I never realized we are all in the same boat!

[shootemrn]

I was just browsing these boards and I read posts from all over the country and things are pretty much the same everywhere!

I see these things all the time and I think they are universal throught our ED's..these are my observations please tell me if you disagree or if you have had similar experiences.

1. Everyone wants a meal when they come to the ED usually after 9 pm.

2. Ever notice how many people have cell phones and use them in the department with signs posted everywhere in five different languages not to use them?

3. Have you gone through a shift without using the bathroom?

4. Isn't the onset and reaction from the blue looking herion OD to IVP Narcan the coolest thing in the world!

5. Do you get broken hearted when patients tell you "If that doctor doesnt get in here in five minutes. I AM LEAVING!"

6. How many patients have you seen with the chief complaint of Nausea and abd pain that were drinking soda and eating frito's.

7. How many times a day are you asked "How long is it until the doctor see's me?"

8. On busy days when the strechers are lining the hallways and the patients reach out to you and grab you as you walk by. Do you feel like Richard Dreyfus entering the space ship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

9. How many times a day do you hear a Doc say "Where is the chart for room 8?" and it is either in front of him or in his hand.

10. Isnt it amazing that people will go through a complete Abd workup and all they wanted was a HCG Quant?

11. Ever woke a patient up from a snoring deep sleep to have them tell you their pain is a 10/10 (pain is truly subjective!)

12. Ever treat a child with a fever of 103 and vomiting who's parents tried homopathy and gave the child baths in rosehips and tried every natural remedy under the sun, and you promptly shove tylenol up their butt?

13. Would you drop dead of an MI if someone covered their mouth while coughing instead of coughing directly into your face.

There are just some thoughts and observations. I am sure their are many more universal ED facts that will come out. These are the ones on the top of my head.

[BadBird, BSN, RN]

How about the schizo who was having her period but insisted it was her 14th miscarriage?

[Kim Steinmann]

Yes, or perhaps a "Vicodin Deficiency." This is also a drug of choice I have found! Ha..

[cwazycwissyRN, RN]

CRAZY.CRAZY We did surgery on a 78 yr old female that in her psych eval stated ; Pt. stated of course she was speeding to the hospital'any time your going to the ER it is an emergency" I was in a hurry because I was depressed. I'm not having sex enough with my husband and I'm very frustated. MVA on way to hospital.

GO FIGURE

[MLL]

Triaged one the other day that wanted to know how long he would be in ED because he had an appointment with his PCP in 50 minutes for the same thing!

Holy crap! Is it me??????

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

Originally posted by shootemrn

8. On busy days when the strechers are lining the hallways and the patients reach out to you and grab you as you walk by. Do you feel like Richard Dreyfus entering the space ship in Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

13. Would you drop dead of an MI if someone covered their mouth while coughing instead of coughing directly into your face.

I have never worked ED, but when #8 happens to me, I always feel like one of the normal people in those "Living Dead" movies, with the zombies swarming over me to eat my brain.

And as for #13....YES.

[Dr. Kate, BSN, RN]

And there is one of my two favorite inner city diagnoses: terminal feet (the other one is too non-PC to even consider saying)

And the good samaritan who just happens to be downtown (where the good suburbanite has no business being--too innocent) and sees this poor woman on the sidewalk, picks her up, puts her in his car, and brings her to the nearest hospital and wants us to take care of the "poor woman." (Want to guess her profession? Condition? Desire to be in the hospital?)

[teeituptom, BSN, RN]

Howdy ya'll

from deep in the heart of texas

Had a young lady come into ER last night. She was hyperventilating something fierce. When we get her calmed down we find that she had went to brush her teeth and saw that her tongue was black, therefore she thought she had "gangrene"..

Turned out she had had some pepto bismal a little earlier. We washed her tongue with a washcloth, and lo and behold it washed off.

Anybody want to guess what color her hair was??????????

doo wah ditty

[Nurse Izzy]

You know it's sad - the Vicodin deficiencies and other narc seekers. I have a brother who is due to have both hips replaced beginning sometime in the next 6 months. He's in such chronic pain that his PCP ordered Oxycontin 20 mg bid. For a short time he was without insurance and suffered through the Oxycontin withdrawals becuase he couldn't afford them out of his own pocket. And then there's those who simply want the "rush"...Grrr....

[momoftriplets]

I triaged a young mom who said her daughter had a temp of 101. I asked her how she took it, meaning rectal, axillary... she said, "I don't have a thermometer." What??? or the mom who brings her 10 day old in because the umbilical cord came off..

[Glad2behere]

I have a question for ER nurses. Since I work in CCU, I know jack about ortho. How much pain on a scale 1-10 is someone who has 5 cc of synovial fluid aspirated from the knee joint? And I mean this typically, as if there were enough patients to average their pain what would the average number be? I know this is totally subjective, but how much pain med would normally be given for aspiration in the ER? I am just wondering if I am really jaded too or is this extremely painful? This is not a trauma type injury, but a repetitive insult injury...gymnastics, and the patient was advised to lay off the gymnastic regimen for 6 weeks to avoid additional insult injury but the advice was not taken. Is this a Non Weight Bearing injury? This is encompassed in a family disagreement over the pain involved, and occurred years a go, but I still often wonder if the pain as presented to me was way out of proportion. Do you see this situation in an ER much?

[kaycee]

I'll preface this by saying,of course everyone's pain tolerance is different. In my experience in the ER most people who have had fluid aspirated from their knees, generally feel much better afterward. Their knee is usually not as stiff and painful. Normally they just inject a little Lidocaine to numb the tissue before the aspiration. If they receive any pain med before it might be a Perc or Vicodin and then a script for 12- 15 for home. We put them in knee immobilizers and give them crutches. Weight bearing is not as much an issue as keeping the leg straight. I have never seen anyone writhing in pain from fluid on the knee unless it's a septic joint or they have a lot of fluid accumulation from a trauma injury. I would say most would rate their pain 3/10. My husband had an elbow effusion with quite a bit of fluid from a repetative injury and had an aching pain but it was not severe. He never missed work and the aspiration made it feel soooo much better.

[Glad2behere]

Thanks Kaycee!

I remembered this happening to me as a kid learning to ice skate, and didn't recall it being that painful as compared to breaking my leg. The person I had this occurrence with demanded to be taken to ER, right then and there, and the pain exhibited was about a 20/10! They gave 2 IVPs of 5mg MSO4 about 30 minutes apart before the aspiration, which I thought was plenty! No lidocaine though, the doc said he didn't want to introduce more fluid at the site. Thank you for telling me this, I had some naproxene and preferred to wait until the AM for treatment for this person, and use ice packs and elevation until then. Now at least I can ease my mind that all those years of burn nursing hadn't jaded me too badly.