Stupidest reason to go to ER

rph3664 · Jan 10, 2008

Has anyone here ever read "Intern" by Dr. X? This book was a big best-seller in the mid-1960s, and the author was later revealed to be Dr. Alan Nourse, who also wrote science fiction and medical books for children and a column for "Good Housekeeping" until his death in the early 1990s. It was a chronicle of his internship year in Seattle in 1956.

Anyway, when he was doing his ER rotation, he once had a patient who came in complaining that one of her kidneys had come loose and fallen over her gallbladder.

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose........

NoWhereNear · Jan 11, 2008

Then get a PMD. Make use of the clinic. Use the FREE clinc if that's what you need. Not every ER has a "minor treatment area". And even if they do, those areas are pulling staff and resources away from those who truly need emergency treatment.

For the record, laypeople don't always know when it's an emergency. My brother was sluggish and just kind of out of it after getting over a cold. My mom tried to get him into their regular doc, and he didn't want to go (typical difficult teenager), so they didn't. No big deal, he's just taking awhile to get over a normal cold, right? The next day she found him laying in his room looking BAD. She didn't call 911. She loaded him into the car and drove him herself up to the hospital where he died 12 hours later of pancreatitis.

My mom's also driven herself to the hospital and been promptly parked in the ICU when she got there. She really hates to bother people/overreact, so she waits until things are BAD.

So, when I get to be a nurse, if I end up working in the ER, I'm going to try to look at it like this: Would I rather have someone not-too-sick come in overly worried about nothing, OR would I rather see someone die because they didn't want to bother us or seem alarmist?

rph3664 · Jan 11, 2008

For the record, laypeople don't always know when it's an emergency. My brother was sluggish and just kind of out of it after getting over a cold. My mom tried to get him into their regular doc, and he didn't want to go (typical difficult teenager), so they didn't. No big deal, he's just taking awhile to get over a normal cold, right? The next day she found him laying in his room looking BAD. She didn't call 911. She loaded him into the car and drove him herself up to the hospital where he died 12 hours later of pancreatitis.
My mom's also driven herself to the hospital and been promptly parked in the ICU when she got there. She really hates to bother people/overreact, so she waits until things are BAD.
So, when I get to be a nurse, if I end up working in the ER, I'm going to try to look at it like this: Would I rather have someone not-too-sick come in overly worried about nothing, OR would I rather see someone die because they didn't want to bother us or seem alarmist?

((((((hugs))))))

There's a post elsewhere on this board about a woman who went to her doctor on a Monday with a gangrenous leg. The doctor asked her why she didn't call 911 when the symptoms began two days earlier, and she replied, "Oh, I didn't want to bother those nice ambulance people."

Chances are, she would have lost her leg anyway but waiting 2 days didn't help.

buggal1989 · Jan 11, 2008

Don't freak but over here we actually ask people to bring the snake in with them - aids in identification (a lot of ours look similar - just don't ask me to do the actualy ID because for that you have to count the anal scales and THAT is too close for my comfort) The way to deal with a snake is to put it in the freezer - slows the beggers down so your boys actually did the right thing.

This snake was quite chilled - the funny part was the bud floating in with the snake and I forgot to say that one of the good ole boys wanted to reach in a pull the snake out for us along with a bud for himself. But to be fair he offered us one too!:w00t::cheers:

crystal22 · Jan 11, 2008

How about "I got hit in the leg with a baseball 2 months ago, and thought I would come in with my friend (who was in because she vomited x1 a week ago).....This was at 2am on a Saturday night.

joy09 · Jan 12, 2008

I had a mom come in with a cold, one child also with a cold. She figured her other one would get sick but wasn't yet so she reported his chief complain as bad breath.

grace90, LPN, LVN · Jan 12, 2008

So, when I get to be a nurse, if I end up working in the ER, I'm going to try to look at it like this: Would I rather have someone not-too-sick come in overly worried about nothing, OR would I rather see someone die because they didn't want to bother us or seem alarmist?

This summer my mentally challenged son got a bad stomach bug. He couldn't keep anything down and was not his usual self, but just laid on the couch lethargic. This went on about 24 hours. Nothing stayed down, and the heat was in the 90's.

We finally took him to an urgent care center. I didn't want to overreact. I thought he'd eventually be fine and it was just a virus, and he'd be sent home.

The urgent care doc took one look at him and smelled ketotic breath on him and had an ambulance there to take him to a hospital within 15 minutes. He got a liter of fluid in the ER, and was so dehydrated he was headed toward acute renal failure. With potassium and fluid replacement, anti-emetics and rest, and a negative abdominal CT, he was fine and came home after a few days. :scrying:

HelenofOz · Jan 12, 2008

This was from over 30 years ago, but still stands out in my mind.

Mother from very affluent suburb with school age son, stool specimen in a jar-white "things" included-yep, he had worms!

I don't know that it was really all that stupid compared to some of the other reasons that have been given, but sometimes you are just left shaking your head at how little some people know about the workings of the human body.

DebanamRN, MSN, RN · Jan 12, 2008

I just had a pt on Thursday who couldn't figure out why her chest hurt if her lungs were hyperinflated. Turns out she thought her lungs were in her abdomen, where her stomach is. She was sick, and did belong in the ER, but it was just as HelenofOz said, "how little some people know about the workings of the human body." I used the opportunity to educate her.

buggal1989 · Jan 12, 2008

setting: about 10pm: my baby has a fever. did you give the baby tylenol? yes. when was the last time you gave it? yesterday.

the baby usually had an ear infection and had been sick 2 days or more and the mother did not work and she had several means of transportation - the bus line stops at the hospital and the person who brought her in usually had a car and also did not work. we had many doctors in town that accepted medicaid and are open in the day! patient was always educated that you need to give the baby more than one dose of tylenol as well as other fever reduction methods! in the town i worked in there was a popular belief that one dose of tylenol was all that was need to "cure" a fever! but usually we would see the same mother, possibly with another child, come in again always after the doctors offices had closed. i guess they thought the intensive education we offered only applied to the one child! :icon_roll

rph3664 · Jan 13, 2008

I just had a pt on Thursday who couldn't figure out why her chest hurt if her lungs were hyperinflated. Turns out she thought her lungs were in her abdomen, where her stomach is. She was sick, and did belong in the ER, but it was just as HelenofOz said, "how little some people know about the workings of the human body." I used the opportunity to educate her.

Did you see Suzanne Somers on Larry King a few evenings ago? She was talking about all the supplements she's on, and how they work. It was obvious that she did not know what she was talking about, but how many people would watch this and take her seriously, thinking she's an expert?

Example: Her husband uses testosterone gel. She says it has to be given that way because of all the toxins in our environment. No, Suzanne, it's given that way or injected because it's chewed up by first-pass metabolism, and compromises the organ's function on top of it.

I got Kevin Trudeau's book "Natural Cures THEY Don't Want You To Know About" and it was good for a laugh and not much else.

rph3664 · Jan 13, 2008

This was from over 30 years ago, but still stands out in my mind.
Mother from very affluent suburb with school age son, stool specimen in a jar-white "things" included-yep, he had worms!
I don't know that it was really all that stupid compared to some of the other reasons that have been given, but sometimes you are just left shaking your head at how little some people know about the workings of the human body.

Actually, that's not such a bad idea. Then the doctor would know what was going on and how to treat it.

Shortly after 9/11, a scrawny cat showed up in my neighborhood, and he's curled up on my couch right now. :1luvu:He clearly was not healthy because his stools were pasty and so smelly, it would wake me up if he pooped at night. He was definitely not feral, because he was neutered and declawed. After a few months, he :barf02: on the bedroom floor (of course, the only rooms in the house that were carpeted) and there was a worm crawling around in it. The next day, I took him to the vet, and asked if I should have brought it in with me. No, really, I did, but the vet knew what it was based on my description. The vet gave me some Pin-X for him and my other cat, and in short order, his stools became more normal and he started putting on weight.

It occurred to me, after I cleaned that up, that I should have worn gloves. Oh, well.

Some time later, I noticed that his two hind breasts were swollen, and wondered what could cause breast enlargement in a neutered male cat. I was charged $18 to be told that he's overweight. :trout: No, really, my medical training had me wondering if he had an estrogen-secreting adrenal tumor or some similar thing.