Holding our tongues vs things we really want to say!

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Have you ever wanted to tell a patient in triage....You've got to be kidding, you came to the ER for this?:banghead: What makes you think this is an emergency?:angryfire Do you know the definition of EMERGENCY and this is not an emergency.:down: Have ever laughed when a patient gave their chief complaint?:chuckle Have you ever wanted to laugh? Have ever wanted to tell a mother how stupid she is?:saint: Have you ever just wanted to have a virtual TV show staged from your triage area.....haha:yeah:

And, "If you spent a little less time getting your nails done, hair done, Botox injected, and shoe shopping (all obvious from observation) and a little more time in one-on-one interaction with your 13-year old son, he MIGHT not right now be wearing eyeliner, black fingernail polish and sitting in my triage chair threatening to OD on the 3 different psychotropic meds that you have convinced the pediatrician to prescribe to keep him quiet and out of your hair.

(wow, that one felt good ... thanks)

Oh yes ...

On weekend nights it's more entertaining than COPS.

"Oh, but I don't have time! I'm a single parent/working mother/etc."

:vlin:

We all know you got yourself pregnant either to trap a guy (unsuccessfully, and he couldn't pay child support if he wanted to because he's in prison), or as a lifetime meal ticket on our dime, not to mention those SSI checks your kid gets for all his fake psych diagnoses.

Yes, that "got yourself pregnant" thing was deliberate.

:argue:

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p.s. I have a relative whose ex-husband had to pay the kids' medical bills after they got divorced. I've known lots of couples who did this, and 99% of the time it's a perfectly legitimate way for a parent (dad OR mom) to contribute to the support of their children, but she found ways to take her kids to doctors almost on a daily basis, and if they were sick (or even if they weren't) she would take them to the ER just to soak him.

Has anyone else encountered this kind of thing?

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
p.s. I have a relative whose ex-husband had to pay the kids' medical bills after they got divorced. I've known lots of couples who did this, and 99% of the time it's a perfectly legitimate way for a parent (dad OR mom) to contribute to the support of their children, but she found ways to take her kids to doctors almost on a daily basis, and if they were sick (or even if they weren't) she would take them to the ER just to soak him.

Has anyone else encountered this kind of thing?

I have heard of this...what a waste of our time.

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Specializes in Hem/Onc, ER.

We had a Mom bring in her 15 or 16 year old daughter at 0500 and state," She (the daughter) has been out all night and I want a drug and alcohol test done on her." I am still new to ER but everyone at triage just stared at the Mom for a minute because we were so flabbergasted!!

Ann :D

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
"Oh, but I don't have time! I'm a single parent/working mother/etc."

:vlin:

We all know you got yourself pregnant either to trap a guy (unsuccessfully, and he couldn't pay child support if he wanted to because he's in prison), or as a lifetime meal ticket on our dime, not to mention those SSI checks your kid gets for all his fake psych diagnoses.

Yes, that "got yourself pregnant" thing was deliberate.

I don't disagree with what you're saying, but what I was describing was an entirely different demographic -- what my grandma would call the "more money than common sense" crowd. ;)

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I don't disagree with what you're saying, but what I was describing was an entirely different demographic -- what my grandma would call the "more money than common sense" crowd. ;)

And those people are even worse than the welfare abusers!

I know such a family. The 9-year-old son cuts himself. The 6-year-old girl, about whom we're all surprised her mommy doesn't put on the pageant circuit, binges and purges.

:eek:

Sad thing is, if they gave parenting licenses, this couple would probably pass with flying colors. :(

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Specializes in ER/Trauma.

Before I graduated, I did a 6 week externship in the ER at a local community hospital.

Right at the entrance, in big bold letters was a poster.

It began thusly:

IF YOU HAVE :

...and then proceeded to list a dozen medical conditions.

At the end of the list was the following -

IF YOU HAD THE TIME TO READ THIS LIST, YOU DO NOT HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY.

I'm not lying nor making that up. I wish I'd had a camera of some sort to prove it. That poster didn't make much sense to me at first ...

.... today, it does. It makes a LOT of sense :stone

cheers,

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Specializes in ER/Nuero/PHN/LTC/Skilled/Alzheimer's.

I have on occasion said the first thing that popped into my head, such as "OMG, that looks like it hurts like he**!" to a woman whose middle finger was dislocated sideways at the second joint. I then apologized but she just laughed it off. I try to appear if not somewhat sympathetic then at least "politely indifferent" in some cases. It's not that I don't care, but when I see a frequent flyer who I KNOW is there to soak up pain meds or to get attention I have to mask what I feel in some way. I've been told by people before I have a very expressive face and I try to school that when I come up on BS.

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Specializes in ER.
Have you ever wanted to tell a patient in triage....You've got to be kidding, you came to the ER for this?:banghead: What makes you think this is an emergency?:angryfire Do you know the definition of EMERGENCY and this is not an emergency.:down: Have ever laughed when a patient gave their chief complaint?:chuckle Have you ever wanted to laugh? Have ever wanted to tell a mother how stupid she is?:saint: Have you ever just wanted to have a virtual TV show staged from your triage area.....haha:yeah:

if confientiality weren't an issue and all could be anonymous, it would be hilarious to have a tv show, or webcam, that would show "real" nursing.

I triaged a guy who said he had something wrong with his eye. Upon further questioning, he said "well me and my friend we was tag teamin' this girl and I think she gave me somethin'" When I asked what that had to do with his eye..... (wait for it... as I was at the time, just KNOWING it was going to be funny)... he said he had some green stuff comin' out of his "ya know" and he touched his eye.... :no:

I did say (knee jerk response), "well why did ya do that???!!!" Yikes.... quite a funny moment... for me :chuckle

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Specializes in ER.
Or how about the nurse's who tell the patient's REALLY why they came in...

We had a patient who tried to commit suicide by hanging himself. His nurse asked "Sir do you know why you are here..?...

(blank stare from patient)

Nurse: You tried to commit suicide and you failed.

Ohhhhh!:scrying:

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Specializes in ER.
p.s. I have a relative whose ex-husband had to pay the kids' medical bills after they got divorced. I've known lots of couples who did this, and 99% of the time it's a perfectly legitimate way for a parent (dad OR mom) to contribute to the support of their children, but she found ways to take her kids to doctors almost on a daily basis, and if they were sick (or even if they weren't) she would take them to the ER just to soak him.

Has anyone else encountered this kind of thing?

wow, that's exhausting. It's hard to imagine there are people out there who would take that kind of TIME to work so hard to bother another human being. I must be simply lazy. :p

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.
Ohhhhh!:scrying:

Ok, come on, you have to admit it was a bit funny, morbid too.

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