Thursday, February 23, 2012

Chief Complaint of the Night

"So like, I was sneezin' like, all day today, and I work with the public, so, I can't be at work sneezin'. So I came into the ER 'cause I missed work and 'cause I want the doctor to give me somethin' to stop the sneezin'. How much longer do you think this is gonna take?"

Yup, this is a phenomenon those of us in emergency medicine (okay, just me) like to call "acute work excuse deficiency." To be fair, though, she did also want a pregnancy test.

3 comments:

  1. Nice. I got the "I was seen yesterday and the doctor gave me a prescription for Percocet. So today I couldn't go to work because I had to take a Percocet. Now I need a doctors not excusing me from missing work today."

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  2. "To be fair, though, she did also want a pregnancy test."

    haha. I remember when I was still a kid that I fake sickness just to not to go to school. Old habits are hard to break, eh.

    Cheers,
    Peny@nurses uniforms scrubs

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  3. Girl in her early 20s on Saturday came to the ED for a pregnancy confirmation. Took an at-home test - positive. Already made an appointment at a clinic for Wednesday, but "couldn't wait." For what? Can't figure out that logic.

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