Okay, this is driving me nuts.... I'm a nurse on a telemetry unit. Last night I had a patient on continuous pulse ox, and I was pulling my hair out trying to get my patient to quit desatting randomly. In report I was told that the guy just had poor perfusion to his fingers and it wasn't reading him right, but I thought he looked kind of dusky, so I put a forehead probe on him-- he was reading anywhere from 65-100%. So I put a venti mask on him at 35%, he stayed in the 90s, I was happy. Called the doc just to give an update. Doc was cool, told me to call him back if anything changed.
A few hours later, the patient was desatting again-- put him on 40%, 50%, just couldn't get him above 80%. Call the doc back-- hey, this patient is bioxing in the 60s and 70s, do you want a chest xray, bipap, anything? And the doctor goes, "Wait. Why do you keep saying "biox"? What does that mean?" I was like, okay, SpO2, pulse ox.... the patient is not getting enough oxygen.
Is biox not a normal thing to say?! I've been saying it forever. I'm sure I said it in the first conversation. I get that Biox is a brand name for pulse oximeters, and not the technical term for the measurement. I thought it was like Kleenex... everybody knows what it is, right?
Bottomline is to know the difference between a piece of technology and the diagnostic value or which of the many diagnostic values of it obtains.
Another example is the use of the term "I-STAT". Some use it as if it a a diagnostic value by saying "Get an I-STAT on the patient."
?? What labs?
At one hospital some nurses insist on using the term I-STAT even though the place uses a different POC machine. They insist I-STAT is a term to mean STAT abg even though POC is used for routine abgs and many other lab values.
It creates alot of confusion especially when some tests also have the same abbreviations. CBG_ can be Capillary Blood Gas or Capillary Blood Glucose.
Use the machine brand name if there is a reason for choosing it but make sure you identify the correct diagnostic procedure. Just asking for a Biox machine doesn't say much especially if your facility uses Masimo.
You can also look in the supply cabinet for "Swan-Ganz" and may only find PA Catheters.
The same for the med "Duoneb" which some think it is a term meaning "for two medications" instead of knowing what two medications are in that brand name. This means some are lost when the med combo is listed Ipatropium/ albuterol instead of Duoneb.
But then, misuse of common medical terms by healthcare professionals just gives some a few laughs to post on Facebook or to make a silly YouTube video about.
GrannyRRT
188 Posts
Bottomline is to know the difference between a piece of technology and the diagnostic value or which of the many diagnostic values of it obtains.
Another example is the use of the term "I-STAT". Some use it as if it a a diagnostic value by saying "Get an I-STAT on the patient."
?? What labs?
At one hospital some nurses insist on using the term I-STAT even though the place uses a different POC machine. They insist I-STAT is a term to mean STAT abg even though POC is used for routine abgs and many other lab values.
It creates alot of confusion especially when some tests also have the same abbreviations. CBG_ can be Capillary Blood Gas or Capillary Blood Glucose.
Use the machine brand name if there is a reason for choosing it but make sure you identify the correct diagnostic procedure. Just asking for a Biox machine doesn't say much especially if your facility uses Masimo.
You can also look in the supply cabinet for "Swan-Ganz" and may only find PA Catheters.
The same for the med "Duoneb" which some think it is a term meaning "for two medications" instead of knowing what two medications are in that brand name. This means some are lost when the med combo is listed Ipatropium/ albuterol instead of Duoneb.
But then, misuse of common medical terms by healthcare professionals just gives some a few laughs to post on Facebook or to make a silly YouTube video about.