Bizarre Admitting Diagnosises

sweetspirit · Jun 26, 2008

My favorite is "Sick" - no duh Sherlock!

veronica butterfly, ADN, RN · Jun 26, 2008

One of my first patients after I came off orientation as a new RN.

"fractured member"

No bones you say? That's what I said. Guess this guy woke up with his morning maleness and rolled over on it, busted the main blood vessel in it. Ouch.

talaxandra · Jun 26, 2008

Clerk having a little word finding difficulty - instead of "ataxia" the admission diagnosis was "walklessness for investigation"

BuckeyeRN07 · Jun 26, 2008

I've been a nurse just under a year, but the unit I work on has provided quite an array of oddball admitting dx... But the ones that really get me riled up aren't always bizarre, they simply fail to offer much insight as to what is ACTUALLY going on with my patient. A few of my favorites:

1) UCA - I quickly found out this meant Unacceptable Cosmetic Appearance, and my patient had been admitted after extensive surgery to remove excess skin. She had a grand total of 6 JP drains and the sum of all her incisions totaled over 60 inches in length! :eek:

2) Fever - This patient was a transfer from a rehab center with a ETOH level of nearly 0.40 and he was already scoring in the 20's on the CIWA scale by the time he came to us.... but since his temp ranged from 97's to 104's while he was in the ER, they chose "fever" as the primary reason for his admission. :banghead:

3) Altered mental status - Young woman with no significant medical history exhibiting extreme variations in mood/behavior upon arrival to the ER. All tox screens were negative. She came up to our unit and a quick assesmment revealed focal neurological deficits, plus she was becoming increasingly withdrawn and lethargic. Within hours, an array of physicians had been consulted and this patient was actually found to be septic! :angryfire

4) Peyronie's disease - Granted, this truly was an accurate diagnosis for my patient. However, I think that s/p penile prosthesis revision would've been MUCH more appropriate as the primary reason for admission! :imbar

I could go on and on...

Pax_Ramona · Jun 27, 2008

A patient with fibroids was admitted (per admitting typo) with a "Uterine Thyroid"--wow that gland really slipped!

MedicalLPN, LPN · Jun 27, 2008

Wow, too funny! I love the "UCA" and "Uterine Thyroid" dx :chuckle:chuckle:chuckle

azryale · Jun 28, 2008

just this week: malnourished elderly living alone admitted for "Failure to Think"

sofaraway04 · Jul 8, 2008

one a couple of weeks ago "family can't cope with pateint"

and what exactly are we supposed to do?

NurseBean · Jul 19, 2008

We get tons of "Dizziness and Giddiness" It sounds so cute and happy but they are usually demented old guys who are determined to fall out of bed at all costs!

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jul 19, 2008

I love "Weakness" as an admitting dx, myself........when I worked Med/Surg, it was basically a wastebasket diagnosis for the frail, confused, incontinent elder whose family had finally decided it was time for the nursing home. :uhoh3:

suanna · Jul 19, 2008

At my first job we always had 1 or 2 "adrenal iinsufficiency" admits on the floor at any one time. We didn't have a psyc department or even a psychiatrist on staff so if a patient came in with major depression with suicidal ideations they got "adrenal insufficiency" No one ever checked thier adrenal function.