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 ?

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

just when I thought I'd read and heard it all -

A 37 yo male called 911 the other night because he'd accidentally stepped on and broke his reading glasses. Fortunately, the crew refused transport on that one.

Can not forget the drug seekers that come in and tell you flat out that they are allergic to everything, except...NARCOTICS (BIG SHOCKER!!!)

My favorite is "I'm allergic to Tylenol, but I can take Percocet."

Specializes in Hospitalist.

Let's see...the kid who's mother brought him for razor burn because his work insisted that he shave daily. I tried to find a new triage category for that one...like a 6- totally stupid complaint - could be seen next year!! We had about 20 people in the waiting room at that time. He had quite the wait.

The young "pregnant" woman who came in with lady partsl bleeding. She couldn't figure out how she got pregnant because she used the patch. I ran a UCG on her and it was negative. She said "I don't understand that. I used all 5 tests in the box and they were all positive." I told her pregnancy tests usually come 2 to a box. You guessed it...she was using an ovulation predictor and was getting her period. That is why people should have to pass a test to be allowed to reproduce.

The malodourous lady partsl discharge x 2 weeks. Yeah, well, when you forget to remove your tampon, that's what happens. PS: I got a great tip from one of our docs. He uses sterile gloves when he goes tampon fishing. That way he just pulls the glove off over the tampon and ties it in a quick knot. Completely contains the smell. Exam gloves are too short.

Then I had the guy who was bitten by a water mocassin. He didn't want to kill the snake so he picked it up with a rake to try to move it to the woods. The snake is now totally p*ssed off and scared so the guy drops the snake. Now the snake is even more mad, so the guy tries to pick the snake up and whammo...he gets envenomated. I told him "If your name is not Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, and you are not getting paid millions of dollars to pick up the snake, leave it alone!"

Thanks for a great thread. I LMAO!

Specializes in Hospitalist.

I forgot the 30 year old that came in by EMS at 0300 hours for constipation x 3 hours! I didn't know you could be constipated after 3 hours, but what do I know? He didn't really want to come to the hospital, he just wanted the medics to give him a laxative! (Hello, ever heard of the drugstore!!!???) EMS brought him in (none too happy at being dragged out of their beds for this). The doc asked me what we should do. I told him to give the guy a gallon of Go-lytely to go and tell him to drink a cup every 10 minutes until it was all gone. I guarantee he won't be back anytime soon.

Specializes in ER, NICU, NSY and some other stuff.

Middle aged female pt who swallowed a bug Thurs night. Thinks she can still feel the bug in her throat Sat just after midnight because her throat feels a little irritated.

A OD of Viagra

(i'm not making this up)

we had a guy stick a remote control up his butt. had to get it surgically removed. i mean i guess he had a valid reason to be there after the fact...but why and how?..

A free ride to the shelter next door to our hosp.

Specializes in 6 years of ER fun, med/surg, blah, blah.

Our friendly neighborhood psych guy comes in frequently complaining that he spent his money on lotto tickets & now has no money for food, etc. For a while, he was given a sandwich pak & sent on his way, because we all knew him & it kept him from panhandling in the waiting room. I did warn everyone not to feed him or he would turn up like a stray cat, & I happened to like cats & he did keep showing up looking for food & money for cigarettes. When he was no longer being fed, he would then remember to say that he felt suicidal & that would be his ticket in to be seen. He is now waiting for placement in a group home. I"ll miss him when he goes.....not.:rolleyes:

I work in a busy county hospital, had a pt. come in yesterday to the er , pt. said he had accepted a job and was required to get a chest x-ray! He waited until the day before showing up for the job! He asked how long will it take, I said probably hours! We had 20 people waiting to be traiged!:angryfire

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