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 Peds.
tink you are right about using the chest pain to get in the fast lane....my DON told me if i ever wanted to get through er fast to c/o chest pain and act like i had dyspnea...by the way i love pic of sleeping cats

I'm not sure I like this suggestion. Too many of us have cardiac issues out there, including me. I for one, put things off and usually don't get seen when I should. However, I'd hate to think that I'd need seen for a cardiological issue and get stuck behind someone that wanted "fast laned".

we had a patient who arrived by ambulance asking for detox for the 12th time (really a drunk who wants to sleep over real detox people know to come at 0900 in the AM and show up at the psych dept.) told he had to wait in the ED waiting room to be seen. 20 minutes later get a call from the ambulance bringing in a pt wanting detox with a cold. Lo and behold it is the same pt. Apparently he got tired of waiting dailed 911 from the lobby. The EMT's told him they could not go to any other hospital but the patient refused to listen and demanded a trip to the ED. So they wheeled him from the foyer to the ambulance then around to the ambulance entry and wheeled him into the main ED. He got shipped backed to triage and told he could go to fast track. He walked out 20 minutes later without being seen by the MD

Specializes in ER, NICU, NSY and some other stuff.

How about 4 chigger bites on the waistband area? Not infected just itchy.

We just had a mom bring her daughter in because the daughter could not stop itching her head (she arrived in the ER at 200am). The girl's head was full of lice and her hair was the filthiest hair I have ever seen. Needless to say, we spent the rest of the shift itching our heads, and had to close the room until it was completely cleaned by Housekeeping!!!

ack that makes my head itchy just hinkin about it.

I once brought my son into the emergency room with a broken little toe (he was 6, it was S shaped). Hey- I didn't know, I figured they would put a tiny little cast on it. They took an X-ray though...

Specializes in ER, Med/Surg.

Bee sting, not allergic, no soa, just "got stung".

2 weeks later:

Same guy, same thing.

Specializes in ortho/neuro/general surgery.

Okay, I'll fess up.... When my youngest was just a few days old, or maybe a few weeks old, I almost brought her to the ER cuz she kept crying and I thought her heel bone had gotten dislocated. :rolleyes: I wasn't a nurse yet at that time. I thought the heel of her foot was sticking out more than the other one, and that's why she was crying. Sheesh... postpartum depression, I guess. Thankfully an online nurse friend who I was ICQ'ing with at the time talked sense into me, or I would've ended up on this thread.:monkeydance:

Specializes in MICU.
The police had raided a crack house. In the refrigerator they found what they thought was a human fetus. They brought it to the ER. It was an oyster.

LOL LOL:rotfl: Wouldn't have love to have heard that officer's report to his cheif "We thought it was a fetus found in refrigerator at crack house, but it was really an oyster" LOL

I was reading a book of ER stories, and one in particular struck me funny...

It started off as a sad story, police had been called to an apartment because of screaming, found a psychotic lady bleeding from the lady parts, a bloody unbent coathanger beside her and a mass of bloody mess on the floor between her legs. They called EMS and stated she had aborted herself with a hanger. The "fetal tissue" arrived wrapped in towels and blue pads. A priest gave last rites to it at the request of the woman's family. Then a nurse gloved up and took the bundle into the utility room to unwrap and bag the fetal tissue. After a few minutes she called another nurse in. A couple minutes later, the truth was out- the woman had removed an old tampon with the coat hanger. The priest gave last rites to a tampon.

That sorta made me chuckle... black humor I guess...

Ha! I read that book, too Lori! :rotfl:

In fact, I thought of that very same story after reading about the oyster! It is funny though, the thought of a priest giving last rites to a tampon. No offense to anyone who might be Catholic here.

Why not educate people who visit the ER for nonemergent things? How would you feel if your mechanic made fun of you for bringing your SUV in for something silly? It is just as mean to laugh at patients who don't have your knowledege and education!

Specializes in Emergency.

We do educate them -over, and over, and over. Probably less than 10% actually listen to us and stop using the ER as their primary care.

+ Join the Discussion