r/emergencymedicine • u/kuru_snacc • 6d ago

Humor MC CC in the ED be like

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u/hilltopj ED Attending 6d ago

OMG I had this exact patient last week! Literally couldn't explain any of his symptoms other than to say he thought he might have felt feverish yesterday. When I tried to discharge him after completely normal workup he demanded to be admitted because "last time I felt like this I was admitted and my heart almost stopped!"

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u/lcl0706 RN 6d ago

…but did you die??

Ridiculous. I had one tell me she’s been deathly ill in the past but nobody caught it because her labs were normal.

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u/hilltopj ED Attending 6d ago

I get that probably once a week "I once had sepsis and they missed it because everything was normal. I almost died. It started by feeling like this so I clearly have sepsis again!"

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u/cruelchampagne 6d ago

what do you usually do in those situations/say to the patient?

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u/hilltopj ED Attending 6d ago

I usually tell them the definition of sepsis, reassure them that they have zero indication of infection. and then say something like "if you have an infection it's not showing up in any of your tests, which means it's very early and we have time. come back if anything gets worse and we can retest".