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 Family Nurse Practitioner.
NurseOnAMotorcycle said:
Called a pt in to be triaged. he stopped three steps from triage and yelled this chief complaint quote:

"F--- you, you f---ing c---!"

then walked out of the ED. I still have no idea why he came in.

How cultured and generous of him...to leave.

Specializes in Emergency Room.

17 yo f comes by ambulance for a cough x 3 days that she was already on antibiotics for. Lungs clear, never heard her cough once in the hour she was there.

Walking in the snow and feet got cold...

ETA: arrived via EMS

Specializes in ED, School Nurse.

I had a cute LOL come in c/o UTI symptoms. She was kind enough to bring her own urine samples in for us. In an old plastic butter tub. And in an old perfume bottle. She was just trying to HELP!!!

We asked a young male- maybe early 20s?- for a urine sample. Can't remember his complaint, but he gave us a specimen cup full of soapy water as his sample. We sent it to the lab for kicks and giggles.

Here's a good one. Few months back, someone comes in by EMS for dizzyness. When did it start? "Someone rang my doorbell at 10 p.m. and when I opened the door there was a brownie on the ground. I ate it and I've felt really weird since." Who the heck eats food randomly found food at their doorstep.

Imagine their luck, it was the special brownie.

Specializes in Emergency Room.

Yesterday morning at 0630 had a 71 year old man come via ambulance to the ER for some swelling in his left nostril. Denied any pain unless he put his finger in his nose and pushed down on it hard which he was more than willing to show me. No other complaints. EMS just walked him in.

Guy comes into the front lobby of the hospital screaming at the top of his lungs he needs a Dr NOW. A surgeon shows him down to ED and he's still screaming "I HAVE NEVER SEEN MY DAUGHTER LIKE THIS BEFORE". He's screaming there's no time for paperwork/bracelet/verification they need a DR NOW!!!!

Hes holding a 2 year old girl who is crying, (probly because dad is yelling at everyone at the top of his lungs) no obvious deformities/bleeding/wounds.

Kid had a fever. 101 and a ear infection.

He he didn't even park in a parking spot , just stopped in the middle if the driveway and refused to move.

Huge scene.

Had a mom bring her son in today with 4 mosquito bites on her arm. And she knew they were mosquito bites....

I once had a whole family come into triage when I was a student during my ER rotation. They all complained of very benign things.

Minor back pain for the past 4 weeks for mom, fatigue around the menstrual cycle for the daughter, and dad came because he thought his BP was too high. It wasn't.

Mind you, they all requested to be triaged at the same time as the others, even when we asked them to leave to allow privacy. They all took turns in the chair, and then just stood by in the tiny triage area while the next family member reported their minor complaints.

I'm assuming they also expected the doctor to see them at the same time as well. Who knows. They left after only waiting 3 hours in the waiting room.

Specializes in Nurse Résumés, Emergency Medicine.

November 2nd...patient comes to the ED with vampire teeth prosthetics still adhered to her teeth! She threw away the package and could not release the adhesive.

Earring removal. Not recently pierced, not infected, no obvious trauma or problem. Just apparently could not get said earring off ear.

treatment in triage-

me: can you try to show me what happens if you try to take it off

her: *slips earring off*

me: ok, so it looks like the problem is fixed.

..... smh

My favorite has to do with me. I was in the ER twice in 3 days for anaphylaxis. No problems there. Very valid reason to go, and they couldn't triage me fast enough. Nope, the problem was my job trying to say it wasn't an anaphylactic reaction ignoring the paperwork from 2 ER visits and my pcp saying it was.

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