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 ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.

I was in the fast track section the other day. I went to the waiting room to call a father (cyst on groin) and son (dental abcess) and a lady with back pain.

I call the names no one comming. Hmmm I find the father outside with his son in a wheel chair. I thought ooh maybe I missed something maybe the kid fell too whatever. Then I see the back pain lady standing outside.

Now I think they waited about an hour to 1.5 hours so maybe they really needed to get some air. The back pain walks very fast right up to me a foot from me states "can I have a wheelchair." No grimacing. No limp. She was just outside in no apparent distress. I thought well hey maybe she was fast just to get past the pain to get in the wheelchair yet she was standing outside. Also a coworker had a pt came in with lower back pain, went in subacute area passed out went grey discovered he had a AAA that ruptured, so I'm like well who am I to denie plus I could see her falling on the floor. So I get her a wheelchair and she's helping me the pt bending over pulling down the feet and calf rest as if nothing.

I escort both of them into their rooms and the back pain is helping me doing more than I am to get out of the wheel chair states she has herniated discs in her back and wants vicodin. I told her the dr would be in to assess her. She just did not appear in any distress but hey she's there and was seen and d/c.

NOW the dental pain later I had orders for abx for son and father and d/c instructions. The son did have poor dental hygiene, red inflamed. Needed abx and MUST see dentist since ER does not do that. I was then horrified to find out the father had called the ambulance to come in because he saw the abcess and thought the infection would go right through his son and kill him if he didn't. Also thought it was why maybe he got a cyst on his L groin. I told him without dental treatment yes definite infection can spread and be very dangerous. But aparently our md made a comment or probably responded "you took an ambulance!" He was trying to find solace in me to confirm he was right to call an ambulance. I kept explaining the need for dental treatment and reccommended a dental clinic. Insurance and non insured stinks. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have insurance but you have to get stuff like that taken care off. Also explained lots bacteria on your skin and really thought the dental abcess was related to infection soley in the son's mouth and cyst on father was just bacteria on his skin and it formed not related. And his son was just in a WC for fun. I was just wow...

However all this is pretty amusing...

Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.

Coworker of mine assisted md to do a pelvic on a pt with abd pain. The md states he feels something. Takes the speculum out and with his hand starts pulling out something. It's plastic and it's stretching and stretching. So he releases the tension afraid it will come out and slap him in the face and the nurse backs away thinking the same thing. It was a condom. So then the pt says oh well she and her partner had sex that past fri and it was like a mon then says "no the fri before last." I was like wow!!!! Didn't they both notice the condom was gone afterwords!!! And didn't she feel it!!! My one coworker is like you know it's not a black hole down there!!!

Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

Everyone showing up to triage "ate the bad spinach" and needs to be admitted. Ate at a salad bar yesterday, have an upset tummy today, must have got some of that bad spinach! Other Symptoms, like vomiting or diarrhea, heck no, who needs symptoms? Or even knowing you actually ate tainted spinach? They MUST be admitted immediately.

Oh, and they're gonna sue us if we don't bring them back NOW. Didn't we HEAR about the lady who died in the waiting room??!!!

Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.
Everyone showing up to triage "ate the bad spinach" and needs to be admitted. Ate at a salad bar yesterday, have an upset tummy today, must have got some of that bad spinach! Other Symptoms, like vomiting or diarrhea, heck no, who needs symptoms? Or even knowing you actually ate tainted spinach? They MUST be admitted immediately.

Oh, and they're gonna sue us if we don't bring them back NOW. Didn't we HEAR about the lady who died in the waiting room??!!!

OOOH how could I forget that....happened where I was too jeeze!

Specializes in ER, Geri.

Mosquito bites, spider bites, spinach scares.....what about the BATS!! One person comes in with a possible bat bite, the newspaper runs a story about a bat that bit someone and was caught (the bat, not the person..lol) and tested positive for rabies and OMG.....how many jumped on that bandwagon! And....how many got treated and probably never did their follow-up...why, you might ask? Well, since you asked, I'll tell you...because we are a NOT FOR PROFIT hospital and we turn down no one. We are the only hospital in town and we get it all. I wonder how many of our non-paying customers even batted an eye at the thousands of dollars we spent on all those treatments. The hospital is so "customer satisfaction" oriented, until they developed a protocol. Since bat bites may not be visible due to the miniscule size of the bite, if someone feels that they may have been bitten by a bat, they automatically get the 2-step treatment. grrrrrrrr... there goes my raise..

any thoughts on this?

I wonder how many of our non-paying customers even batted an eye at the thousands of dollars we spent on all those treatments.

I love puns and that was a true groaner. Great job! :p

The hospital is so "customer satisfaction" oriented, until they developed a protocol. Since bat bites may not be visible due to the miniscule size of the bite, if someone feels that they may have been bitten by a bat, they automatically get the 2-step treatment. grrrrrrrr... there goes my raise..

any thoughts on this?

I'm just curious, do you live in an area that has an excessively large bat population (such as in an area which has a lot of caves which are tourists attractions, etc)? Or are these your run-of-the-mill bats that just come out at night?

Leave it to the media to come up with another "real or imagined" health scare. Yes, I know the danger of rabies, but there are so many other animals that carry rabies, and I would think that bat bites are very rare.

Maybe it would be a good idea to write a letter to the editor of the newspaper and present a little education to the public. Maybe that would help?

I know we do try to educate the public and I know most of the time it goes in one ear and out the other, but maybe some will pick up on it, decide on the proper course of action. Maybe that would help, even if just a little bit.

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Okay, so this wasn't ridiculous.... we had a lady who really did get a bat bite, woke up with the bat on her face biting her lip!

So she comes in, gets triaged, brings the bat with her in a paper bag. Middle of shift change, so the triage nurse brings her back, the oncoming nurse is heading out to the triage room and starts to sit down. First nurse runs out and yelps "Don't sit there, there's a bat in the bag" ..... which then starts moving. And yes, it did test positive for rabies (after somebody killed it) :roll :roll :roll

Whaddayamean you left a live rabid bat on my seat??!!!

This is not a lie......

65 y/o M with c/o "one leg longer than the other"

This is not a lie......

65 y/o M with c/o "one leg longer than the other"

And after 65 years, he just figured that out?? I suppose he came in at 3AM to boot! :roll

Specializes in ER/ ICU.

How about- Rug burn, cold sores, broken nail, fever of 100 w/ no other symptoms,one of my friends was sick. Worse than that is that they all called EMS so they didn't have to wait. To triage w/ all of you.

:trout: parent brought in 5 year old after midnight because the child had a bad dream and woke up sweating....:banghead:

Specializes in ER, CCU/ICU, Trauma, Hospice.
How about- Rug burn, cold sores, broken nail, fever of 100 w/ no other symptoms,one of my friends was sick. Worse than that is that they all called EMS so they didn't have to wait. To triage w/ all of you.
Like the back pain who calls ems and is standing in the doorway with purse in hand ready to go!
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