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 ?

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Another nurse in my pod had a patient who was brought in by the patient's parents because.....wait for it.....

when the patient doesn't wear the patient's glasses, the patient's vision is blurry.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

Nursing home sent a 90-something yr old patient in to the ED at 9pm because she had a cough earlier in the day and the doctor "wanted her sent in for a chest X ray." Nursing home nurse made a point of telling the medics that the pt was so bad she had to be on "2 liters of oxygen...HIGH FLOW!" (Needless to say neither the medics nor ED staff saw/heard her cough once time).

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

Recently had a pt with a CC of "dry lips" (get you minds out of the gutter!!!). Doctor told her to try vaseline. Not my pt, not sure what she wanted, but she immediately eloped after the MD did not give her something different.

[k00ky]

a patient, who's working as a call center agent, came to er complaining of "SEVERE" sore throat.. then insisted that he needs a "sick leave" coz he can't work with that pain on his throat

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

good grief!!

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Sore knee for 7 years, 40yo male. Arrived in triage carrying a take out coffee (XL) and six Archie comics.

[Scout12]

Newest one, and there are thousands I could talk about, was a diabetic patient came by ambulance to have a necrotic place on her toe checked. She was being treated for it. When I was triaging her she stated "I really here because I am constipated, want my foley changed and to be admitted. I need to get away from my family for awhile........

[allstudentnurses, ASN, RN]

Had one the other night, had a "injury" to his arm, he came in via ambulance. It was a very minor bruise. He was triaged and discharged in all of about 15 minutes.

[DeadHeadRN, BSN, RN]

Whenever I see "retained object," I'm always curious to see what it is...

Well, the two most amazing were:

1) Butane canister (wow!). Cap still on, thankfully. Surgery took him upstairs shortly after he came in (GI couldn't get it out, and they were really worried about the cap coming off and the butane leaking into this poor dude's colon).

On a "lighter" side (oh the bad jokes that followed):

I can say that "sparked" many "explosive diarrhea" comments... talk about "bad gas." (Oh, ER humor).

2) A bowling pin. Yes, a bowling pin. The *entire* bowling pin. I don't know how, and I don't wanna know.

Does that count as a strike or a spare?

I LOVE retained objects too!!!! We've had a couple of good ones. One of my favorites was an 18 year old girl with a vibrator stuck in her rectum. The best part was that it was still turned on so when I tried to listen for bowel sounds all I could hear was BBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Then there was the man with a cucumber stuck up there. Apparently his girlfriend put it in there and couldn't get it out. He ended up with a colostomy! Sucks for him!!!

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

I LOVE retained objects too!!!! We've had a couple of good ones. One of my favorites was an 18 year old girl with a vibrator stuck in her rectum. The best part was that it was still turned on so when I tried to listen for bowel sounds all I could hear was BBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

:yeah:Love it!!!!

[DeadHeadRN, BSN, RN]

I had a gentleman come in because he didn't have a bowel movement the day before and he felt like he had to have a bowel movement. I asked him how often he usually had BMs had he said every other day. . . the doctor ordered an enema. I came in to give the enema and the Pt said he didn't need it because he had a BM already. He had it BEFORE the doctor came in. I asked if he told the MD that when he came in examine him. . . . he said "no because he didn't ask me"

YOU ARE HERE FOR CONSTIPATION WHY WOULD THE DOCTOR ASK YOU IF YOU HAD A BM WHILE YOU WERE HERE!

Really!?

Don't you love it? Sometimes I truly feel the the docs and I are seeing different pts. It never fails, the pt tells the doc one thing and then proceeds to tell me a completely different story.

[DeadHeadRN, BSN, RN]

I don't know about the rest of you, but one of the biggest problem we have in my ED is the nursing homes. They send pts over for the most ridiculous things sometimes, and I often find the people who work there to be completely incompetent. Here is a recent example:

Local nursing home sends pt to us for a fever. On their paperwork it states the pts temp= 105.1. Upon arrival I do a rectal temp which is 106.3. I immediately look through the med sheets from the home to see what time Tylenol was given. Now I look and look and look and cannot find ANY documentation that Tylenol was given at all. I give the pt ibuprofen, put her on a cooling blanket and call the home. The conversation went like this:

Me: I'm calling to find out what time you gave Tylenol.

Nurse @ the home: I didn't give her any.

Me: Come again?

Nurse: I didn't give her any.

Me: You do understand that a temperature that high in an elderly pt can cause seizures and can be life-threatening, right?

Nurse: I guess.

Me: You guess?! I'm sorry I'm have some difficulty understanding this situation. I see on your paperwork that the pt had a temp of 105.1, which is why you sent her to us (keep in my that they called a private ambulance which normally takes about 60 minutes to arrive, not a regular ambulance). The pt has a prn Tylenol order which specifically says to give for temp >101. and the last time I checked, 105.1 is greater than 101. So now the pt has a temp of 105.1, a life threatening problem in anyone, but especially an 86 year old woman. I would very much appreciate it if you would enlighten me as to why you did not give this woman Tylenol.

Nurse: Well we didn't want to mask anything by bringing her temp down.

WHAT???!!! Sometimes I really wonder about these nursing homes. What ever happened to basic nursing care?