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 ?

[sissiesmama, ASN, RN]

I had a guy when I worked obs who had stuck a tube into his urethra and sprayed WD-40 down Into it. He also self pierced his nipples during the same session. There were other oddities but those are the parts I remember.

Oh NO!!! I hate to even wonder why the WD40??

[sissiesmama, ASN, RN]

I don't think your reasons are silly. Now, if you had taken EMS to get to the ER, that might be a different story lol.

I agree - toothaches are brutal when u get one like that!

Anne, RNC

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

Because she can't do that when her ped is open, or even the convenient care.

Don't feel bad -- it's a kid thing to only get sick/injured when the doc's office isn't open! My kid mentioned one Saturday morning that his throat hurt. He has a history of post-nasal drip, and he'd just gotten up, so I told him to drink something and see if it felt better a bit later. He never mentioned it again, and spent the whole day eating and drinking and playing like normal.

About 9pm, he asks if he can spend the night with a neighbor friend. I asked if his throat was all better. "Not really." I had him come over so I could look, and OMG, the THINGS that were living in there! It was green and purple and yellow and red and just disgusting back there! Yep, off to the ER.

And if it makes you feel better, when he was 3yo he put a ROCK in his ear at preschool. When asked why, his response was that he found it on the playground and then it was naptime and he didn't have any pockets in his pants... so he put it in his ear! Kids are CRAZY! LOL

[JillBennett]

A little girl came to our ER with a potty chair seat around her neck like a necklace. She had pulled it over her head, and parents couldn't seem to remove it.

[OlivetheRN, ADN, BSN, RN]

A little girl came to our ER with a potty chair seat around her neck like a necklace. She had pulled it over her head and parents couldn't seem to remove it.[/quote']

That totally happened to my friends kid. They tried everything to get it off, culturing it, lotions, soaps, Vaseline...poor child's head was greasy as hell by the time they drive her to the fire department to have it cut off by them.

[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.