I had a pt this morning, rib pain after a play wrestling match a few days ago. He drove himself to the ER and rated his pain at 11/10. I got an order for Vicodin #2, and before I let him have it I had him call for a ride. I spoke to the friend, whose wife is a resident in our LTC unit, he said he would be with her and would await our phone call. I medicated. When he was ready for discharge I was off the unit and a coworker discharged him. He told her that he would just walk down to the LTC and get his friend to take him home. When I came back and found that out I cringed. (Coworker is new to ER, was a PACU nurse.) When I explained how it should have been done, she said "But he said he was going to go over to LTC for his ride home."
About a hour later a man knocks on the ER door. It's the friend wondering how much longer it's going to be because he's ready to go home. My cringe was accompanied by a silent moan. When I explained what had happened he shook his head and said "His truck's not in the parking lot and he never came to get me."
I told the friend to "beat up the pt's other side when you find him"!