ER- HELP: Dumbest reason people go to ER

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ATTN ER Staff!

I am writing a "paper" on the dumbest reasons/stories that people show up/come to ER. Would appreciate ANY input ANY of the ER staff out there has for me.........................IF you'd like a copy of the FINAL draft, please let me know and I'll forward it.

Thanks much!

PS. My winning entry so far is a Mom who brought 1 month old infant in at 2:30 AM because "it wouldn't look her in the eye. It doesn't recognize me!"

Not making this up

Specializes in Retired OR nurse/Tissue bank technician.

I remember a young woman came into ER because she had felt a small lump in her neck, just under her jaw. She'd gone to her family doctor, who told her it was a lymph node and that she should monitor it and come back in a week if it was still there and they would do tests. The doctor said it was probably nothing, or the start of a viral infection.

She was in ER for a second opinion.

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Specializes in Retired OR nurse/Tissue bank technician.
naw, the best coorifice is the cops. Get him arrested for hitting his wife. Bet he won't do it again!

Went into a local walk-in police station to get information on a new local bylaw and started chatting with the officer there. He'd just come from court, testifying on a domestic violence case.

The husband in the case had broken his wife's jaw for the SECOND time...he was fined $575 and released. :crying2:

If I were to do a turn through a crosswalk when there are pedestrians in the walk (even if they're 2/3 across), I can be fined over $1200. A man busts his wife's jaw for the second time and he's fined less than $600.:angryfire

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Specializes in NICU.

Baby 2: "My baby's had the hiccups for twenty minutes!"

What is it about hiccups that freaks new parents out so bad? I don't think I've ever had a NICU parent who wasn't totally anxious about hiccups. Even when they identify it as hiccups themselves. Even when I explain that yes, it's fine, and did they hiccup in utero? Yes? Okay, it's the same thing. "But it's okay that she's doing it NOW?" Sigh. Yes.

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Specializes in Retired OR nurse/Tissue bank technician.
What is it about hiccups that freaks new parents out so bad? I don't think I've ever had a NICU parent who wasn't totally anxious about hiccups. Even when they identify it as hiccups themselves. Even when I explain that yes, it's fine, and did they hiccup in utero? Yes? Okay, it's the same thing. "But it's okay that she's doing it NOW?" Sigh. Yes.

Maybe it's because the baby is now breathing on their own instead of being in utero? I wonder if the parents are worried that the hiccups will affect the baby's breathing or oxygenation. The other thing may be that they are concerned that Baby will choke on a feeding if he hiccups while swallowing, even though it's the swallowing that usually cures hiccups.

Don't know if that's it or not, but it does kind of make sense.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Well-baby parents freak out about it too.

I think the freakiest thing related to that was when I was trying to get a mom on the monitor for her NST and baby had the hiccups. Regular heartbeat and all so no chance of mistaking it for heart block or anything....just every few seconds....bump....bump. It was really weird.

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Specializes in Retired OR nurse/Tissue bank technician.
I think the freakiest thing related to that was when I was trying to get a mom on the monitor for her NST and baby had the hiccups. Regular heartbeat and all so no chance of mistaking it for heart block or anything....just every few seconds....bump....bump. It was really weird.

That would sound odd. I'm pretty sure the baby the parents brought into ER that night was a term baby-the age they gave and the size of the infant matched up.

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What is it about hiccups that freaks new parents out so bad? I don't think I've ever had a NICU parent who wasn't totally anxious about hiccups. Even when they identify it as hiccups themselves. Even when I explain that yes, it's fine, and did they hiccup in utero? Yes? Okay, it's the same thing. "But it's okay that she's doing it NOW?" Sigh. Yes.

I think it's because they look so dang pitiful when they hiccup. Their chest and abdomen suddenly cave in and jump out, their entire body convulses, it looks pretty dramatic and traumatizing, like a mini seizure. I always thought it was funny in a I'm-a-terrible-parent-laughing-at-my-poor-silly-baby sort of way, but I imagine if you are a new parent or a parent of a premie/NICU baby, it would be not so funny.

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Hi, I had a patient come into my ER because she hurt her wrist tieing her shoes... next day I had a lady come in with a laceration which she obtained killing a roach......true stories
My husband popped a finger tendon pulling up his socks - post-Cipro. Nasty stuff.
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A man showed up at the ED, having amuptated his finger in the door about 12 hours ago - he expected the doctor to sew it back on.

Here's the kicker - he'd left the finger in the glove box of his car, with no ice, or water or anything, after he'd lopped it off - so he wouldn't forget to bring it the next day.

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
My husband popped a finger tendon pulling up his socks - post-Cipro. Nasty stuff.

I worked with someone once whose mother had a bad tib/fib fracture requiring surgery. She'd put her purse in the floor of her car and got tangled in the strap getting out. I also knew a physician who was sitting on her bed with one foot under her. She hopped off, not realizing her foot had gone to sleep, and when she landed her foot went over on its side- pop. Then it corrected the other way- pop, again. Tib/fib fracture.

I'm sure both of them got "you did it how?" in the ER.

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Went into a local walk-in police station to get information on a new local bylaw and started chatting with the officer there. He'd just come from court, testifying on a domestic violence case.

The husband in the case had broken his wife's jaw for the SECOND time...he was fined $575 and released. :crying2:

If I were to do a turn through a crosswalk when there are pedestrians in the walk (even if they're 2/3 across), I can be fined over $1200. A man busts his wife's jaw for the second time and he's fined less than $600.:angryfire

Did the officer tell you the whole story? Betcha he didn't.

The reason law enforcement doesn't take DV seriously (or so it seems) is because most of the time, arresting the perpetrator is a waste of time, as is trying to prosecute. Why bother arresting him when she's just going to bail him out first thing in the morning?

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
I worked with someone once whose mother had a bad tib/fib fracture requiring surgery. She'd put her purse in the floor of her car and got tangled in the strap getting out. I also knew a physician who was sitting on her bed with one foot under her. She hopped off, not realizing her foot had gone to sleep, and when she landed her foot went over on its side- pop. Then it corrected the other way- pop, again. Tib/fib fracture.

I'm sure both of them got "you did it how?" in the ER.

heh. I didn't go to the ER with this one, but I did go to my PCP after a couple of weeks of pain, feeling downright silly. I had to stop my car .. um.. urgently .. one day, unless I wanted to collide with the back end of a van that ..um.. just appeared suddenly in front of me, completely stopped.

So I was pressing on the brake for all I was worth, and my foot was positioned so that I hyperflexed (hyperextended?) the first toe joint, with all my (considerable) weight behind it. Xrays were normal but now, 5 months later, the *&^$ thing still hurts.

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