non hospital approved abrevations.

Nurses Humor

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so what are some of the abreviations used informally in your institution to describe patients.

there are the old ones from Samuel Shems book "House of God"

GOMER get out of my ER

LOLNAD little old lady in no apparent distress

Then the appropriated military ones.

FUBAR f'd up beyond all recognition

SNAFU Situation normal all f'd up

Then there are the ones I have learned since nursing school

TFBUNDY totally F'd but unfortunately not dead yet

JPFROG just plan f'n ran out of gas

AMF kind of like AMA, only Adios Mother F'r (very good for some er pt's.)

care to add some more to the list?

Jay-jay,Thank-you! we have smurfs here too,so i know what they look like.Thats a pretty mean name to call a patient though!

Most of these abbreviations are not things I personally would use to describe patients, ayemmeff! I think you could get into BIG trouble using some of them, especially if the person you were talking to didn't have a slightly cracked sense of humour, or if a patient were to overhear.

However, black humour and off-colour humour have always been a part of how people cope with seeing life in the raw, day in, day out. I find this type of humour is especially common in ER nursing, where the nurses have to deal with a lot of alcoholics, drug addicts, and victims of violent crime. Dehumanizing the patients by calling them 'smurfs', etc. helps deal with the stress.

Personally, if I ever reach the level of burnout where I find myself doing that, I hope I'll have the sense to quit....

Jay-Jay,sorry,I didn't mean to imply that anyone would call a patient these things to their faces,and i know black humour is part and parcel of the medical profession.Just that "smurf" struck me as more cruel than usual!

The one I liked best ...........My ER doc and I were dealing with one of our saturday night drunks and his order was for Haldol and Ativan TTN.........I said what the heck is TTN .....the response.............Titrate Till Nice...........I almost cracked.....

One I had forgotten- for pts with ETOH on board- TBAD- Took Bad A$$ Drunk:)

Specializes in Geriatrics, LTC.

Thanks ya'll I added the new ones to my ever growing list. :)

I couple of my favorites from my unit.

TBF- total body failure.

DM/WOV-dead man/woman on vent

WOMBAT - waste of money, beds and time

HVLT - high velocity lead therapy

DIC - death is coming

When a vent alarm goes off, we check the F A B C's:

Fecal bag, then airway, breathing...

it's much easier to reintubate than replace fecal bag!

Specializes in CVOR,CNOR,NEURO,TRAUMA,TRANSPLANTS.

TTET- Taking the eternal train

KOHD- Knocking on heavens doors

DNR- Do Not restart (saw that on a 17 yrs old chart called Dr and that what he said it was) Needless to say HN had a word with him.

CSE- Call(Consult) somone else

GFA-Get family away

LLS-Lost last screw

AAAx3- Awake Alert Aggitated

Those are what I recall

Still Love FUBAR though it fits so well.

Zoe:roll

Specializes in Geriatrics, LTC.
Originally posted by ITSJUSTMEZOE

TTET- Taking the eternal train

KOHD- Knocking on heavens doors

DNR- Do Not restart (saw that on a 17 yrs old chart called Dr and that what he said it was) Needless to say HN had a word with him.

CSE- Call(Consult) somone else

GFA-Get family away

LLS-Lost last screw

AAAx3- Awake Alert Aggitated

Those are what I recall

Still Love FUBAR though it fits so well.

Zoe:roll

I like the Do not Restarat! LOL I added these to my ever growing list. :chuckle

Specializes in CVOR,CNOR,NEURO,TRAUMA,TRANSPLANTS.

Code Pink- Dr b%^%$ing at the Nurse.

Code Brown- an unfortunate occurance

Working a Code Brown- Short staffed

Code Red with chunks- GI bleed active

Code Brown MD- no need to explain

DGBN- done gone bad now

ICDN- Imaculate conception delivering now (for those who cant be preggers)

Just a few

Zoe

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