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 ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

scampi...LOL....get over yourself!

most of whats here is funny - the rest ya take with a grain of salt

WE had a phone call which begged us to take care of a dog who was hit by a car. The man pleaded that there was no where else to go and believe me, we really wanted to help him--How do you intubate Lassie? s experience?

But were you able to save the nail?

Seriously, though, don't ambulance drivers have the authority to refuse to transport people who obviously don't need it?

When my mother was sick, we called an ambulance. The ambulance workers, unfortunately, knew her. They told us that they refused to transport her (no traige, no assessment...nothing). They gave us a voucher for a cab, and told us not to call 911 again. Ever. After a few hours of waiting and wondering if we actually needed to go to the ED, we used this voucher and got her to the hospital. She spent 12 hours in the ED, 2 days in ICU, and then she died. Septicemia from a bladder infection that spread...

I don't know if we should give ambulance workers the discretion to decide if a patient should be transported or not. Just my HO...I don't need rebuttals or anything. But just maybe we should leave the REAL triage to the REAL ED workers. They can decide who really needs to be seen.

...chrissy...

Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

A few cities have what they call "No load" policies meaning they don't have to take every call in to the hospital just because they request to be transported. In other cities however, the medics can refuse transport if the situation is deemed to be not a life threatening emergency and/or the patient has access to another means of transport. Grave errors have in judgement have been made and there have been lawsuits however so many cities have done away with the no load policies. Others stick to them with all their guns.

It is a difficult situation when you have so many people who abuse the service. No loads were originally intended to prevent abuse - ie - hangnails - dandruff - didn't sleep last night for no good reason - etc. But they are supposed to perform an assessment and document it in order to no load. In some ways - it is more trouble for them to no load than to just take the person in. More paper work, dealing with chain of command etc.

You know you are an ER nurse if you've ever had to leave the room because you were about to laugh in the patient's face. I KNOW I would have to run out of the room for this one! I'm laughing so hard with tears running down my face that I can hardly type!:chuckle

not true. that's not something restricted to ER nurses, it's ALL NURSES!

The answer is "NO".

I think you handled it poorly. Laughing at a young girl who may be subjected to bestiality is hardly what I would call a professional intervention.

Getting more information and facts would be better than snickering.

I don't think she actually laughed. Just wanted too.

A 20-something woman and her mother came in looking very, very concerned. Problem? Daughter swallowed her gum.

Therapeutic wait? You betcha.

i did not laugh this site is the most riduculous things weve heard there supposed to shock you arent they i had nothing to handle i asked the doctor because he was standing right there i know the answer is no but he responded that way to i think make her think twice and it was probably a prank i was new and in shock didnt have time to think and she hung up befor i could reply i maintained a professional attitude by asking the doctor and not making a face i did not even smile maybe i should have explained the whole thing it was a quick comment to this tread sorry to offend you

I had a guy last weekend wait three hours for a drug screen. He left without being seen (of course, he was angry that the hemoglobin of 8 and an allergic reaction (with airway compromise) were seen before his urine tox screen.

He told me that someone had 'slipped something funny into his sometimes-smoke' while he was in Mexico.

Hmmmm.....it's a wonder he didn't call 911!!!

OK - dumb question - I understand that you can't refuse to treat someone in the emergency room. Can you refuse to see an obvious non-emergency like the hangnail?

Yes. MSE (medical screening exam) p this, if determined not an emergency, the option to treat or send away can be made.

We had a patient present to the ER the other night with chapped lips.

Chapped lips!! ;)

Specializes in ED-CEN/PACU/Flight.

I had a patient come in by EMS because she "needed a Q-tip."

Another patient in by EMS demanding that I give her some "shoes and earrings because she had to go out in an hour, and I needed to hurry the F*ck up."

During the big anthrax scare I had someone walk in (amazing that she didn't come in by EMS) because she was afraid she had it even though she "knew" she WASN'T exposed.

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