What was the MOST ridiculous thing a patient came to the ER for?

Specialties Emergency Nursing Q/A

And did you have to treat them?

I am just curious. Your stories always seem to either crack me up or shake my head in amazement.

Thanks for sharing ?

Specializes in ICU,ER.

Since I am 33 weeks pregnant, I "get" to do triage a lot these days.... so I am hearing all the complaints. After almost 10 years of being an ER nurse, I've just about heard them all.... until last week. There was a guy whose primary reason for being in the ER at 2am was to get "dried out"....oh yeah, and by the way, could we CLEAN HIS FINGERNAILS for him? I did put that on the triage note, just to give my co-workers a laugh. :)

Specializes in ICU,ER.

Oh, while we're on the subject-----has anyone ever seen the episode of "Seinfeld" where Kramer gets the wrong set of vanity license plates, which read "Assman?" And, then, in the end, they find out who the REAL "Assman" is, becuase they have to take George's father......well, you gotta see it--I don't want to give away the ending. I just saw it for the first time the other night, and nearly rolled on the floor laughing. It just rang toooooo true.

hahaha...."one in a million shot doc....one in a million!!"

Specializes in Med/Surg, ER and ICU!!!.
That will start next week, and I'm wondering how it is going to effect our stupid is as stupid does patient load. People with insurance or private pay will be escorted to the finacial counselor upon being dismissed from the exam room and then the FC will ask them to pay some amount and set up payment arrangements. They will not receive their discharge instructions or prescriptions until they have finished with her. I imagine people that really need to be in the ER for things like lacs, and fxs won't blink twice, but I am hoping that it will at least discourage the repeat visitors we have coming in for stupid things time after time. I am hoping that once they have to face the FC once and get asked how they plan to pay the bill, then they won't want to face that again. Unless they figure out that we have no FC during certain hours and time their complaints to correspond with that time. How long do you think it will take for them to figure THAT out?!?!?! Anyway, it will be interesting to see how it works. All I know is that I wouldn't want the FC job for ANY amount of money! I can't imagine how nasty some of these people are going to get.

JMHO, Pam

In my case, if my son did have a fracture of any sort, right now I would not be able to pay a red penny. I am living paycheck to paycheck with crap for insurance. Would they not let my son have Rx for pain meds if I couldn't pay? Just curious. Texas

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :crying2: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.
in my case, if my son did have a fracture of any sort, right now i would not be able to pay a red penny. i am living paycheck to paycheck with crap for insurance. would they not let my son have rx for pain meds if i couldn't pay? just curious. texas

of course not. the er i worked in has been doing this for a while now. while it has drastically increased the amount of money they collect, no one is required to pay. they are just required to go see someone who asks for money. if they can't pay, they get a "thats ok, we can bill you," and out the door they go with their instructions and any rxs they got.

it doesn't help with those who are really working the system and know the visit costs money and don't care, don't ever intend to pay a dime. but it can be very educational for those who didn't realize just how much that er visit costs. plus, it gets the money from them when they are still thinking about the whole thing, rather than billing them 6 mos later.

Since I am 33 weeks pregnant, I "get" to do triage a lot these days.... so I am hearing all the complaints. After almost 10 years of being an ER nurse, I've just about heard them all.... until last week. There was a guy whose primary reason for being in the ER at 2am was to get "dried out"....oh yeah, and by the way, could we CLEAN HIS FINGERNAILS for him? I did put that on the triage note, just to give my co-workers a laugh. :)

We had a guy come in who was taking antabuse. (disulfuram) He stated that he had been drinking and was now ill and wanted to be seen.

The doc examined him, told him that the medication was working, don't drink, go home.

I was tempted to say, "Here's your sign" :rotfl:

I had a guy a few nights ago with sore arms. Now you might think muscle breakdown? fever? odd chest pain? But no....he had been fishing with his Dad that day and came in at 1am because his arms were sore.

No- he didn't take any Motrin beforehand...how ridiculous of you to think that. :D

Now why in the world would a person take Motrin by themselves at home if they know they can get it at their local friendly ER? Oh and I'm sure he hadn't eaten all day either and where was his dinner tray please?

This sounds like our E.R. in the

Chicago ghetto!!

Gee, let's see:

-broken acrylic nail

-child vomited once, now sitting on mom's lap eating chips and drinking coke

-laceration too tiny to be seen by the naked eye ("it was bleeding just a minute ago" as patient squeezes the alleged laceration trying to make it bleed again)

-totally well, but needing a work excuse for a sick day sometime last week

-child sleeping all day (up all night crying the night before)

-prescription refill (could be anything from bp meds to oxycontin)

-viagra request

-mosquito bite (yup, just a plain old mosquito bite with no allergic reaction or infection)

-child "lethargic" (mom's words) as kid is running up and down the hall and, you guessed it, eating chips and drinking coke

this is not a lie. i was in triage. this guy brought his girlfriend's bed sheet and asked us to do a DNA test on the stain. He thought his girlfriend was cheating on him. It took every ounce of energy not to bust out laughing and smack that fool for stupidity.

ooooh! i got another one. i saw this lady peeing standing up! and i'm sure it was a woman. she was peeing on to a bed pan that was on the floor. The 30 year old son was trying to keep the curtains closed cuz he was kind of embarrassed that his mom was peeing like a man! HIPPA's not being violated is it?

Woman living in an Assisted Living....called EMS to bring her to the ER for....get this....to change her diaper! And.....after getting her into a room and checking her diaper....it was clean.

Called EMS to come back and take her home.

A middle aged male pt with a good sized mackerel loged in his rectum. I guess he didn't know that fins only go one way, it made for very a interesting CT scan.

That's life In San Francisco.

RiNtime

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