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 ortho/neuro/general surgery.

I just thought I'd add that a year before this we went to the ER with the same daughter for staples. She was jumping on her bed and I reminded her that wasn't a wise idea. As soon as I left her room I heard a bang. My acrobat in training had hit her head on her bead and was bleeding quite nicely. Gotta love those head wounds. Thank God (and knock on wood) we haven't had any back to school injuries the past few years.

Earlier this summer my severely mentally challenged son got too wound up and picked up a round metal thing (part of a camper or trailer, I think, I'm not sure what it was), and chucked it at his little sister's head. We were visiting friends at a campground where they were staying the weekend. I immediately grabbed him to calm him down and turned around to see my daughter's face covered in blood. :uhoh3: We ran her to the local ER immediately. Turns out it was a tiny scalp laceration that needed *1* staple. Oh, well... So I'm a nervous parent myself, sometimes.

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.
Earlier this summer my severely mentally challenged son got too wound up and picked up a round metal thing (part of a camper or trailer, I think, I'm not sure what it was), and chucked it at his little sister's head. We were visiting friends at a campground where they were staying the weekend. I immediately grabbed him to calm him down and turned around to see my daughter's face covered in blood. :uhoh3: We ran her to the local ER immediately. Turns out it was a tiny scalp laceration that needed *1* staple. Oh, well... So I'm a nervous parent myself, sometimes.

When I was ~ 5, we were visiting friends near San Francisco; when we arrived, my father collapsed on their doorstep b/o a reaction to Penicillin! He recovers, and I'm out playing w/the local kids, an older boy picks up a piece of gravel and heaves it @ me--got me in the middle of the forehead. Went home crying, accompanied by a nicer child, scared the heck out of my mother. She took me to the dispensary (that's what they called "urgent care" in the Navy), they put a pressure dressing on w/some gauze and a piece of 1" adhesive tape around my head. Yes, the hair, too. Man, that hurt coming off!

Were those people glad to see us go!! All the Christmas pictures that year featured me w/a white adhesive bandaid across my forehead.

I agree, hang nails are BEYOND ridiculous, but how about this? My husband is an EMT and one night, at 2am, he got a call to bring a patient to the ED for....."CHAPPED LIPS!" :uhoh3: Ya HATE when that happens!!!:chuckle

I was an EMT in a small town for four years. One ambulance, and the hospital was 50 miles away.

We had some tourons--that's morons away from home--call 911 and page us because their 6 year old daughter skinned her knee. Small, small abrasion, but the parents couldn't be bothered to put on a band-aid themselves.

Murphy was THE prophet, so naturally, someone else had a stroke while we were dealing with the hopelessly stupid parents, and the stroke victim had to wait for an ambulance to come from 20 miles away. :angryfire

Specializes in pure and simple psych.

We had some tourons--that's morons away from home-- :angryfire

:chuckle:yeah: :yelclap: :chuckle
Specializes in ER.

...working in triage one night....23 year old girl came in at around 4am "I think I got stung by a bee."

-"where do you think you got stung?"

-"my finger"

-"let me see"

(shows me a completely normal looking index finger)

-"does it hurt?"

-"no"

-"does it itch?"

-"no"

-"when do you think you got stung?"

-"a week or so ago"

(I swear this is a true story....and at this point I can't help but laugh.)

-"why'd you come to the ER?"

-"because my boyfriend got stung and he's allergic and I wanted to make sure that I can't get anything from him."

People never cease to amaze me.

just had 2 people come tonight "I am hungry give me food'

It seems one of them comes every day for the same thing and we stupidly feed him and off he goes until the next day. Why spend money on food ( he lives in a shelter go figure) when you can buy alcohol .

ok, that's a really goog one, gotta tell my er buds. As we er rns all know about 1/3 of our visits are for goofy stuff. Gotta love the dialysis, pulmonary edema patient who needs his Viagra refilled after we have spent thousands of $ diuresing him because he missed his dialysis. Wonder where he was" Using up Viagra? I wonder if it dialyzes out? No wonder he needs refills all the time. Same guy got his own nursing policy at our hospital, no joke, because he came to the ER too much. I also like the other names people have for ailments "vomiking" for vomit. Gotta think of some more.

Specializes in Mental Health and MR/DD.
40 y/o male, winter time...comes to the ER triage nurse wanting to be seen. States, "When I get cold, my nipples get hard"

You have got to be kidding me!!!!!!!:trout:

20 y/o with a "foreign object" in her. Doc did the exam, it was a used

condom!!

just had 2 people come tonight "I am hungry give me food'

It seems one of them comes every day for the same thing and we stupidly feed him and off he goes until the next day. Why spend money on food ( he lives in a shelter go figure) when you can buy alcohol .

And then we wonder why people continue to make choices that are harmful to their health.

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
And then we wonder why people continue to make choices that are harmful to their health.

I dont wonder atall anymore

decided that worrying about things was giving me grey hair

ok, that's a really goog one, gotta tell my er buds. As we er rns all know about 1/3 of our visits are for goofy stuff. Gotta love the dialysis, pulmonary edema patient who needs his Viagra refilled after we have spent thousands of $ diuresing him because he missed his dialysis. Wonder where he was" Using up Viagra? I wonder if it dialyzes out? No wonder he needs refills all the time. Same guy got his own nursing policy at our hospital, no joke, because he came to the ER too much. I also like the other names people have for ailments "vomiking" for vomit. Gotta think of some more.

There's always 'bad bronicals'. Surely someone has come in w/ that!

Savvy

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