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 med-surg.

Pardon my ignorance, but is there ever a time when the triage nurse/doc can just inform the patients that their situation is not an emergency, and to get their butts to their PCP or clinic?

Also can't there be some kind of public service announcements on TV/radio/newspapers to educate the public about what a true emergency is and when a visit to the ER actually warranted?

What is the solution? :confused:

Pardon my ignorance, but is there ever a time when the triage nurse/doc can just inform the patients that their situation is not an emergency, and to get their butts to their PCP or clinic?

Also can't there be some kind of public service announcements on TV/radio/newspapers to educate the public about what a true emergency is and when a visit to the ER actually warranted?

What is the solution? :confused:

nurses, no; docs yes...

the second part: they dont care.

Specializes in ED.

I had a patient who came in because he vomited 2 days ago, No N/V since, it was resolved and wanted to know why??????????????

Pardon my ignorance, but is there ever a time when the triage nurse/doc can just inform the patients that their situation is not an emergency, and to get their butts to their PCP or clinic?

Also can't there be some kind of public service announcements on TV/radio/newspapers to educate the public about what a true emergency is and when a visit to the ER actually warranted?

What is the solution? :confused:

I mentioned earlier in this thread that taking your kids to the ER because your ex-spouse has to pay their medical bills and you want to soak him/her is not an emergency either. I have a relative who did this until her kids made it very clear that they did not want to spend their time going to doctors when they weren't sick. :mad:

Specializes in Trauma/ED, SANE/FNE, LNC.
Pardon my ignorance, but is there ever a time when the triage nurse/doc can just inform the patients that their situation is not an emergency, and to get their butts to their PCP or clinic?

Also can't there be some kind of public service announcements on TV/radio/newspapers to educate the public about what a true emergency is and when a visit to the ER actually warranted?

What is the solution? :confused:

not since 1998 when EMTALA was put into law. My solution for the healthcare crisis..... abolish EMTALA

Specializes in ER, NICU.

Had a patient yesterday who came in non verbal, suspected stroke. Turns out she had a fight with the hubby and decided to fake a stroke. She was suddenly and miraculously healed when the Doc told her the side effects of tp-A were brain bleed and death. :banghead:

Specializes in Family medicine, cardiology, hematology.
4. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina we saw multiple patients from same family who came to ER for " Hurricane flashbacks" and told us their doc from back home said only Oxycontin would help alleviate the flashbacks and it would be easier to give them 60 day supply until they could get back. So i asked which city in LA they were from and they couldn't remember, they were that traumatized. I made up a city, yep thats where they were from, i made up a street name.. would you believe they lived on that same street !

For all the BS that came into the ER, some of them were miraculously healed after a nice 8 and 12 hour theraputic wait :)

I was working in a hematology/oncology office in Central La. during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. It was horrible trying to help people who were receiving chemo and not having access to their records.

One memorable pt. came in stating he had "bone cancer" and needed his extensive list of meds refilled but didn't really want to get "treatment". The MD scheduled him for a PET (i think) to see how bad his "cancer" was and start his treatment. She gave him enough pain meds to make it through the test and come back for f/u.

The dude never showed up for testing. We rescheduled; he no-showed again. Then he wanted r/f on pain meds. MD wouldn't refill meds until he had test and f/u visit. We never heard from him again. It's amazing how people run scams during disasters :madface:

Specializes in Cardiac, Derm, OB.
Do not feel bad! I was ER nurse and my son - also 7 or 8 - had extreme abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. He cried when anyone touched his belly so off to the ER we went (it was the Er where I worked). the Doc thought appendicitis and sent us to a surgeon. After another round of tests and before sending us to be admitted the surgeon ordered a strep test. Guess what he had strep. I felt like an idiot!!! Turns out that for some, abdominal pain is an indicator of a significant case of strep.

I thought we were the only ones that did this. Glad to know there are at least two.

When I worked Pedi, we saw several cases of strep throat that were abdominal pain, N&V. My own son when he gets strep usually has nausea and abdominal pain even when there is no sore throat?? go figure.

Specializes in OB, ER, SDS, ENDO, PACU.

We had a pt. call the ambulance because his water heater was broken.

Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

a friend's son is a paramedic with our local ambulance service. i live in a very very small town where we all either know or are related to practically everyone else.

a call came in from a very agitated lol whose voice was still recognizable despite her level of anxiety.

when the dispatcher realized she was speaking to mrs. ___ and that she was nearly ninety, she yelled for the paramedic. he decided a visit was probably needed since she was not known to be a panic button pusher.

the problem when the crew got there?

her equally elderly dog was choking and they dislodged the cat toy and were on their way.

miss gertrude the dog never made it to the people er, but almost!:)

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

Specializes in ER.

Great thread! I have seen:

-I was watching Diagnosis X..... Well, you might have some rare condition. My teeny ER doesn't happen to have the one doc on the east coast that specializes in that working tonight. Sorry.

-The umbilical cord dropped off.

-'I had a scratch a few weeks ago. I don't remember when my last tetorifice was. I've been waiting 30 minutes, why can't the doc just see me quick? This is why I would never come to this place for a real emergency.' Ummm.... he's arranging an airlift.

-Yeast infection.

-30 minutes after triage, presenting complaint of 'baby spits up'. The parents announce they are leaving now- 'We've waited too long and the ped is back from lunch...."

-I took the smiling Bob pill, got a headache, just want to make sure it's ok to proceed as planned.

-I got this letter a couple of days ago so I want to make sure my child doesn't have lice. He didn't.

-Sunburn. Not even pink.

-Sunburn, fairly bad a week ago, healing now.

-Saw the doc two hours ago, took a pill 30 minutes PTA, no better.

-Overheard a stranger at the store talking about 'the mursia'. Wants a 'salve in case it's catching'.

-Had a fever/threw up/had an itch/ etc. yesterday. Resolved now.

-A pt brought in by EMS after a minor fender-bender. No damage to either vehicle. Pt refused repeatedly a c-collar or backboard and even signed the paper. Refused again at the ER. Refused the soft-collar at D/C even though we never mentioned one and it wasn't ordered. Also stated to the doc upon initial assessment- 'I just need documentation in case I sue for whiplash.' Good luck with that!

-Elderly pt, family in for the yearly visit. They brought pt to the ER and dropped the pt off! Pt states to me "I don't know why the beep I'm here."

People are interesting, that's for sure.

Specializes in ER.

80% of what we see is ridiculous. From "I need you to trim my in grown toenail" to "could you xray my thumb because it hurts when I text message" I like ER because I actually have a job where I go to work and laugh.

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