Bizarre Admitting Diagnosises

[MedicalLPN]

I don't know about you guys, but some of our patients come in with admitting diagnosises that literally just leave you scratching your head. Here's a few that I've seen:

1. An 82 y/o admitted with "Muscular Dystrophy"

2. A guy with alcohol intoxication admitted with "Vertigo"

3. A 70 y/o admitted with "Collapsed with Confusion"

4. My favorite, had a post BKA pt come in with "Ambulatory Dysfunction" I couldn't help but chuckle.

If you've got some funny ones please post them!

[mcknis]

I love it when we see Altered Mental Status and the pt has a h/o dementia or Alzheimers. Those docs must have graduated from ivy league schools. And they think that nurses don't have enough training . Or how about the orders for bilat TEDs and SCDs for a pt with bilat ATK amputation?!?

[rph3664]

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.

I see that a lot too.

We have an ER frequent flyer whose visit reason is (no kidding) "Can't find pulse."

Probably the most common admitting diagnosis in the child psych unit is "Odd." Well, duh! Oh, wait, it's "oppositional defiant disorder", also known as "bad parents".

[stephmj]

My all time favorite was a DX of HICCUPS! Patient had hiccups for over a week after an abd surgery so he went to er. No joke this guy had hiccups my whole shift.

It actually ended up being a tiny air bubble tickling the base of his diaphragm.

[rph3664]

I see that a lot too.

We have an ER frequent flyer whose visit reason is (no kidding) "Can't find pulse."

Probably the most common admitting diagnosis in the child psych unit is "Odd." Well, duh! Oh, wait, it's "oppositional defiant disorder", also known as "bad parents".

Yeah, ODD is probably the only psychiatric disorder that is definitely caused by bad parenting. Other conditions (especially ADD/ADHD) can be worsened by it, but they do not cause them. Either you have them or you don't.

[flightnurse2b, LPN]

we had a patient who came in with AMS r/o TIA... and when we were wheeling the patient upstairs, i looked down at the admit papers and the secretary had put in "dx: stupidity". i think she meant stupor, but whatever....i got a nice chuckle from that.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

My favorite is "inability to walk" on a 80 y/o woman. Did they x ray her legs at all or her hips? Of course not. But they xrayed her chest. Woman ended up having a hip fx which needed surgery.

I also loved all the MS changes r/o CVA, Syncope r/o CVA, dizziness r/o CVA.

I once had a 68 y/o woman who was awaiting a lap chole and was vomiting at home and got dehydrated and dizzy. The brilliant ER doc admitted her for r/o CVA and she had a negative scan and was having her lap chole next day. I notified her surgeon and he was angry. I think at this one hospital if you had AMS, dizziness, or a syncopal episode you automatically got admitted for r/o CVA. So increadibly stupid, most of these people had cardiac issues or AMS cases were from nusing home and demented.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

my all time favorite was a dx of hiccups! patient had hiccups for over a week after an abd surgery so he went to er. no joke this guy had hiccups my whole shift.

it actually ended up being a tiny air bubble tickling the base of his diaphragm.

i had a patient admitted with hiccups once, too. she'd had hiccups for 2 years, lost 50 pounds and was psychotic from not sleeping. it turned out to be a loose pacemaker lead tickling her diaphragm.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i had a patient admitted with "decub." he sat on the toilet for four days and four nights and had a perfect, toilet seat-shaped decub. (he was also septic.)

[Cindy_A]

What did they do for the guy with the air bubble tickling his diaphragm? How were his hiccups resolved? What happened with the lady with the loose pacemaker leads? Poor thing!

[RNSuzq1, RN]

Re: The AMS pt's - we had 5 on our MS floor this week. Most are usually dementia/alzheimers pt's the Nursing homes send us because they are "confused". Yes, they're confused, they have dementia and alzheimers!!! Interesting Pt all week, 94 years old AMS female, legally blind, hard of hearing and unbelievably, had been living at home (alone) until she was admitted the other day. I read her H&P the other night, Pt's Son went to visit her, said she seemed even more confused than usual because she was (Talking To A Lamp), good grief. I can't believe this 94 yr old (very confused) lady had been left to fend for herself until just this week, so sad.

[rph3664]

i had a patient admitted with hiccups once, too. she'd had hiccups for 2 years, lost 50 pounds and was psychotic from not sleeping. it turned out to be a loose pacemaker lead tickling her diaphragm.

interesting thing is, we use thorazine for intractable hiccups!

i've seen "super glue in eye" more than once, usually in toddlers.

[jlmb214rn, BSN, RN]

How about "Advanced Age". No kidding. Had it more than once too. It's kind of like a cover term for "family can't take it anymore, needs NH placement" These people have no acute medical problems, just getting old.

Our registration clerks type in diagnoses so we get a lot of interesting spellings and interpretations.

I had a guy once whose dx read "growin abcess"- turns out he had an abcess in his "groin"

Had a lady admitted with "blocked udder"- she had hydronephrosis from a kidney stone blocked in her "ureter"

Had a woman admitted with "a cute lady parts" Of course she actually had acute "angina" Had to have been a type-o. Or a joke.

Had a patient get angry once because his dx read "SOB". He thought we were calling him a son-of-a-*****. The diagnosis actually did fit (in more than one way).