What was the MOST ridiculous thing a patient came to the ER for?

Specialties Emergency Nursing Q/A

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 Med/Surg.
My favorite....

"I just want to get checked out". Checked out for what?

This is ussually stated post minor MVC, fall, child falling off couch onto carpet, tumbling off a bike, doing new drugs, having 'relations' with people one is unsure of, etc..... and the conversation will often go like this...

"I just want to get (add a 'my son or daughter)checked out."

RN--"does it hurt anywhere, do you feel unwell?"

"no"

VSS, good colour, ambulatory etc. How do you triage this? What do they want us to check? Would a family doctor or phone line not be more appropiate? I once had a lady bring both her very well looking, playful children in to be 'checked out' after they might have had a drink of a puddle that was on the road a few hours earlier--she wanted us to pump their stomachs!!!!!

HERE'S YOUR CHECK---GO HOME!!!!!

LOL....

"Here's your sign"........Bob Engvall, Blue Collar Comedy Tour

Specializes in Emergency.

My most ridiculous patient complaint: A 54 year old male presented to the ER complaining of an "itchy rash". When asked how long he had the rash, he replied "22 years". When I asked him what was so different that this rash would make him come to the ER at 0200, he said, "I just couldn't take it anymore!"

Specializes in med-surg.

Once I had a mother call the ER because , no kidding, the PA had performed a "splinterectomy" on her son the night before and his finger was red. Denied c/o drainage, streaking, fever, ect. After asking why she didn't see her MD at the clinic today, to which she replied, "O i have a medical card" ( surprise, surprise) I Told her that she was the mother and since she could actually lay eyes on the finger, and I could not, to use her best judgement. Then she asked me if I could page the PA and have him meet her in ER in 10min, because her "husband had to be at work in 30 min and needed the car". And we wonder why healthcare is so expensive>>>>>>>>>>>

Specializes in critical care, ED, Health promotion, car.

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 no longer work the ED, but somebody came in for removal of blackheads when I was working there. Now THAT was pretty silly - right up there w/ hangnails! Savvy

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.

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