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.
My favorite: a 23 yr old female comes to our er complaining of "severe mouth pain". She had had her tongue pierced that day. I didn't even bother to try and keep a straight face.
What really blows my mind is the patients who come in comatose d/t etoh, gcs 10-11, we put them in rooms across from our stations to keep an eye on them. They somehow get out of bed without setting off the cardiac moniter, naked as a jaybird with their gowns hanging of the IV tubing attatched to their arm and sit on chairs thinking they're toilets to void and we're none the wiser until we hear the "water" hit the ground! That's stealth technology!
Specializes in M/S, Onc, PCU, ER, ICU, Nsg Sup., Neuro.
How about when the medicaid/welfare pt's tell you " If it wasn't for people like us, you people wouldn't have a job." Doesn't it make you want to scream and tell them if wasn't for people like us, you wouldn't have healthcare coverage. Or when they want a script for OTC drugs like Motrin and Tylenol, maybe if they cut back on their cigarettes they could affords these little items. Had someone register the other day with abd pain, N/V and H/A for 2 years, so what made it worse today??????????? :D :D
Back pain, for the last 7 yrs! And they can name exactly which vertebrae are involved.
Vomiting-- since 0630 this morning. It's 0730 and they've arrived by ambulance.
"Everything hurts."
The ones who have "a story to tell" and it takes you forever to triage & work them up.
...And one of my very favorites, the ones who bring in a bucket, place it between you & them on the floor, and repeatedly lean over and spit in the bucket as they tell you their sad story!
you mean you don't like when they come in, cough or spit, and they are flailing theuir hands all over looking at the big spiderweb they just made? lmao! :chuckle
I wasn't going to post about this but it has happened to me on multiple occasions. Have you folks ever had a patient who is "Sleeved" in tatoos start sweating when you go to start a IV and says "I dont like needles!" I then casually put down the 20ga and open up the 14ga.
Ok, I know this thread is old, but it made me laugh, so... My favorite is the person who brings their two year old in at 0200 and says..."She saw Dr. Jones this afternoon and she just doesn't seem to be getting any better!" "And what did Dr. Jones reccommend?" asks the nurse. "Well he gave her this pink stuff adn some purple stuff for a cough, but we haven't given her any yet." "And it hasn't helped? Dr. Jones didn't lay his hands on her and cure her? Well, color me surprised."
Yes it was positive for blood. Went back to the patient getting to place an IV in him and he asks me for a bandaid because he pricked his finger. I didnt ask him how.
I have had a few of those type idiots.... the best one that had poked himself so hard that he syncoped in the bathroom from the site of his own blood.....found urine cup with blood all over it and a thumbtack in the sink.............
:imbar :roll 
:D
ERNurse752, RN
1,323 Posts
How about the guy who just got out of the pscyh unit, hasn't slept in six days, and drank soap as a suicide attempt?
Apparently, it was good enough to get him ID'd, hehe