone calling for a ride to the other hospital since we were on a 5 hour wait for fast-track and main-er. She never did get seen and the other hospital wait times were just like our that night...

Definitely the mosuito bite...pt anxious abput West Nile. Just happened last night. Also requested (check this out) Vicodin for the itch. They got a blood draw and told "bubye", You'll get the results of your blood test in about 3 days. Then they wanted a food voucher and a cab ride for 50 miles away. (Homeless).

Can't tell you how many people we have had come in for mosquito bites, the fact that they ate spinach. No symtoms just want to be checked: :rolleyes:

Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.

I was in the fast track section the other day. I went to the waiting room to call a father (cyst on groin) and son (dental abcess) and a lady with back pain.

I call the names no one comming. Hmmm I find the father outside with his son in a wheel chair. I thought ooh maybe I missed something maybe the kid fell too whatever. Then I see the back pain lady standing outside.

Now I think they waited about an hour to 1.5 hours so maybe they really needed to get some air. The back pain walks very fast right up to me a foot from me states "can I have a wheelchair." No grimacing. No limp. She was just outside in no apparent distress. I thought well hey maybe she was fast just to get past the pain to get in the wheelchair yet she was standing outside. Also a coworker had a pt came in with lower back pain, went in subacute area passed out went grey discovered he had a AAA that ruptured, so I'm like well who am I to denie plus I could see her falling on the floor. So I get her a wheelchair and she's helping me the pt bending over pulling down the feet and calf rest as if nothing.

I escort both of them into their rooms and the back pain is helping me doing more than I am to get out of the wheel chair states she has herniated discs in her back and wants vicodin. I told her the dr would be in to assess her. She just did not appear in any distress but hey she's there and was seen and d/c.

NOW the dental pain later I had orders for abx for son and father and d/c instructions. The son did have poor dental hygiene, red inflamed. Needed abx and MUST see dentist since ER does not do that. I was then horrified to find out the father had called the ambulance to come in because he saw the abcess and thought the infection would go right through his son and kill him if he didn't. Also thought it was why maybe he got a cyst on his L groin. I told him without dental treatment yes definite infection can spread and be very dangerous. But aparently our md made a comment or probably responded "you took an ambulance!" He was trying to find solace in me to confirm he was right to call an ambulance. I kept explaining the need for dental treatment and reccommended a dental clinic. Insurance and non insured stinks. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have insurance but you have to get stuff like that taken care off. Also explained lots bacteria on your skin and really thought the dental abcess was related to infection soley in the son's mouth and cyst on father was just bacteria on his skin and it formed not related. And his son was just in a WC for fun. I was just wow...

However all this is pretty amusing...

Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.

Coworker of mine assisted md to do a pelvic on a pt with abd pain. The md states he feels something. Takes the speculum out and with his hand starts pulling out something. It's plastic and it's stretching and stretching. So he releases the tension afraid it will come out and slap him in the face and the nurse backs away thinking the same thing. It was a condom. So then the pt says oh well she and her partner had sex that past fri and it was like a mon then says "no the fri before last." I was like wow!!!! Didn't they both notice the condom was gone afterwords!!! And didn't she feel it!!! My one coworker is like you know it's not a black hole down there!!!

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