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 Emergency Nursing.

Everyone showing up to triage "ate the bad spinach" and needs to be admitted. Ate at a salad bar yesterday, have an upset tummy today, must have got some of that bad spinach! Other Symptoms, like vomiting or diarrhea, heck no, who needs symptoms? Or even knowing you actually ate tainted spinach? They MUST be admitted immediately.

Oh, and they're gonna sue us if we don't bring them back NOW. Didn't we HEAR about the lady who died in the waiting room??!!!

Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.
Everyone showing up to triage "ate the bad spinach" and needs to be admitted. Ate at a salad bar yesterday, have an upset tummy today, must have got some of that bad spinach! Other Symptoms, like vomiting or diarrhea, heck no, who needs symptoms? Or even knowing you actually ate tainted spinach? They MUST be admitted immediately.

Oh, and they're gonna sue us if we don't bring them back NOW. Didn't we HEAR about the lady who died in the waiting room??!!!

OOOH how could I forget that....happened where I was too jeeze!

Specializes in ER, Geri.

Mosquito bites, spider bites, spinach scares.....what about the BATS!! One person comes in with a possible bat bite, the newspaper runs a story about a bat that bit someone and was caught (the bat, not the person..lol) and tested positive for rabies and OMG.....how many jumped on that bandwagon! And....how many got treated and probably never did their follow-up...why, you might ask? Well, since you asked, I'll tell you...because we are a NOT FOR PROFIT hospital and we turn down no one. We are the only hospital in town and we get it all. I wonder how many of our non-paying customers even batted an eye at the thousands of dollars we spent on all those treatments. The hospital is so "customer satisfaction" oriented, until they developed a protocol. Since bat bites may not be visible due to the miniscule size of the bite, if someone feels that they may have been bitten by a bat, they automatically get the 2-step treatment. grrrrrrrr... there goes my raise..

any thoughts on this?

I wonder how many of our non-paying customers even batted an eye at the thousands of dollars we spent on all those treatments.

I love puns and that was a true groaner. Great job! :p

The hospital is so "customer satisfaction" oriented, until they developed a protocol. Since bat bites may not be visible due to the miniscule size of the bite, if someone feels that they may have been bitten by a bat, they automatically get the 2-step treatment. grrrrrrrr... there goes my raise..

any thoughts on this?

I'm just curious, do you live in an area that has an excessively large bat population (such as in an area which has a lot of caves which are tourists attractions, etc)? Or are these your run-of-the-mill bats that just come out at night?

Leave it to the media to come up with another "real or imagined" health scare. Yes, I know the danger of rabies, but there are so many other animals that carry rabies, and I would think that bat bites are very rare.

Maybe it would be a good idea to write a letter to the editor of the newspaper and present a little education to the public. Maybe that would help?

I know we do try to educate the public and I know most of the time it goes in one ear and out the other, but maybe some will pick up on it, decide on the proper course of action. Maybe that would help, even if just a little bit.

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Okay, so this wasn't ridiculous.... we had a lady who really did get a bat bite, woke up with the bat on her face biting her lip!

So she comes in, gets triaged, brings the bat with her in a paper bag. Middle of shift change, so the triage nurse brings her back, the oncoming nurse is heading out to the triage room and starts to sit down. First nurse runs out and yelps "Don't sit there, there's a bat in the bag" ..... which then starts moving. And yes, it did test positive for rabies (after somebody killed it) :roll :roll :roll

Whaddayamean you left a live rabid bat on my seat??!!!

This is not a lie......

65 y/o M with c/o "one leg longer than the other"

This is not a lie......

65 y/o M with c/o "one leg longer than the other"

And after 65 years, he just figured that out?? I suppose he came in at 3AM to boot! :roll

Specializes in ER/ ICU.

How about- Rug burn, cold sores, broken nail, fever of 100 w/ no other symptoms,one of my friends was sick. Worse than that is that they all called EMS so they didn't have to wait. To triage w/ all of you.

:trout: parent brought in 5 year old after midnight because the child had a bad dream and woke up sweating....:banghead:

Specializes in ER, CCU/ICU, Trauma, Hospice.
How about- Rug burn, cold sores, broken nail, fever of 100 w/ no other symptoms,one of my friends was sick. Worse than that is that they all called EMS so they didn't have to wait. To triage w/ all of you.
Like the back pain who calls ems and is standing in the doorway with purse in hand ready to go!
Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
Okay, so this wasn't ridiculous.... we had a lady who really did get a bat bite, woke up with the bat on her face biting her lip!

So she comes in, gets triaged, brings the bat with her in a paper bag. Middle of shift change, so the triage nurse brings her back, the oncoming nurse is heading out to the triage room and starts to sit down. First nurse runs out and yelps "Don't sit there, there's a bat in the bag" ..... which then starts moving. And yes, it did test positive for rabies (after somebody killed it) :roll :roll :roll

Whaddayamean you left a live rabid bat on my seat??!!!

When I got bitten by a wild raccoon - a very deep bite, I presented to the ER.

At least three separate HCWs asked me, "Did you bring it with you?.

(Uhhh, yeah, after I got the crap bitten out of my hand, I grabbed the little monster and stuffed him in my 6inch by 6inch purse - NOT!!!!!!!!)

Specializes in ED-CEN/PACU/Flight.
Like the back pain who calls ems and is standing in the doorway with purse in hand ready to go!

And practically skips across the yard and climbs up into the unit without any difficulty or visible signs of distress...

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