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

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 ?

I know that.

I didn't ask how/why the ambulance came...

I asked why she took it.

since it was already there, what would have been the point? we are talking about someone in more than a little pain...with an unknown degree of injury.......not everyone in this world has someone they can call at the drop of a hat to come and take them to the doc/ed.....

this comes from someone who has been on that side walk with an ankle injury.....unknown degree, a WHOLE lot of pain (and i do well with pain)....when the store persons asked if they should call, i said yes.....i couldnt have driven, and there are no taxis, and i wasnt walking the mile either.....

on the other hand i have driven myself to the ED, in this case 25 miles....with a lac. on my dominate hand driving a stick shift.....again, no one else was going to be doing it for me......

(Just b/c an ambulance is called and arrives, does not mandate that you have to ride with them)

since it was already there, what would have been the point? we are talking about someone in more than a little pain...with an unknown degree of injury.......not everyone in this world has someone they can call at the drop of a hat to come and take them to the doc/ed.....

this comes from someone who has been on that side walk with an ankle injury.....unknown degree, a WHOLE lot of pain (and i do well with pain)....when the store persons asked if they should call, i said yes.....i couldnt have driven, and there are no taxis, and i wasnt walking the mile either.....

on the other hand i have driven myself to the ED, in this case 25 miles....with a lac. on my dominate hand driving a stick shift.....again, no one else was going to be doing it for me......

I thought there was a good possibility that my wrist was broken. At the time, I didn't have a vehicle and I wasn't exactly going to take a possibly broken wrist on a bus. As far as friends go, I did call one later to pick me up but I was honestly in a little too much pain to think of it at the time and I have a high pain tolerance level. I once went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a kidney infection but by the time I got home, I was in so much pain I was throwing up (I called the doctor's office and they prescribed a narcotic pain medication.) I was still (even after the narcotic) sick enough the entire weekend that I was delirious (at one point I was watching a Broncos/Raiders game because I'm a major Broncos fan and my husband was sitting on the couch with me rubbing my legs and trying to make me feel better only I wasn't sure if John Elway was on the couch with me and my husband was playing football or if it was the other way around....I've never been that sick before or since) and didn't want to even look at food. Monday, I went back to the doctor and it turned out I had a centimeter kidney stone. The doctor said "I didn't think you were in enough pain for me to even look for a kidney stone."

Specializes in School Nursing.

I get annoyed when kids come into the school nurse clinic for things like hangnails and single mosquito bites. But to take those kinds of complaints to the ED, that is a special kind of stupid.

Specializes in Psych, ER, Resp/Med, LTC, Education.

In my hospital our ER has a separate Psych ER which is where I work........Well I could tell you a lot of the bizarre crap we see but we have a lady who comes in quite regularly actully and we have to see her.......she comes to med ED (all our patients are triaged through med ER) and demands to "see psych!!!" whe will never tell them more then that. Then every time she comes up and tell the RN doing the primary eval that she is not happy with her treatment provider!!!

The last time she came in I saw her. I go in and she had been to see us just two days before...I looked at her D/C from that visit and they had given her a name and number for a new provider. So I am like...okay so what can I do for you today, what is your emergency??? (lol) she tells me she tried to call this number and left a message a few hours ago and they have not called back!!!!

I could not believe this!! hello I have people waiting who are ready to kill themselves, are totally psychotic, real patients.....this misuse of the ERs drives me nuts!!! And hello...this is an emergency????

Though-- I was watching TV last eve and it was either the news or something and they had on a lady who called 911 because she was at McDonalds and they didn't have the meal she wanted or something--she called 3 times mad as they were not there yet----OMG Stupid people!!!! LOLOL

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

She called because they didn't have the food she had ordered (ran out of nuggets) but wouldn't refund her money. She was calling about the "theft". She got charged for misuse of the 911 system.

Now if we could just charge (either monetarily or legally!) for misuse of the ER...

Had a call on a busy night, teen with constipation for 4 days. Oops! instead of going to the CT, said "I think I just had a baby". Coworker looked under the sheet, and there he was! Kid had a low initial apgar, but pinked up well.

Specializes in ER.

surprise!!!

Specializes in Emergency Dept, ICU.

I had a 20 year old last week present at 4AM! for a cough. I was like why are you coming in at 4am for this cough you have had for 2 weeks. He was like I looked it up and think it could be a car-cu-nomia.

I know all you emerg nurses probably think it's dumb, but I went to emerg today for a dislocated toe.

I knew what was wrong with it, but I pulled and pulled and it just wouldn't go back into place. I called my family doctor and they said they wouldn't do anything with it because they couldn't know for sure if it wasn't broken. I felt like an idiot going to emerg (mostly because I've read this post and people have said it's a dumb reason to go in!).

The doctor gave it one good tug and it was back in! I still feel like a dumba$$ :-(

I don't think it's dumb. You can't leave it dislocated, and if you weren't able to pop it back in yourself, you needed to have it done, if there was no one else to do it for you.

I know all you emerg nurses probably think it's dumb, but I went to emerg today for a dislocated toe.

I knew what was wrong with it, but I pulled and pulled and it just wouldn't go back into place. I called my family doctor and they said they wouldn't do anything with it because they couldn't know for sure if it wasn't broken. I felt like an idiot going to emerg (mostly because I've read this post and people have said it's a dumb reason to go in!).

The doctor gave it one good tug and it was back in! I still feel like a dumba$$ :-(

Specializes in Rescue+Medic+ER ER ER ER.

I would treat you any day for your dislocated toe. Sounds like you did what you could before going to the ER. I wouldn't have put you in front of the line, but you wouldn't have been in the back, either. Please tell me your feet were somewhat clean... I cannot tolerate the smell of toe smegma...

My feet we very clean and my toe nails were even clipped! lol

Thanks Cindy A and Treat et Street, you've made me feel better!

Specializes in ER, Nursing Education.

I've worked as a Nurse Tech in the ER for 2 years now (I graduate in May with my BSN, yay!) and I have seen crazy and ridiculous stuff. Some to note are...

A guy came in who cut off his member, with scissors. Said "God told him to do it." Let's just say I've never looked at a member the same. :chuckle

Another guy came in with a Dove shampoo bottle in his butt, and when him and his girlfriend couldn't get it out, they decided to try a wire coat hanger. Apparently they didn't get the memo that there are toys made specifically for that area if that is what you are into!

People come in for crazy stuff all the time. It gets exhausting after a while. It's actually sad how many people are so uneducated in how to give basic care to themselves.

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