Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Chief Complaint: My Cat's Burning


Here is a direct copy of a chart I saw when looking up a patient's past history:

Chief Complaint:
Patient presents with
  • "My Cat's Burning"

HPI: Patient very difficult to interview and giving strange inappropriate responses to questions. Shouts, "AIDS!" long pause "Gonorrhea!" long pause "you want to see my penis?" long pause "My cat's burning and I need someone to look up under me." Finally interpreted to mean that she has burning when urinating for several days. Also complaining of vaginal pain and burning. Unsure if she's had any discharge. No abdominal pain, nausea, or vomiting.

-You can't make this stuff up!

-ER Doc

7 comments:

Tayaki said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SerenityNow said...

i think you know that was a misspelling

LivingDeadNurse said...

lol the things you run into in your profession

Me said...

Medical Turrets! Ha!

Anonymous said...

I am a "green" R.N and just pulled a 36 hour shift in a very understaffed hospital. I was tired, emotionally spent and considering my career choice. After reading your blog and seeing the way you use humor to deal with the day to day happenings it rekindled my faith and reminded me that I wasn't alone. Thank you.

Andrew said...

I think this one calls for more than the usual UTI and STD workup. Maybe a happy little talk with the happy fellow from mental health?

In other news, my word verification is 'vapid uti' (space added to make it two words)

A

SeaSpray said...

That is so funny! Sad... but funny!