Craziest Thing You've ever Seen

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Specializes in ICU.

I'm sure there has already been a thread like this, but what is the craziest , goriest :barf01:, most shocking :uhoh21: thing you've ever seen in the ER?

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Check this one out: I once took care of this guy...He walked into the ER at about 1900. Told the triage Nurse he developed N/V and abdominal pain at 0700 in the AM. He tried to get into his PCP that day, but in spite of multiple phone calls and attempts, he was unable to get in. He also tried to go to the Urgent Care clinic, but they were closed for water leak repairs. He finally decided to go to the ER. He stated "I know this is for emergencies but I really tried to get in with my doctor and I really feel something is wrong."

A patient who understands the purpose of an ER...pretty crazy hu?

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.

  • guy with a circular saw blade embedded in his face. (didn't have the right sized blade, was trying to improvise). took care of him in icu post op. plastics did an amazing job on his face.
  • lady with a butcher knife embedded through the top of her skull, with the handle completely flush with the top of her head (domestic dispute). took care of her in icu. never went to surgery, herniated within a few hours.
  • older gentleman who came to triage complaining that his legs had "busted open and there are maggots crawling out." his ankles were swollen to the point that each, individually, were larger than my thighs, collectivly. now, i didn't take his pants off; i saw some weeping ulcers....that, combined with the smell, was enough for me to triage him ;). however, the nurse that took care of him in the er did comfirm there was "a whole host of wildlife" crawling around in his legs. ugh. made me really glad i have a "no pants off in triage if you are over the age of 2" rule.

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Specializes in Trauma/ED.

My favorite was the guy who decided to stick his "male part" inside of his wedding ring...wife accompanied him to the ED for us to cut the ring off. We managed to save the "part"...lol.

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posting erased...

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Specializes in ER, SANE, Home Health, Forensic.

1. A girl who came via car with her friends for a hip infection... She was in the back seat, her leg was in the trunk with her wheelchair... "Whadda ya mean you can't just put it back on?!?"

2. A guy with a chronic foot infection, that when he and his S.O. soaked in betadine, caused the wound to open up and allow the maggots to crawl OUT... (note to self, maggots do not like betadine...)

3. A guy who came in for a tick removal who had a physician friend of his call and threaten the job of the triage nurse who did not get him in "right away"...

4. A girl who in an effort to kill herself shot herself with a nail gun and waited for days in bed waiting to die, almost a week before someone went looking in her home for her...

5. A woman so psychotic that decided to very carefully use a razorblade to carve graph-paper like cuts into herself on every area of her skin within her reach...

6. The first time I cut clothing off an obtunded patient and had the heat they were packing fall out of their pocket and skitter across the floor...

7. A boy so intent on leaving despite pickup order he smashed the family room windows out with the furniture and ran to sidewalk, only to be tackled by the PD...

8. A man with an L/S fracture that bent his L/S spine at a 90 degree angle...

9. A nurse who gave a febrile (104.5 degree F) patient 8 blankets because he was cold, and called it a "comfort measure"...

10. A man with CA of the member that had his member removed, scrotum left intact, and his urethra rerouted to the area between his orifice and scrotum... he was very proud that he retained his flow control...

11. A man that, in an effort to commit suicide, blew half of his skull off with a shotgun, and was verbal and appropriate until 3 minute ETA to ER, and all the resucitation fluid that infused IV and poured right out of the hole in his skull...

12. The delivery of a fetus, just under 20 weeks, into the toilet while on vacation... "I thought I had to go to the bathroom"...

13. A man from out of town, attending a conference, that arrived to the ER for removal of an 18 inch zucchini from his rectum, and signed out AMA when could not be extracted without a trip to the OR...

Thats all I can think of now...

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A man with a granny smith apple lodged in his rectum who pushed it right out when he found out he was going to the OR.

Gives you a whole new feeling about apple pie

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Specializes in Cardiac, ED.

A man that got an electric toothbrush "stuck" in his rectum. Everytime he went by the nurse's station all you herd was "buzzzzzzz, buzzzzzz, buzzzzz." LMAO:lol2:

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Had EMS bring me a 34 yr old woman who claimed she had no pulse. Pt walks off rig into the ER and stops at the Nursing station with her fingers on her carotid. I look at her and say "No pulse?" to which she nods yes. "Go to triage."

Had Doctor's wife helivac'd in for broken artificial nail.

In Triage had a guy complaining of "losing my vibrator in my rectum". Start typing foreign body in rectum when he starts hopping about and tells me "I should not have used those @#$! industrial strength batteries!!"

Had 18 yr old male triage note said "Chain wrapped around member" we defer it to the male nurse and he promptly finds out the chain is not around the member, it was shoved down inside and it was a dog chain with the bigger ring cut off the end. The kid kept trying to explain to the male nurse saying you "You know" to which the male nurse kept sahking his head No he could not rationalize how this could happen. Needless to say we sang "Working on the chain gang" and "Chain of fools" off and on all night.

Had a call from a woman with slurred speech one night and she is complaining of blood being all over her bathroom. I tell her she needs to call 911. She calls back 30 minutes later and I ask her if EMS came and she says they did but the blood is still all over her bathroom.

One must have a sense of humor to work in an ER and it's the silly things that break up the high stress.

Toq

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older gentleman who came to triage complaining that his legs had "busted open and there are maggots crawling out." his ankles were swollen to the point that each, individually, were larger than my thighs, collectivly. now, i didn't take his pants off; i saw some weeping ulcers....that, combined with the smell, was enough for me to triage him ;). however, the nurse that took care of him in the er did comfirm there was "a whole host of wildlife" crawling around in his legs. ugh. made me really glad i have a "no pants off in triage if you are over the age of 2" rule.

but you're critter lover! lol

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Specializes in ER, Peds, Charge RN.

My favorite: Dude who had rectal itching, and figured what better to scratch it than a steak knife?

Ended up with a colostomy.

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