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 ?

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

skylark said:

"Why have you come to the emergency room this evening?"

"I want a sandwich."

Honestly, I had that one two nights ago.

 Yep, that one is so ridiculous it's funny.

[skylark, BSN, RN]

Last week, I saw "I have a splinter," "my back has been hurting for three months," (that patient came in at 0300), "I am hungry, need help finding a job, and am tired of being homeless," and, "my right middle finger hurts." I work night shift, and most of these came in after 0000.

Yep, most know that the social worker leaves at 11pm, so after that they will arrive and come up with reasons to be in the hospital.

Meds compliance is a big problem here, a lot arrive in the middle of the night for a 'med refill', their meds ran out a month ago and they have a blood glucose of 500+, or a blood pressure roughly double that of the ones you see in the textbooks.

I've tried asking them to watch their meds and NOTICE when they are down to a month's supply, but it falls on deaf ears.

And its strange how they can never remember the name of their meds, but always know the brand of cigarettes they smoke : )

[ËŔNurse~dujour]

They never take the atenolol ironically lol

[No Stars In My Eyes]

Something that is and isn't ridiculous: A 40 lb impaction. Is that even possible?!!!

[L♡vER]

Ouch!

[pfongk]

Something that is and isn't ridiculous: A 40 lb impaction. Is that even possible?!!!

Is it bad that my first reaction when I read that was 'Holy crap"?

[AZQuik]

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

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

[Elly Em]

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"

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

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

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

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

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

Or a picture of it? Lol

[jessRN465]

A mosquito bite

[BabyRN2Be]

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!!!