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 ?

Stupid People=Job Security

Well known fact of life in the ER

:rolleyes:

:roll :roll :roll :roll :roll

While I was working as an MA, I was transfered a call from the front desk. They gave me no forewarning before sending it back, turns out it was an 86 y/o female that had somehow gotten a golfball stuck 'down below'.

I tried to ask her how it happened, but she avoided the question. Then I asked her how long it had been there - "oh, a few days now i suppose"

And she's just now getting concerned! Our UCC didn't have any birthing forceps or suction, so we sent her to the ER. Would've loved to be there when she arrived! Sweet lil' thing, maybe attempting some sort of kegals? :p

I recently did part of my externship for the summer in the ER and had a patient come in with a splinter and two others for toothaches..........DENTIST!!!!!! :uhoh3:

Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

I was in the ER A few months ago (the only time I had to come BTW) while I was waiting because I had a severe allergic reaction (I didn't have to wait long a nurse just had to go back and clear my bed) there was a woman with her son that came in a few minutes before me complaining that her son "had developed a caugh and a really bad headache that morning" the triage nurse said he would be with them in a minute. I watched the kid pull out a gameboy and a lollypop, I am not saying this kid was smiling and running around but he didn't look like he was going to die anytime soon. I was sitting in the chair with hives all over my skin, my throat closing up and I was dizzy. I even had to drive myself to the ER (because I didn't want to call and bother the ambulances for an allergic reaction). The nurse came back out with a chair because I told him I felt dizzy. As I was getting into the chair the mother stood up and demanded to know why I was allowed to go before her child who was "clearly in pain and suffering" the nurse said my problem needed to be delt with immediatley because I was in a more serious condition. The woman was angry and insisting that her son needed to be seen first. The nurse asked her repeately to please wait and he would be out to help her as soon as he could. I guess finally he was fed up and told her to "Sit down in that damm chair and wait for a few minutes until he would be back or else she can do what other people do and go to the clinic down the street and get some caugh medicine and asperin for her child and not waste his time." I was thanked him once we were out of her sight and he just smiled and said that he asked her to sit down nicely many times and she simply wouldn't listen.

My very first day of orientation in the ER a 20yo female came in with c/o "severe pain" (abdominal), she said that she was at work & felt like she was going to pass out. Further questioning revealed that she had started her period that morning. I asked her if she had similar type pain last month with her period, her eyes widened like saucers and she says "YES". Everything else - labs, CT, etc - checked out but I didn't have the nerve to tell her that she would probably experience similar pain every month.

Definately not the silliest thing a patient came in for but definately on my list of things that make you go hmmmm.....

Originally Posted by JohnRN04

ooooh! i got another one. i saw this lady peeing standing up! and i'm sure it was a woman. she was peeing on to a bed pan that was on the floor. The 30 year old son was trying to keep the curtains closed cuz he was kind of embarrassed that his mom was peeing like a man! HIPPA's not being violated is it?

Okay, this is still a strange subject for me but seriously, there was an actual article floating around the internet written by none the less and RN teaching women how to pee standing up! Gues we know what that woman likes to read! :rotfl:

There is nothing new under the sun.... This is the way the old timers used to do it. My mom used to do this all the time when I was a little and we were out shopping. The public toilets didn't have seat liners back then and my mom was very particular about sitting down on them.........so, she taught me how to do this by just pulling your clothes over to the side.....even drip dry if necessary. Sure beats getting bugs from some dirty potty. Makes perfect sense to me and it is easier than you might think. It isn't a manly pee ......it is a safety and health pee. Try it. :)

Specializes in ER, ICU.
Lady came in complaining she was allergic to her bra. When she presented the bra from her purse it looked like she had it for years- no elastic or spandex left to cause a reaction! Discharge instructions from Doc read: Buy a new bra:rotfl:

We had to cut the bra off of a patient once who exclaimed, "no, that's my only bra".

Specializes in Emergency.

"I s--t my pants"

Triage nurses response--" You dont know what a toilet is."

Rj:uhoh21:

It's funny how when we get injured or are sick we hestitate to go to the ER. I cut my forearm this week in a freak accident and only decided to go for treatments when I realized the tendon was exposed. Even then I kept asking myself, "is this an emergency"?

Now why in the world would you even think that it would be silly to go to the ER for that? I had a kidney stone years ago. It was probably the worst pain I ever felt in my life!

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WOW! The stories of those cases transported by 911 are amazing me! Thank Goodness where I live Rescue has polices in place where they can refuse to transport and refer to private ambulance services instead!

Could not agree more! This is especially true in states like mine with extremely high litigation rates. The doc's and hospitals are losing so much money on lawsuits>

This one is sad since the woman we treated honestly did need to be seen but your story reminds me of this woman. She came to the ER I where I used to work with green, odorous vag discharge, temp of 103, and abdominal pain. When obtaining the history, she related that she had recently visited Planned Parenthood and chose the diaphram and jelly for birth control. As I dug further, she was using JELLY with the diaphram. ICU for three days, IV abx for an additional 28.

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