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 ?

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
This stuff makes me so angry! :( I went to the local ER and they dismissed my pain. They thought it was GERD. It took me three hours to tell this resident that it wasn't GERD. I have had GERD all my life(birth defects). They got me a cat scan nothing showed. Later on that year I found out that I had gallstones by an ultrasound. Anyone had a gallbladder attack? OMG I haven't had children yet, but if it is anything like that I will ok. I was in the ER for 10 hours. I repeat 10 hours. Then I got the physicans report for other tests they might run to see what was done. She accused me of drug seeking and lord forbid if I was sleeping. I was up for two days with the pain and they gave me phenergan. It's just amazing what people will do to go to the ER and people who really need the medical treatment is screwed over. I might add that I work on SIMCU at the hospial as an CNA and I attend nursing school (BSN). It's just another world out there I guess.

Yes it is as you will learn

what was being shaved

dirty ole men like to know

Her legs...bad boy!!!

But if she had an injury...a better nurse than I needed to find it.

Of course, she did also want pain meds...for her "TRAUMATIC injury"

Can ya say...don't let the door hit ya...

We Have A Ton Of Things I Could Talk Forever About That Should Never Be Seen In An Er. Alaska Is MedicAID Capital Of The World. But One Interesting Thing Is Our Hooks.

The Kenai Peninsula Is Regarded As The Best Salmon/ Halibut Fishing In The World-literally. We Get Alot Of Tourists With Fishooks In Various Places, Mostly The Face And Neck. Last Two Years The Month Of July (red Season) We Had Over 100. This Year We Are Shy At About 90.not An Emergency, But Most Ppl Dont Have The Cahones To Pull Them Themselves.

We Also Get A Lot Of Sinker Injuries.

The Weight Comes Flying Out Of The Water At Mach Speed And Nails The Guy Behind You Right Smack In The Eyeball. I've Seen A Lot Of Nasty Faces Because Of That...

These stories are so funny...I can't beleive the things people go into the ER for! But I get upset because while these people are being triaged and examined for things that sometimes don't even warrant a doctor's visit (i.e. the girl with gum in her hair), there are sick people having to wait! I took my 18 y/o son into the ER at 1 AM with severe vomiting due to food poisoning...he's a type 1 diabetic, and couldn't keep anything down, and being a stubborn "adult", he didn't want to tell Mom...his best friend and girlfriend finally came and woke me up. I could tell by his breathing and the ketones on his breath that he was going DKA. There were 5 people already in the triage rooms, and only one of them should have been there, and we had to wait till they were done before they could even get him through triage. And when they finally got him into the actual room, it took several minutes to get a nurse in there, much less a doctor. Finally, they did his exam, checked his sugar (just read HIGH), did labs, and got him hooked up to IV's, and he ended up spending 3 days in ICU. I know that he would have ended up there no matter what, and that's his own fault for being Mr. Macho and not telling me as soon as his symptoms started, but I was stressed out watching my son suffer and seeing people in the triage rooms for the sniffles and a cough!!! OK, just needed to vent a bit....keep the stories coming!!!

Terre:p

I'd mentioned my own personal story elsewhere, but on the lines of people being in ER for unecessary stuff; such as the time I was in (due to traumatic injuries/fractures which ended up in a several week hospitalization at the time - healed up with no adverse sequelae fortunately). What disgusted me was being in excruciating pain, and watching a kid with conjunctivitis (pink eye). Hearing the kid do an eye test while I was laying there disgusted me. Some of the ridiculous reasons people go in are worse when your a patient with an actual legit problem.

Of note, the pink eye kid, roughly 8 years old or so, obviously stable and the paranoid parent could/SHOULD have taken him to the local 'doc-in-the-box'/after hours care place.

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
I'd mentioned my own personal story elsewhere, but on the lines of people being in ER for unecessary stuff; such as the time I was in (due to traumatic injuries/fractures which ended up in a several week hospitalization at the time - healed up with no adverse sequelae fortunately). What disgusted me was being in excruciating pain, and watching a kid with conjunctivitis (pink eye). Hearing the kid do an eye test while I was laying there disgusted me. Some of the ridiculous reasons people go in are worse when your a patient with an actual legit problem.

Of note, the pink eye kid, roughly 8 years old or so, obviously stable and the paranoid parent could/SHOULD have taken him to the local 'doc-in-the-box'/after hours care place.

Why go to a Doc in a Box

they send half their stuff to us anyway

Why go to a Doc in a Box

they send half their stuff to us anyway

Half...you only get half?!!?

Hee Hee Hee

Some days I think all we are doing is clearing out the local "doc-in-the-box" or clearing out the nursing homes!!!

:rolleyes:

Specializes in ICU/CCU/CVICU/ED/HS.

As an "AMBULANCE DRIVER":angryfire ...I have been called out at O'dark30 for some stupid stuff. Yes, we bring it to you (most of it) But...What about...My child has not been sleeping well. (HX of drinking tea/cola and watching horror flicks) Or...The stubbed toe, 6 hours ago, and you HAVE to take me, I have a Medicaide card.:angryfire :angryfire . The thing that probably aggravates me the most though, is when some calls for a diabetic emergency (hypoglycemia), we start an IV, push D-50, the patient regains cons. THEN refuses to go to the hospital.:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

OH, well it has been said before but is worthy of repeating stupidity=job security:chuckle

As an "AMBULANCE DRIVER":angryfire ...I have been called out at O'dark30 for some stupid stuff. Yes, we bring it to you (most of it) But...What about...My child has not been sleeping well. (HX of drinking tea/cola and watching horror flicks) Or...The stubbed toe, 6 hours ago, and you HAVE to take me, I have a Medicaide card.:angryfire :angryfire . The thing that probably aggravates me the most though, is when some calls for a diabetic emergency (hypoglycemia), we start an IV, push D-50, the patient regains cons. THEN refuses to go to the hospital.:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

OH, well it has been said before but is worthy of repeating stupidity=job security:chuckle

I can only imagine what Pediatricians and OB/GYN Doc's go through when they are on call. In conversation during my son's routine exam, I asked the Pediatrician if he ever got any ridiculous phone calls. He told me that he was recently paged for an urgent matter.

The urgent matter you ask?

"When should I start my 3 month old daughter on vegetables?" This was at 3 in the morning! He didn't go into details on what his response was :chuckle

WOW!! Here in Memphis, the paramedics/emts are no longer allowed to refuse transport. Apparantly, several years ago, they had refused transport for a seemingly non-emergent patient...and he died. Now, they have to bring any and everybody that calls for an ambulance. We've seen pts call an ambulance because they ran out of refills. Basically, some people use it because they have no other means of transportation.

Same here in Maryland. Once they're called, they can't refuse to transport. And they do get the most stupid calls.

On the other hand, we had a woman with 2nd and 3d degree burns on her arms and breast wait 3 days for treatment because she had to make an appointment for a public transportation bus because she wasn't on their regular route. She didn't want "to bother those nice Ambulance people."

I grabbed a passing "ambulance person" and we both told her in situations like hers, they are happy to help. That poor woman was suffering so much when she got to us.

Same here in Maryland. Once they're called, they can't refuse to transport. And they do get the most stupid calls.

On the other hand, we had a woman with 2nd and 3d degree burns on her arms and breast wait 3 days for treatment because she had to make an appointment for a public transportation bus because she wasn't on their regular route. She didn't want "to bother those nice Ambulance people."

I grabbed a passing "ambulance person" and we both told her in situations like hers, they are happy to help. That poor woman was suffering so much when she got to us.

Isn't it always the way!!

The people who really need an ambulance come in by private car...

And every yahoo with a hangnail and a medicaid card calls 911!!!

:o

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