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

Specialties Emergency Nursing Q/A

Updated:  

You are reading page 133 of What was the MOST ridiculous thing a patient came to the ER for?

Specializes in Emergency.

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!!!

Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
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::yeah:Love it!!!!
Specializes in Emergency.
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.

Specializes in Emergency.

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?

Specializes in Emergency.

@ DeadHeadRN, you're lucky. I rarely get any paperwork from the Nursing Homes at all.

miss81, BSN, RN

342 Posts

Specializes in Surgery, Tele, OB, Peds,ED-True Float RN.

Me: What brings you to the ER today?

Patient: My belly button smells!

Me: Ok... do you have your belly button pierced?

Pt: No

Me: Ok... is it draining anything?

Pt: No

Me: Do you have any pain?

Pt: No, but every time I stick me finger in it and smell my finger it stinks!

Me: Ok, like when your washing it?

Pt: No, like when I stick my fingers in it!

Me: Why would you stick your fingers in there?

Pt: To smell it!

Me: Couldn't you wait and see your family doctor about this?

Pt: No... it's too embarrassing to tell him that my belly button smells.

Our ER doc loved this one. His advice was to clean it more often!

Specializes in Emergency.
Me: What brings you to the ER today?

Patient: My belly button smells!

Me: Ok... do you have your belly button pierced?

Pt: No

Me: Ok... is it draining anything?

Pt: No

Me: Do you have any pain?

Pt: No, but every time I stick me finger in it and smell my finger it stinks!

Me: Ok, like when your washing it?

Pt: No, like when I stick my fingers in it!

Me: Why would you stick your fingers in there?

Pt: To smell it!

Me: Couldn't you wait and see your family doctor about this?

Pt: No... it's too embarrassing to tell him that my belly button smells.

Our ER doc loved this one. His advice was to clean it more often!

:yeah:

Hokis1130

14 Posts

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!!!

hahaha omg that is soooo crazy!! i dont know what i would do if i saw that

LegzRN

300 Posts

Specializes in CEN, CPEN, RN-BC.
Why go to a Doc in a Box

they send half their stuff to us anyway

One time I got a pt from a doc in the box with cc urinary retention. He had a foley catheter in and I said "where was that put in at?" He told me one of the nurses at the doc in the box did it. I was stunned.

Specializes in Oncology, Medical.

I don't work in the ER but I've certainly heard stories from ER nurses.

Best one I've heard was girls (sadly, this doesn't seem to be an isolated case) coming in for pregnancy tests.

One former colleague (he transferred to the ER not too long ago) told us of how he was looking after a girl who came in with persistent vomiting....because she kept shoving her fingers down her throat. She refused to leave until they "cured" her vomiting problem, so they gave her some anti-emetics anyway, but of course, they did nothing. Obviously, she needed a psychiatrist more than the ER but she still refused to leave the ER *sigh*

We've also received elderly patients who came to the ER due to aggressive behaviour related to dementia. And then, of course, we pretty much become a nursing home rather than an acute medical floor. It's as if people expect us to find a cure for dementia!

Specializes in Emergency.

Okay, I think I have the best one yet. Two days ago, a man came in via ambulance, chief complaint was he ran out of his prescription medications. Seriously, he wasted a 911 call on THAT. Why he didn't call his physician is beyond me.

rph3664

1,714 Posts

Best one I've heard was girls (sadly, this doesn't seem to be an isolated case) coming in for pregnancy tests.

Not a small number of those girls come to the ER, instead of going to the dollar store, because they believe that if they come to the hospital, they can get an abortion if it's positive.

+ Add a Comment