Different Lingo Depending where you practice nursing

[RNKPCE]

Just got off the phone with a friend who is a nurse and she was telling me of her last shift. She was talking about K riders, where I work we call it potassium replacement. I hadn't heard about "endorsing" to the next shift until reading it on this forum. Is that something used in other countries or also in different parts of the US? We just "give report to the oncoming shift" We have "casual nurses" to mean those without benefits, some places have "PRN" or "per diem". Some units still have " head" nurses other have managers and/or charge nurses. Post other differences you have noticed in our field.

[toomuchbaloney]

Are you talking about OB? I'm pretty sure primip is used everywhere, it's shorthand for primiparous (although that's a misnomer, because she's actually a primigravida, not a primip, as she hasn't actually had the baby yet). I guess "primip" sounds better than "primig"

Perhaps the "where you practice" in the title of the thread refers to specialty as well as geography.

That aside, did you feel that I was likely unaware of the meaning when I used it as an example? Just curious given you seemed to have a need to say something about it. I see that you are experienced in OB, perhaps you were simply demonstrating your familiarity with the "word".

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

toomuchbaloney-- we use "circling the drain." I've heard "cabbage" used a lot, except the hospital where I worked in the CVICU the procedure was referred to as a "CAB," pronounced "cab."

KCl supplements are called "bumps."

"Bump" also is a verb for transfer to the trauma or cardiac stepdown. I've only heard that where I work now.

[JDZ344]

I'm in the UK and practically need a dictionary to read here :)

We have wards, not units

Handover, not report

ECG, not EKG

ITU not ICU

Operating theatre, not operation room.

We call PRN nurses "bank" nurses (A "bank" of staff)

Aides are support workers or nursing assistants

Female charge nurses are called "sister" but the males are not "brother", they are charge nurses.

Accuchecks are called blood glucose/blood sugar

Foley is a catheter

IV is called a cannula

There's so many more I'm probably missing.

[klone, MSN, RN]

No, I just wasn't sure if you actually meant that word, because you spelled it differently than how I usually see it written. And I commented because I was hoping that someone else who works in OB would chime in if, in their experience, primip is not a commonly used word where they work. Other than that, I've got nothing. Apparently I struck a nerve with you unintentionally.

Perhaps the "where you practice" in the title of the thread refers to specialty as well as geography.

That aside, did you feel that I was likely unaware of the meaning when I used it as an example? Just curious given you seemed to have a need to say something about it. I see that you are experienced in OB, perhaps you were simply demonstrating your familiarity with the "word".

[monkeybug]

In nursing school I did clinicals in a small hospital that had some interesting charting I've never seen anywhere else. I wonder if anyone else has heard of it? At the end of the shift, say 3-11, you'd chart, "2200 Stable hrs.-----A Nurse, RN" to indicate, I suppose, that the patient was still breathing at 10pm. I even witnessed someone from medical records bring a chart to a nurse and tell her to finish out her shift. She'd made an end of shift note, but because it didn't say "Stable hrs (hours)" it wasn't complete. I've worked in many hospitals across the country, and never again have I run into this notation.

[CodeteamB]

Are you talking about OB? I'm pretty sure primip is used everywhere it's shorthand for primiparous (although that's a misnomer, because she's actually a primigravida, not a primip, as she hasn't actually had the baby yet). I guess "primip" sounds better than "primig"[/quote']

Where I live I've heard "primmie" or "primmip" more often than anything else. (Primiparous being pronounced with a soft rather than hard I in my locale)

[NOADLS]

You call them "briefs" or "pads," I call them "diapers."

[itsmejuli]

You call them "briefs," I call them "diapers."

And we mostly call them" pads"

[JDZ344]

And we mostly call them" pads"

We do too.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I detest the term diapers for adults.

When my grandmother was dying but alert my Aunt said to her she was going to change her diaper. I wanted to slap her...how demeaning. I changed my Grand mother from then on and let my Aunt "rest".

Briefs, underwear, Pads, Depends, personal incontinence protection...never diaper.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

I worked on both coasts and finally learned to say, "ANN-ji-nah or ann-JYE-nah, depending on whether your physician went to Stanford or Harvard." I also never heard of an DMI until I went west-- on the east coast it's IMI. Or do I have that backwards? I forget now. :) Same for "SON-ti-meter" and "SENT-i-meter."

Also: In Boston we called them "stretchers." As a new grad, I hadn't the faintest idea what my boss meant when she asked me to fetch a guerney in Arizona. Likewise "johnnies" vs. "gowns." Gowns are the ones with the long sleeves that you wear when you scrub in the OR or work in an isolation room.

[AssociateDegree]

Went to a conference where a doctor from the deep South pronounced gynecology (guy-na-cology) as "gin-a-cology." And that was her specialty, so I figure she was just pronouncing it like others from her locale.

Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong about that.