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

Specialties Emergency Nursing Q/A

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 ?

Thank you all! Your info does make me feel better! :) Great site, too!

Btw, the other kids parents insisted on paying for the bill, but we refused, since the father just lost his job the month before. He has insisted on coming over and doing little odd jobs around the house for us, though. He is coming over this week to fix our kitchen plumbing, and he has already spread a load of gravel in our drive with his tractor. They have all been wonderful about this. :)

That is so cool! If only the whole world operated like this...sigh! I'm glad everything's turning out okay for you!

We were so busy the other night 3 people in the wairing room eloped all at the same time with their very minor maladies, went across the street and called 9-1-1.

They were all taken off stretchers and sent out to the triage desk to sign in, and were followed by a police officer who gave them all citations for abusing EMS

Nice to know that people do the same type of crap...nationwide!!!

:rotfl:

Thank you all! Your info does make me feel better! :) Great site, too!

Btw, the other kids parents insisted on paying for the bill, but we refused, since the father just lost his job the month before. He has insisted on coming over and doing little odd jobs around the house for us, though. He is coming over this week to fix our kitchen plumbing, and he has already spread a load of gravel in our drive with his tractor. They have all been wonderful about this. :)

It is always nice when someone takes responsibility. I find that so many people out there say well s/he is just a kid. The parents are teaching their child a great lesson. Payment doesn't always have to equal money. Don't forget to ask the hospital about a cash pay discount. I know some do (although they don't advertise it).

Good luck.

Specializes in cardiac ICU.

This is a bit off-topic, but what about family members who come and hang out with Mom or whoever is being tx'd, then ask the dr. for a work excuse for themselves ? Duh.

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Had a 16 yo girl brought to ER by her mother c/o Itchy Genitalia

I took the history without chuckling

mother then asked " Can you tell her she shouldnt shave down there"

I very carefully thought before answering

" I think I will let the Doctor handle this, Maam"

Someone who called and tried to make an appointment for the next day. We explained "This is the emergency room."

Person replied "I know. I don't want to wait, I want an appointment for tomorrow." We said, "Call the clinic."

We had a guy call and ask, " What time do you close?" The nurse replied, " We close at 11 but we will reopen at midnight," Hey, you ask a stupid question.... :rotfl:

As a matter of fact, in the wee hours of Monday morning, I woke up with severe pain on my left side front and back and radiating down my groin. I also had alot of pressure to urinate but when I tried could only void a very small amount. Also had vomiting and nausea.

Well, the pain would not subside. Any Tylenol I tried to take for it was vomited up.

Finally after 3 hours of this, I dragged my aching body to the car and drove down to the ER at 4:30 in the morning. I could not understand what could be causing the pain and was, understandably, afraid.

There was blood in my urine and they did a catscan, but the nurses had already figured out I had a kidney stone ("doing the kidney stone dance").

They put an IV in me for fluid and pain medicine and when I was awake enough let me go home with vicodin and suppositories for nausea and vomiting. Doc instructed me to see a urologist in the next couple days.

I hope the ER staff didn't think me coming down with a KS was silly. I live alone and just have myself to depend on. They sure did help me out - the pain was unbearable.

Just a little anecdotal story.

Are you serious? A kidney stone is a valid reason to go to the ER...no one would think you silly. A hangnail, or pregnancy test is bulls@#* :uhoh3:

lmao:rotfl: :chuckle

Gee, let's see:

-broken acrylic nail

-child vomited once, now sitting on mom's lap eating chips and drinking coke

-laceration too tiny to be seen by the naked eye ("it was bleeding just a minute ago" as patient squeezes the alleged laceration trying to make it bleed again)

-totally well, but needing a work excuse for a sick day sometime last week

-child sleeping all day (up all night crying the night before)

-prescription refill (could be anything from bp meds to oxycontin)

-viagra request

-mosquito bite (yup, just a plain old mosquito bite with no allergic reaction or infection)

-child "lethargic" (mom's words) as kid is running up and down the hall and, you guessed it, eating chips and drinking coke

I know right??? lol:rolleyes:

why would they bring that to the ER, if anything thats a jog for the ME
These stories are so funny...I can't beleive the things people go into the ER for! But I get upset because while these people are being triaged and examined for things that sometimes don't even warrant a doctor's visit (i.e. the girl with gum in her hair), there are sick people having to wait! I took my 18 y/o son into the ER at 1 AM with severe vomiting due to food poisoning...he's a type 1 diabetic, and couldn't keep anything down, and being a stubborn "adult", he didn't want to tell Mom...his best friend and girlfriend finally came and woke me up. I could tell by his breathing and the ketones on his breath that he was going DKA. There were 5 people already in the triage rooms, and only one of them should have been there, and we had to wait till they were done before they could even get him through triage. And when they finally got him into the actual room, it took several minutes to get a nurse in there, much less a doctor. Finally, they did his exam, checked his sugar (just read HIGH), did labs, and got him hooked up to IV's, and he ended up spending 3 days in ICU. I know that he would have ended up there no matter what, and that's his own fault for being Mr. Macho and not telling me as soon as his symptoms started, but I was stressed out watching my son suffer and seeing people in the triage rooms for the sniffles and a cough!!! OK, just needed to vent a bit....keep the stories coming!!!

Terre:p

yeah but isnt it protocol to take the more severe cases first? i guess if they were already in the room then its too late... but if they are in the waiting room you should definately be pushed ahead right???

Specializes in M/S, Foot Care, Rehab.
This was more of a patient education problem, but still...I worked nights on a head injury floor in a large pediatric hospital for 10 years. Our night time admits were house overflow.

Over and over again we'd get normal infant admits...kids would look great, hydrated, healthy, etc. Problem? You know that jerky, nerves- not- quite- connected movement that infants make when they stretch or yawn? People were assuming their kid was having a seizure. And they'd bring the child in at 1 am and insist that he/she should be admitted. We'd explain to the Parents what the ER already explained. When the sun came up then the pediatric neuro would explain it again and send the kid home.

I'm one of these "crazy" moms (now an ER nurse) who brought in their kid for seizures for two long months before getting a diagnosis... I heard it all from several lousy docs "oh, it's been 5 years since you've had a baby, don't you remember they jerk???" "oh his eyes are just rolling back in his head because he's light-sensitive..." and this was the best one when he had a diaper full of blood after being on the ketogenic diet for several months "you're probably just feeding him lots of red jello, bring the diaper in and let me look at it". What wonderful satisfaction I got when she opened that diaper and went pale and quickly admitted my son.

Yes, we do get lots of ridiculous reasons for visits, but let's all take our patients as seriously as we can..........

Specializes in ER.

40yo male out jogging and called ambulance for SOB.

NO it wasn't an MI, just SOB :roll

+ Add a Comment