What was the WORST thing a patient has been brought to ER for?

ILoveMyBeanie · Nov 28, 2006

I have to thank all nurses, docs and EMTs in all hospitals all over the world! :bow: You all do amazing jobs!

I wonder though and would like some advice:

I am a very emotional person and would like to know how you cope with all the horrible things you see done to children. As the mother of a 2 yo little boy for whom I live for I think I would see him in every child that came in. I am in nursing school and will graduate in 2007 and wonder how you manage? PLEASE HELP...

andhow5, BSN, RN · Nov 28, 2006

I am a very emotional person and would like to know how you cope with all the horrible things you see done to children. As the mother of a 2 yo little boy for whom I live for I think I would see him in every child that came in. I am in nursing school and will graduate in 2007 and wonder how you manage? PLEASE HELP...

Personally, I can usually maintain myself (usually) while at work, but I will go home, cry, and hug my boys even closer...

However, one night I did get severely pissed off at a drunk mother and the drunk boyfriend... The dad had custody, picked the son up from him being at mom's - and came straight in for suspected abuse.

The drunk couple showed up and had a hissy demanding to see the boy. Someone had let them slip back (and the room was ALL the way in the back).

I was walking around the corner, heard the child screaming bloody murder; I dropped the armful of stuff I had all over the floor and ran to the room in time to see the mother drawing up her fist and starting to swing at the child.

I literally kicked down the door to that room, scared the boyfriend - he ran out. The mom was surprised, turned and told me to mind my own business. (The boy wasn't even my own patient...) I told her she had 5 seconds to get out of the room.

She came at me with her balled up fist swinging. I simply grabbed her arm, spun her around, and hoisted her arm up behind her back. My other hand grabbed a big bunch of her long ratty hair at the scalp, and I frog-marched her hateful @$$ through the ER to the lobby.

It had to be an interesting sight, because I'm 5'7", and she had to be at least 6"2 (and had on some high heels).

Of course she screamed, swore, and yelled the entire way, tried to get herself free, and was causing a HUGE scene. ESPECIALLY when we got to the lobby which was standing room only.

As she screamed and threatened, I told her in a LOUD voice (I was so pissed I couldn't control myself much more) that if she set foot in the child's room again that I would kick her @$$ up one side and down the other, and hurt her as badly as she and drunk lover had hurt that child.

Of course she screamed and said she'd get me fired and wanted my name so she could press assault charges.

I just smiled, wrote my name on a scrap of paper, handed it to her, and then asked her to please file charges when she was sober so she would spell my name right.

The lobby crowd applauded and the off duty officer (laughing so hard he could barely breathe) escorted precious and her lover off the property.

Noahm · Nov 28, 2006

Andhow5 you are my hero. Well done. I hope that miserable cow got jailtime.

I have learned 2 things from this thread. ER nurses are worth their weight in gold and should be paid millions. I do not have it in me to work in the ER.

Is counselling provided to ER staff who regularly deal with situations that are discussed on this thread?

neygray · Nov 28, 2006

Not sure of the worst, but two of the most unusual:

A gentelmen's member engorged in a vaccum cleaner hose and a Bic ink pen removed from a male's urethra.

Nurseboy1 · Nov 28, 2006

Personally, I can usually maintain myself (usually) while at work, but I will go home, cry, and hug my boys even closer...
However, one night I did get severely pissed off at a drunk mother and the drunk boyfriend... The dad had custody, picked the son up from him being at mom's - and came straight in for suspected abuse.
The drunk couple showed up and had a hissy demanding to see the boy. Someone had let them slip back (and the room was ALL the way in the back).
I was walking around the corner, heard the child screaming bloody murder; I dropped the armful of stuff I had all over the floor and ran to the room in time to see the mother drawing up her fist and starting to swing at the child.
I literally kicked down the door to that room, scared the boyfriend - he ran out. The mom was surprised, turned and told me to mind my own business. (The boy wasn't even my own patient...) I told her she had 5 seconds to get out of the room.
She came at me with her balled up fist swinging. I simply grabbed her arm, spun her around, and hoisted her arm up behind her back. My other hand grabbed a big bunch of her long ratty hair at the scalp, and I frog-marched her hateful @$$ through the ER to the lobby.
It had to be an interesting sight, because I'm 5'7", and she had to be at least 6"2 (and had on some high heels).
Of course she screamed, swore, and yelled the entire way, tried to get herself free, and was causing a HUGE scene. ESPECIALLY when we got to the lobby which was standing room only.
As she screamed and threatened, I told her in a LOUD voice (I was so pissed I couldn't control myself much more) that if she set foot in the child's room again that I would kick her @$$ up one side and down the other, and hurt her as badly as she and drunk lover had hurt that child.
Of course she screamed and said she'd get me fired and wanted my name so she could press assault charges.
I just smiled, wrote my name on a scrap of paper, handed it to her, and then asked her to please file charges when she was sober so she would spell my name right.
The lobby crowd applauded and the off duty officer (laughing so hard he could barely breathe) escorted precious and her lover off the property.

:bow: :bow: :bow: OMG I laughed so hard at the image of that scene. Way to go.

ILoveMyBeanie · Nov 30, 2006

Drumroll please...."Bad A** Nurse of the Year" goes to....andhow5!:yelclap: :yelclap: That was awsome! I hope that so called mother gets all she deserves even if not down here she will have to answer to the big man upstairs! :saint: WOW! I can picture that in my mind. Did you make front page news or anything? haha WOW! That is all that comes to mind-just WOW!

I can see myself doing similar though-you just don't mess with kids.:angryfire I just don't understand how some people do the things they do and live with themselves?! Though I want to ring my son's neck sometimes I could NEVER really do it-ya know?! YOU GO GIRL! :bow:

andhow5, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2006

LOL @ you all! And the comment about bad a** nurse, LOL! (I have a t-shirt I wear as a night shirt that says, "I'm an emergency room nurse, here to save your a$$, not kiss it!")

Seriously, I can USUALLY maintain, but when I saw that woman raising a balled fist to that child, I saw RED. I was SO furious. What I did wasn't planned, it was purely instinct.

Normally I'm very laid back and easy going, but OMG! I swear, if only I could paint a decent verbal picture of the looks on the faces of my co-workers as I marched her out. It was priceless. No one said a word to me at all. The charge nurse just asked me (very cautiously, I might add), "What happened?". When I said, "She was about to hit a child", she just nodded and walked off. I wasn't in trouble for anything.

The people in the lobby were priceless too! Normally the lobby-dwellers are hostile, but their response to the live entertainment was something else! Later the triage nurse told me the lobby patients were a lot nicer to her after seeing me tangle with the drunk chick.

So who knows?

Hopefully I made a difference to that child seeing me stand up to his mother, and reinforcing the message that her behavior is NOT acceptable. I never saw him back in the ER for any injuries of that nature, so here's hoping!

(And I have to admit, now as I look back on it, I get a gleeful sense of satisfaction about how I escorted her out of the ER.)

nursejohio, ASN, RN · Dec 1, 2006

The charge nurse just asked me (very cautiously, I might add), "What happened?". When I said, "She was about to hit a child", she just nodded and walked off. I wasn't in trouble for anything.

Ok, not only are you my hero but your charge gets a medal for throwing the press-gainey bs out the window and doing what's right! It got the right message across to mom and bf, and hopefully made the waiting room crowd think about what kind of behavior is appropriate for the ER.

janejoeben · Dec 1, 2006

worst things for me...

5 year old girl survived a near drowning in the family pool after prolonged resus, yeah!! until the following summer when the same girl came in again, unsupervised in the pool again... sadly didnt survive the second time. made me want to scream at the parents, was the first warning not enough for you..

also last christmas night, around 10pm, 3 teenagers in rta on way back from visiting family, all died in the department. tragic.

might start a new thread, a happier one, best stories of survival!!

Anna57 · Jan 2, 2007

One night we had flooding in our town. We got a call that state police were bringing in a drowning victim that was approximately 1yr old. She came in, we worked to get her temp up (88 degrees on arrival) as we are coding her. She and her father had been driving down the interstate and their car was overcome with water, police were still looking for him. After about 1 hour, her grandmother and mother came into the room, her grandmother was one of our ER nurses. The second they walked into the room, she got a pulse and tried to breath on her own. We transferred her to the childrens hospital. When she left our hospital, she had a decent pulse and bp, we were still breathing for her but she was alive. She died when she got to the Childrens hospital. I found out on the news that day. It took me about 3 weeks to not cry every day. I still think of her daily. Every time I walk in that Trauma room, I think about her and her family. This was their first Christmas without her and her Daddy. Come to find out, he died trying to get her out of that car, he was found that morning about 200 yards from where the car was found. That nurse LIVED every er nurse's greatest fear, and that is having to see someone you love come through those trauma room doors.

kenzy · Jan 2, 2007

way to go ER Nurse's takes a special person to be in that field, BRAINS, STRENGHT, COMPASSION, OUT SIDE THE BOX THINKING, AND GREAT INNER PEACE AND FORGIVENESS. KEEP MAIKING THE DIFFERENCE. GREAT JOB!!!!!!!

Victoriakem · Jan 2, 2007

My heart goes out to you!! I'm an ER nurse too & hope I never have to face anything like that. But I admit that when we get a call for a man in his early 50's with MI, etc I can't help but think my dh could be coming in....