A little pet peeve

Specialties Operating Room

Published

OK, I just gotta say this, but I know it's really petty:

WEITLANER!!!!!!!! It's called a WEITLANER!!!!!

W-E-I-T-L-A-N-E-R!!!!!!!

So why do even experienced nurses persist in adding a "D" to it and calling it a "weitlanDer?"

That has bothered me for over 25 years.

OK, now I feel better.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Here's one - implemented instead of implanted. I'm a nursing student, and one of our instructors says that all the time when talking about a fertilized egg being implemented in the uterus...

Thanks for the definition on the Weitlaner - I'll be one up when we do our surgery rotation!

By the way - I think the name comes from German which may be why so many people have trouble with it. That's another laugh I got (my first college degree was in German) - when our stupid, ignorant, imbecile (does that cover it?) instructor for GYN tried to pronounce Mittleschmerz and Spinnbarkheit...

I have to admit that I have slipped and said "O2 stat" on occasion. I also use "woken up" quite frequently in my normal everyday language. (Maybe I should take another English course to remedy this problem).

I hear quite a bit, "dypsnea" instead of "dyspnea".

oh and have had a patient say "latex" instead of "lasix".

Originally posted by stevierae

Or maybe they are part of that group of nurses who DOES NOT SCRUB!!!!

Sorry, I just could not resist--nurses who don't/won't scrub are my other pet peeve, one Shodobe shares with me.

A Weitlaner is a small-self retaining "forked" retractor, commonly used to keep a small incision open--often, one is used at either end of the incision--such as for hernias, breast biopsies, ankle ORIFs.

or we could be one of those nurses that read all the posts (or most) in the "todays active threads". I personally am an OB nurse, and only visit the OR during sectiions, and in my hospital we dont scrub. But thanks for the definition!

Everyone I work with, including the surgeons call this retractor a "weitlander". It is written with a 'd' on the packaging. I never really thought about it before. Now I will have to check out the spelling.

My hospital calls tonsil clamps "Rogers" after a doc that used them for everything. They also call bridge clamps, "long Rogers"...it drives me crazy because there is NO SUCH THING AS A ROGER. when I count, either scrubbing or circulating I call them tonsils and bridges and other staff look me like I am stupid. I have been here for 4 years and even the new people who never heard of a roger call it that. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

Specializes in Emergency, Trauma.

plumrn- that's what I was going to say! We have one paramedic (who is an excellent medic) that comes in and ALWAYS says O2 STats when giving report. I want to scream "IT'S O2 SATuration, not O2 STATistics!", but he's so nice I don't want him to feel bad or be embarassed. So I just have to giggle to myself.

LMAO, west virginia clamps!

Specializes in O.R., ED, M/S.

You'll find in most hospital ORs, instruments are named after certain surgeons who use them exclusively. We have a number named after long retired or dead surgeons. I still to this day, after 25 years, still call them by the only name I ever used. New nurses look at me with a strange eye, but I tell them the story behind them and they understand. I have gone in my catalogs and learned what they are really called and changed the names on the count sheets in the sets. Mike

Specializes in jack of all trades, master of none.

Palestinian retractors, weitlanders hee hee hee.

Stevie, it is perfectly ok to vent about these things. But probably b/c that kind of thing absolutely drives me bonkers! :)

Specializes in Gen Med,LTC.

Oooohh oooohhh...here's mine!! When patients are drowsy but easily roused, and nurses say easily aroused!!! Makes my ears burn. I can just picture it..."hey, baby."

Specializes in Critical Care.

My pet peeve is when someone tells me that they bathed the patient and pronounce it" bath thed", drives me nuts, it must be a western Pa thing. Everyone on the unit says" bath thed", errrrr. another one is when someone asks for a gum band, WTF is a gum band, do I have 2 heads? It is a rubber band! I think people pronounce items according to the region they grow up in, so many different accents and slangs, some are cute and some are just annoying.

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