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 ?

Try this one on for size. Mom comes in with baby in arms and 2 kids beside her. CC "I want a rx for motrin for the baby" when asked why "because the baby was crying earlier" baby is now sleeping sweetly.No n/v/d no temp, vss. when I explained that she did not need a rx for motrin mom got angry and somped off. 5min later my co worker came in and told me she just got through triaging the mom. Mom checked in because she and her husband were having sex about 3 hours earlier and now she was sore. no more mention of baby crying. seen by ER doctor any told to go to the store for ....motrin. Its the stupid people that make the job funny.

Can I quote you on that one "it's the stupid that make the job fun" I want to hang with you. :balloons: LOL

Lets see...

1) Brought in by ambulance for..insomnia

2) Broke a nail

3) Male used a gator ade bottle for sexual gratification(yanno the little ring wear the cap screws off?) You guessed it...tight as a tick on an alabama hound dog around the staff of his member(ouch)

4) Female exotic dancer came in told HUC, I hurt my knee he asked her how and she proceeded to show him the dance she was doing(minus the pole) :rotfl:

5) Male patient came in, when asked what the problem was he said " I be disappearing and sh**)..almost turned away and back around and said "where'd you go?" Psych eval to say the least... :chuckle

6) Snake bite(non-venomous..needed to be checked though..but did they have to bring in the live snake???) :lol_hitti

Specializes in RN CEN.
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.

Kidney stones are very painful and are a very common site in the ER, if not treated could infact result in irreversible damage to the kidney. If bad enough could destroy the use of the kidney all together requiring a transplant.

So don't feel bad about going to an ER with KS's

Kidney stones are very painful and are a very common site in the ER, if not treated could infact result in irreversible damage to the kidney. If bad enough could destroy the use of the kidney all together requiring a transplant.

So don't feel bad about going to an ER with KS's

That's not completely true as long as you can pass them no real damage done. The only real problem with stones is if a blockage occurs. If your ureter completely blocks and urine backs up into your kidney that's where the damage comes from. Secondly you have just for emegancies such as this you always have a back up. No need to scare the poor thing like that. It's very painful and certainly can be an emergent situation.

Specializes in RN CEN.
That's not completely true as long as you can pass them no real damage done. The only real problem with stones is if a blockage occurs. If your ureter completely blocks and urine backs up into your kidney that's where the damage comes from. Secondly you have just for emegancies such as this you always have a back up. No need to scare the poor thing like that. It's very painful and certainly can be an emergent situation.

Point well taken, I was using worst case scenario. The point I was hoping to make was to not be ashamed of going to an ED with this problem.

6) Snake bite(non-venomous..needed to be checked though..but did they have to bring in the live snake???)

Most places that you would look up to find out what to do about snake bite say bring the snake with you to the ER, if possible. Granted they probably assume you will have to kill it to do that. But if it is not necessary to kill why do so?

Specializes in ER straight out of nursing school.
Most places that you would look up to find out what to do about snake bite say bring the snake with you to the ER, if possible. Granted they probably assume you will have to kill it to do that. But if it is not necessary to kill why do so?

I would hope and pray that if someone planned on bringing a snake in to the ER, I would greatly appreciate it if they killed it first!!!! We already have one patient, is it really necessary to take the chance of having another?

Specializes in ICU.
Most places that you would look up to find out what to do about snake bite say bring the snake with you to the ER, if possible. Granted they probably assume you will have to kill it to do that. But if it is not necessary to kill why do so?

Here in Australia you HAVE to bring it in - in any condition you can. If they are live we throw them in a deep freezer until a herpetologist can correctly ID the snake. See a LOT of our snakes can only be accurately Id'd if you do a scale count including examining the anal scale - now I don't know about you but that is a closer relationship than I want to have with a live venomous snake:coollook:

Specializes in CTICU.

15 y/o kid comes with his mom to ER on a friday night with an ingrown toenail.

the doc numbed his toe and clipped it.

that's one expensive pedicure and he didn't even get a foot massage!

Specializes in NICU.
Here in Australia you HAVE to bring it in - in any condition you can. If they are live we throw them in a deep freezer until a herpetologist can correctly ID the snake. See a LOT of our snakes can only be accurately Id'd if you do a scale count including examining the anal scale - now I don't know about you but that is a closer relationship than I want to have with a live venomous snake:coollook:

I know it's really wrong, but my first thought was Homer Simpson going "mmmmm. anal scale . . . "

Actually 2 things; We had the noble ability to do phone triage. People would call in and ask, "I have a cut on my leg, should I come in and be seen?" To which one of our doc's replied, "Put it up nex to the phone so I can see it."

2nd. We had a lady come in for concern and, "not feeling well" p being in a tanning both for too long" :angryfire

Don't go there! I don't know you PedsERRN so I'll give you that one. We're all brothers in arms out there. They watch our backs we watch theirs. They have guns pointed at them we have Menengitis pointed at us. When your working the ER and gun or knife gets pointed at you there's nothing more sweeter sounding in the world then the sound of those sirens. The boys will be there in a heart beat. And, when the gun and knife come back to finish what they started. Until your ready to kick down that door and take what's on the other side not knowing what's on the other side so I can go home tonight - Baby you stand over there I'm hanging with my friends in blue. So leave them alone to do their jobs. So spend some time going those stupid policies and produres that we have to follow and weed out 99% of them before you knock on somebody elses door.

Sorry if I offended! :o I didn't mean to bash on the police-they are doing what they have to do. They had a juvenille who had a bad outcome, and now they are mandated to bring them all in no matter what the complaint. I have all the respect in the world for our police, and feel bad for them when they have to sit with a pt with no real complaint for a long time before a doc can get to them. The kids have learned that they will come to us, and often make things up to delay going to lock-up. My husband is a cop, and we often ***** together about the policies that affect us both(ours and theirs.)

So-I wasn't bashing the police, it just kills me what these kids will say is wrong with them to get out of lock-up for a couple of hours.

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