Terms we will not admit to using

suanna · Jul 19, 2008, 11:20 PM

I can't believe no one has posted JMD=as in the patient has a bad case of Japanese Monster Disease. A patient on deaths' door that has become so fluid overloaded that their sclera edema is so pronounced it looks like ping pong balls, there tongue is hanging out and looks like a large baked potato, profound facial edema- Generally a Godzila like appearance.

nursval · Jul 20, 2008, 09:42 PM

KTC: kick to curb

al7139 · Jul 23, 2008, 03:45 PM

When I worked in animal medicine (before nursing), we used these terms:
DIC=Death is Coming

Peek and Shriek (for a surgery where you open the pt up, shriek because the problem is irreparable, and close them without doing anything).

ann1978 · Jul 23, 2008, 03:49 PM

How about a foreverplasty? Refers to all the cases the "known slow surgeon" does!

correctlywrong · Jul 25, 2008, 07:49 AM

Originally Posted by nurse97mommy2000

Withdrawal -- EMS picking up a patient
Deposit -- EMS bringing in a patient

DRT -- Dead Right There
DRH -- Dead Right Here

OTD -- Out The Door

Code Brown -- You can guess this one:chuckle

TMI -- Too Much Information

Circling The Drain

"They're on their way to their Heavenly home"

"Norm-al-la-sine" -- Normal Saline (Good if you tell a patient you are giving this for pain ((with a doctors order of course)). They think it is a new pain medication. We actually had a patient (a FF) to say their pain got better :roll)

I didn't actually mean to thank you for this post, but to hit reply.

Telling a patient that they are recieving a medication for pain which is not actually an analgesic, even with an MD order, has ethical and possible legal implications.

Certainly, if you explain that normal saline is being given to address dehydration, for instance, and that you expect that to improve the pain, that would be fine. But if you are actually using it as a placebo and representing it to the patient as an analgesic medication, that is an abuse of their trust in you and the rest of the health care team.

I'm not going to say that I haven't been tempted to do this before. But I know that if I were the patient, and I learned that such a trick had been played on me, I would be calling hospital administration and the professional boards of the caregivers involved.

*talaxandra* · Jul 25, 2008, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by correctlywrong

Telling a patient that they are recieving a medication for pain which is not actually an analgesic, even with an MD order, has ethical and possible legal implications.

It's true that some ethicists have expressed concerns about the use of placebos in a variety of settings, including randomised control trials. However, at the same time researchers are discovering more about the way the brain processes information about pain, pain relief, and other areas that encompass the placebo effect.

Placebo use is not as rare as those working in hospitals (like me) might believe - the Journal of General Internal Medicine recently reported that just under half surveyed Chicago internists had prescribed a placebo at least one during their career, often without the patient's knowledge:

Four percent of the doctors who prescribed placebos told their patient they were prescribing a placebo.
Just over one in 10 (12 percent) of the doctors who answered the survey said doctors should be prevented from prescribing placebos. According to the research team, the use of placebos is ethically debatable. Some ethicists argue patients should know they are being given a placebo, but others see no problem with the placebo effect. The placebo effect means that some patients will get better either spontaneously or because they believe they are being treated, not because of the medicine itself.
Almost all the respondents (96 percent) said they believed placebos could be therapeutic for patients. The majority also believed in the possibility of positive psychological and physiological benefits of meditation, yoga, relaxation techniques, biofeedback, prayer, spirituality, a good social support system, good doctor-patient rapport, and the interior design of the health care environment.

According to Neuron, expectation affects the results of a number of interactions, including placebos, which could reduce the effects of a placeo if the patient knows that's what s/he's receiving, a finding confirmed by a recent University of Michigan study.

I have certainly given patients medication with the intent of inducing a placebo effect - most often paracetamol (acetaminophen in the US), with the words "this will help you sleep," if sedatives are not ordered or advisable. I don't say it's a sedative, or disclose that it's a simple analgesic, and if the patient asks what the medication is I tell them, adding that for some patients it makes it easier to sleep, without the side-effects many sedatives can have. Much more often than not the patient does sleep.

*JailRN* · Jul 25, 2008, 11:29 AM

The jail nurses' favorite

"Adam Henry"--police terminology for the initials "A.H."

is (how can I say this and not get into trouble)

'bottom hole', (uncoop, out of control, loud, cursing, gassing (throwing urine/feces on staff), spitting)

As in, 'there's an Adam Henry down in booking"

also

"V+V cocktail" (DUI's booked in) 'vicodin (or valium) and vodka' ("I haven't been drinking--F-ing cop just didn't like me)

As in "she was picked up for DUI-V+V cocktail"

:beercuphe

nerdtonurse? · Jul 26, 2008, 05:18 AM

DSA -- Drug Seeking (Argumentative, Abusive, Arrogant bodypart that fecal material usually comes out of), as in "the DSA in 9 had 14 mg of morphine in the ER, had 4 mg 45 minutes ago, and told me she hasn't had anything for pain and wants morphine...." (this one came in from a single car MVA and got picked up by the cops when she was discharged, she had enough drugs in her car to open a CVS).

IM -- Imminent marytrdom, as in "Oh, nobody thinks anything's wrong with me, but there is, I'm going to die, and you'll all be sorry." The IM'r that I'm thinking of came in with the 4 (4!) MRI reports, a stack of EKGs, 3 stress tests, and 3 CT's she'd had in the last 6 months. All negative for anything wrong with her heart. When I told her that her rhythm was perfect and left the room, she moved leads around trying to GET an abnormal rhythm. When that didn't work, she took the battery out of the tele box and turned it over, trying to get a bad rhythm, which brings me to the next one....

DSD -- desperately seeking disability. I swear I had a sixteen year old that mom brought in, saying she needed to start the disability process, since everyone else in the family was on it. Nothing was wrong with this kid, except the home he was born into.

VivaRN · Jul 30, 2008, 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by stripec30

Alright, how about:

- Milk of Amnesia - Propofol
- Gravity Assisted Concrete Poisoning - jumped from height
- Hi 5 - HIV positive
- Urban Outdoorsman - Homeless person
- Bungee jumper - a patient who pulls on his catheter tube

Does anyone know - how did Hi 5 come to mean HIV positive?