Fun poll: Did you get oriented, or did you get orientated?

SuzieVN · Apr 3, 2013

Learn something new every day- I did not know that 'orientated' was a even real WORD, just thought people were saying it wrong. That's why I started this thread (I was being facetious!). Thanks.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Apr 3, 2013

Alert and oriented x 3 for my patients and I was oriented to my job by my preceptor.

roser13, ASN, RN · Apr 3, 2013

When a persons knows where they are they are oriented as AAOx3. When a person is being instructed about a new position they are being orientated as in "For the first week of my new job a will be orientated."

Not really. As has been mentioned, they are 2 versions of the same word with the same meanings. One version (orientated) is more prevalent in the UK and has just recently made its way here.

poppycat, ADN, BSN · Apr 3, 2013

Being that I work full time night shift, I frequently find myself DISoriented (usually on my days off)!

jcaron · Apr 3, 2013

A&O x 4 means alert and oriented to person, place, time, and situation - sometimes it is assessed by asking whether the patient knows the reason they are there.

Situation is important because someone could be alert and fully oriented to person, place, and time, but not truly oriented to their own abilities or could be hallucinating/etc, and that puts them at a safety risk.

psu_213, BSN, RN · Apr 3, 2013

and is it x3 or x4. I get the person, place, and time. What's left?

The fourth would be situation.

skylark, BSN, RN · Apr 4, 2013

Orientated is UK English, Oriented is US English

The same as the UK uses 'speciality', and the US has 'specialty'.

Neither is wrong, they are just different contexts.

beachmom · Apr 5, 2013

Our patients are "alert and oriented." When I started working at the hospital, I was "orientated." I never liked the word "orientated," and now I learn I'm right, it's not American English.