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 ?

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

Almost had to go to the ER with my son for him putting a crayon up his nose. He was at my parent's house and my dad was home with him. My dad comes to my house and starts yelling for me. I get up and come in the living room, and he tells me about my 4 year old putting a crayon up his nose. My son is crying. I try to look. I can see it. I have some hemostats at home and try to pluck it out myself. No luck.

Called the pedi. They wont remove in office. Sent me to acute care office (Kind of like urgent care walk in clinic open during office hours). The doc there was able to remove it. It took 3 of us to hold him down. We almost had to go to the ER for sedation.

My son kept telling my dad that he did it. My dad had a hard time understanding what he was saying.

[%63theend]

Recently: vomiting and abdominal pain........... X 30 min.....

[PurpleLover]

OMg settle down. dont be so sensitive. Air conditioners can't cause all that. sheesh![/quote']

Anytime i hear air conditioner, i know think of legionnaires disease *****.

That is the disease that most stood out for me during micro class.

[HikingEDRN, BSN, RN]

Girl came out in an ice storm for an allergic reaction. No airway involvement or any systemic symptoms, it was just a supposed rash on her arm. I turned up the lights, examined her arm, squinted at it…nothing there. I couldn't believe she came out in such dangerous weather - it was a bad storm. At least she didn't take an ambulance.

When the doc, who has a deadpan sense of humor, came out of the room, he asked me to set up for a central line

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

Girl came out in an ice storm for an allergic reaction. No airway involvement or any systemic symptoms, it was just a supposed rash on her arm. I turned up the lights, examined her arm, squinted at it…nothing there. I couldn't believe she came out in such dangerous weather - it was a bad storm. At least she didn't take an ambulance.

When the doc, who has a deadpan sense of humor, came out of the room, he asked me to set up for a central line

COOL!

[Stacy67CP]

Mar 3, '06 by JeanettePNPHmmm, I'm surprised no one has mentioned these yet:

Stubbed toe

burning eyes from chopping onions

paper cut

hoorifice voice from too much yelling

canker sore (mouth ulcer)

cellulite

cut while shaving

thumb sucking

toilet training

splinter

Oh man no one ever told me the ER could fix my cellulite, that would be one hell of a job benefit.

[Stacy67CP]

Here are a couple:

While I was at Triage I had a woman ask to be seen, she had no CC. She stated that she was driving past the hospital and remembered she hadn't had a pap in >3yrs, but she had extra time today. All I could say was OK

The next one was a teenage Mom with her 1 month baby. The Mom came in asking for sleeping pills for her child, because he/she did not sleep through the entire night. The ER DR. did do a full check up on this infant to make sure there were no signs of abuse, and the infant was healthy.

This next one needed to come to the ER. Think of the flag pole scene in The Christmas Story, well this is the rest of the story. I was at Triage when a Mom came running in carrying her son with a bloody cloth in his little mouth. The Mom explained that they have a very old fridge with a small metal freezer inside, and her son got his tongue stuck on the metal freezer part. The Mom was so scared she quickly jerked her son off of the freezer causing a chunk of his tongue to left on the freezer and a bloody mess of a tongue. That poor little guy. The Dr.s did work quickly to stop all of his bleeding.

[IrishErin]

A man came in on one of our busiest days recently to have his weight and height recorded.

He had a family doctor.

He complained about the long wait time, several times.

I wanted to bang my head against the wall.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

Jan 2 by Stacy67CP

Mar 3, '06 by

JeanettePNP

Hmmm, I'm surprised no one has mentioned these yet:

Stubbed toe

burning eyes from chopping onions

paper cut

hoorifice voice from too much yelling

canker sore (mouth ulcer)

cellulite

cut while shaving

thumb sucking

toilet training

splinter

Oh man no one ever told me the ER could fix my cellulite, that would be one hell of a job benefit.

That would be a great benefit at any time. do you think we should line up?

[Sassy5d]

Bed bugs. Really people? Like I'm going to be able to rid your home of those

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

The ridiculous thing? The registration wrote down "toad attacked him in his eyes." Turned out the kid worked with exotic animals so it was legit.

[xkxc]

Since people keep saying they wish policies etc were different or that these things are stupid, I though I would add a few stories on the "watch what you wish for" side of things.

Want to charge people through the nose for hospital visits? I've been that person who couldn't buy food that month because my partner was in ED almost every night just to keep her breathing. The starvation that resulted landed her in hospital within a month and me in chronic pain from taking over the counter pain relief without food and the damage it did to my stomach. And this is in a country where hospital visits are free! That was just the transport costs.

Want to give ambulance officers the power to refuse to transport people? I will never call an ambulance for someone unless they're actually dead. Why? Because I saw them refuse to transport someone who was, at the time the call was made, in total respiratory arrest. She was still blue when they arrived. Their advice? Pay our bill, go see your doctor in the morning (another bill, and another when the doctor immediately called an ambulance... no food for us that week) and in the mean time, here's some more of that medicine you already overdosed on. A week after she was discharged from hospital is happened again. Even when the ambulance officers actually do their job, how do you convince a broke person to use a paid service? I've seen sports tournament organisers refuse to call an ambulance for injuries which occurred at said tournament (two concussions, a broken ankle, and a dislocated knee if I remember rightly) because it wasn't in their budget. They literally left someone with a broken bone sitting on the side of the track.

Want to refuse care to anyone who presents with an issue that has been going on for years? Some day I will be that patient who comes to ED threatening suicide if I don't get some pain relief because after twelve years (and counting) I just can't take it anymore and doctors won't do anything to help me. I've been trying to seek help since I was 11... so far I have a diagnosis (sort of) but no treatment. I can't take any over the counter pain relief anymore because of the damage it's already done to my body. I honestly don't remember what it's like not to be in pain. If you haven't reached that point you have no right to judge someone for snapping.

And the whole "I wish people couldn't sue for that" thing? I live in a country where you can't sue for that, no matter what it is. My treatment was delayed for 12 years. 9 months of that was due to a single incident. My mother was blinded by botched surgery that should never have been attempted. She is also in chronic pain that is now permanent when it could have been fixed were it not for the five year delay of treatment. My ex has permanent brain damage from all the times she stopped breathing and no one came to help. This is just my family. None of us can get any sort of compensation. None of us can afford the private treatment that might perhaps get us some help (for those of us who can still be helped). Doctors here are taught in class that they don't need to avoid malpractice because it doesn't matter anyway. For real. Someone actually said those words to a class full of med students. Litigation forces doctors to actually do their job.