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 ?

3 mo into my residency. Cat scratch fever came across my azcom. Very superficial cat scratches to the wrist. We were on in room triage. I think it was the fastest treat and street I've seen so far.

BSN GCU 2014. ED Residency ;)

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Specializes in Emergency RN, Trauma RN.

I have a couple.

1) Dry Lips. We had a 19yom present to the EMERGENCY department because he had dry lips. Needless to say we did not give him "that free chapstick" and he refused to pay for his $100.00 copay because pt states "I ain't got time for that"

2) Bed Bugs. Patient took ambulance to the ED because of bed bugs.

3) Pregnancy Test. This is a fairly common ED c/c, but this time she had taken 10 pregnancy tests at home that were ALL NEGATIVE. Got in line at the EMERGENCY department to be sure. Patient was pretty upset when we told her that her pregnancy test was negative.

4) Constipation. "When was your last bowel movement?"...."Earlier today"

Specializes in Emergency.

Constipation. "When was your last bowel movement?"...."Earlier today"

Did they bring a sample in a take-out soup container?

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Did they bring a sample in a take-out soup container?

Or a picture of it? Lol

A mosquito bite

My sepsis is acting up

Shaky arms

And just to add- when did it become ok to allow the large amount of preg tests?? At my facility we supposedly "don't do preg tests," so some nurses try to encourage them to come up with a different CC! Of course we don't want that negative feedback from the patient, heavens no, the CEO won't get as big of a bonus...sigh

11pm on the fourth of July had a man in his early 70's present with an ingrown hair on his face. No swelling, no pain, no attempt to remove it himself!

And just to add- when did it become ok to allow the large amount of preg tests?? At my facility we supposedly "don't do preg tests," so some nurses try to encourage them to come up with a different CC! Of course we don't want that negative feedback from the patient, heavens no, the CEO won't get as big of a bonus...sigh

There's really not a good reason for a pt coming to the ED to confirm a pregnancy test at night especially after 10 were taken. But it was possible that the pt was from a fertility clinic and wanted to test ASAP after the progesterone "trigger" shot was out of her system, and hence the early morning trip to the ED to see if that cycle has worked. Now if she was a smart fertility pt, she would have bought tests in bulk on the Internet for as little as 25¢ and tested to her hearts content until the office opened until the next morning so she could get a quantitative hCG.

What a waste of resources!!! I know the feeling of wanting to be pregnant, but taking TEN test AND showing up at the ED at 0300 is a bit much!!!

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Fever of 99.1...then proceeds to argue with the doc that it IS a fever.

I delegated that "fever" to the doc today. :yes:

Specializes in ER, Medicine.

Pregnancy testing. Or a few weeks back a patient came in for a rash that had been there for 1 year (I kid you not). He waited in the lobby for hours only to get screened.:roflmao:

Broken artificial nail. Doctor ordered it removed in the same way a nail salon would. So I ordered a bottle of Acetone from the Pharmacy, soaked the finger in it & wiped off the acrylic over and over again in the same way the nail salons do. :whistling:

Specializes in Emergency.

Well I work at an Urgent Care but wanted to throw some out there anyway.

- 40 y/o male with chapped lips

- 8 y/o female with "increased heart rate" brought in by mom. Mom felt daughters heart beat through her leg while child was laying on mom's lap and was concerned. Child's HR was 108.

-30 y/o female who started her period a day early.

-I have a random bug bite. What kind of bug was it Doc?

-I have horrible pain from my tooth. The filling fell out 5 months ago. No I never tried to see a dentist.

And then we get a ton of people who have already been seen by multiple physicians/specialists (ie unexplained rash or cough x 1 year) but it's not better so they come in 2 minutes before closing to be seen on a Sunday. They aren't too happy when all we can do is prescribe something and refer them to their PCP or a specialist they've already seen.

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