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 ?

I actually had someone bring their dog to the ER once, cause it was bleeding & they didnt know what to do. It was the cutest patient ever!!

One night, about 2am, a 80 something man came in, feeling dizzy w/ a BP of 60's/40's, after 20min. of telling us he didnt know what happened, he confessed, he thought if he took 4 of the little bllue pills "viagra" it would "work better" than if he just took the one! The poor guy won't be doing any of that anytime soon.

I have worked in LTC & in a hospital, & while yes some nursing home nurses are complete idiots, most of them have to be damn good to be able to pass a thousand meds to a hundred people in an 7 hour shift, by themselves cause everyone else they worked with were CNA'S.

"I was sitting in the PTA meeting and my hand suddenly turned blue for no obvious reason"The pt had unilateral "blueish" color to her left hand, pt denied any pain, tingling, numbness, had good bilateral radial pulses and I noticed the edge of her fingernail was also blue...I got up got some alcohol cleaner out of the dispenser and rubbed it on the patients hand...and wiped it off with a white cloth! The girl had gotten new jeans that were the dark blue and had been putting her left hand in her pocket!!

I've followed this forum for a little while but never registered, but did tonight just to share this story...

It might not be a ridiculous thing to come in for...but holy cow...amazing.

I had floated down to the ER (from the ICU), and their favorite place to put us is in the Psych area. I got report on a guy who was schizophrenic and had been in the bathrub batizing himself for over 6 hours. Now he was agitated and pacing. The doc wanted him calmed down and had me give him 2mg of Ativan IM. No problem, all done. About an hour later, he stumbled out of his room and asked to go to the bathroom. I told him to go ahead. So he wandered into the bathroom, and a couple of minutes later he comes out. Now, he is obviously in a stupor due to the ativan, so he kind of stumbled out of the bathroom a bit disheveled. All of a sudden his pants fall down, and the two security guys and I just stood there and stared in total disbelief....the guy had a Suave Shampoo bottle shoved over his private parts (Lavender scented Suave, I might add). However, it must have been there for quite awhile because he was TERRIBLY swollen. Becuase he had to do to the bathroom, he had cut the end off of it, leaving little jagged pieces at the end. All I could think of was that it looked like the plastic collar you put around a dog's neck when they get stiches.

Seeing as I didn't work the psych pod often, I went to the charge nurse and told her the problem...

The solution? She handed me a pair of trauma shears and said "Go for it". It took 4 security guards to hold the guy down (one on each limb) in order for me to cut it off. To this day, the people who float to the ER come back upstairs with a story of "The cute little blond girl who had to cute the shamapoo bottle off!!"

Jen

Specializes in Hospice, Med/Surg, ICU, ER.

After getting out of the Army (I was a medic) and waiting for my EMT license to come through, I worked in an ER (in the stat lab) as a vampire.

One Friday night, late, I was walking (quickly) back to the lab with some samples when I passed a screened bay and heard a highly indignant, effeminate, male voice exclaim: "Don't worry about how it got there... just get it out!"

I burst out laughing so hard, my eyes got blurry with tears. The charge nurse had to come around and lead me away from the area because I couldn't see. :roll

Specializes in Pediatric ER.

last night a call came over the radio for the aer. 50 y/o f who overdosed on ambien. c/c: sleepy. hmm, go figure!!!

:idea:

As soon as they changed the "age of consent" law in this state from 15 to 16, aunt (and guardian) of soon-to-be-16 yr old (birthday in two weeks) brings the girl in, c/o "She had sex." Pressed statutory rape charges against the 19 yr old boyfriend, who now faced a felony sex offender charge and all that goes with that, including having to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Of course the place was crawling with (not too happy) police, an investigator, and DFCS. Not that I'm for 15 yr old girls having 19 yr old boyfriends, but I don't see having the boy go up for felony charges and using our ER to press it. I think it would be preferable to talk with the girl, rather than to mindlessly destroy her relationship with her.

Not that I'm for 15 yr old girls having 19 yr old boyfriends, but I don't see having the boy go up for felony charges and using our ER to press it. I think it would be preferable to talk with the girl, rather than to mindlessly destroy her relationship with her.

Well, statutory rape IS a felony, so he should be prosecuted. But why on earth couldn't the aunt just go to the police???

Specializes in home & public health, med-surg, hospice.
Well, statutory rape IS a felony, so he should be prosecuted. But why on earth couldn't the aunt just go to the police???

In order to have a rape kit performed, essentially, to collect the evidence.

Here's my ridiculous ER story: I squirted oven cleaner in my eye. It really was a very tiny amount but due to all the warning labels slapped all over the can to "seek medical help immediately", I called poison control and they told me to go to the ER. My eye was red with a little bit of discharge. A really sweet nurse irrigated my eye and that was all. They wanted me to wait to have the eye checked for abrasions by the opthomologist (who was in surgery) but I was feeling fine after the irrigation and figured that if the eye started bothering me later I would see a doctor. So I signed out AMA and that's where the story ends. I did feel bad taking up a bed when other patients were so much sicker than I was, but I had first tried irrigating my eye at home under the faucet and it wasn't doing the trick.

What I'm wondering, after reading this entire thread, is what stories PCP's can tell about patients who belong in the ER and go to the doctor's office instead.

Bad idea, eye injuries are true emergencies. Chemicals that get into the eye can keep on doing damage and burn corneas and cause permanet damage. They need to be checked by a physician before discharge. No one would fault you for taking a bed.

Hi all, I'm not a nurse, (yet), I work as a tech, and a few weeks ago, a woman came in and said she had..."the flesh eating bacteria on her foot". I helped take off her sock and shoe at triage, scared to death; I would see a rotting foot...nope,....just dry skin, left with a $100 co-pay and OTC rx for neutrogina lotion. :uhoh3:

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