Learn To Say It Correctly!!

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Doesn't it just drive you insane when someone tells you that Mr. Smith's O2 STAT is 96%?

It's O2 SAT people! Sat, short for saturation. I even hear respiratory therapists saying this. I am sooooo tempted to say something next time, but I know it's just petty, so I needed to vent here. Thank you.

I think that I am most irritated to see fellow nurses put that we have "recieved" medication for a resident. Um, it's "i" before "e" except after c. Received! You have a college education people, let's act like it!

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Specializes in Cardiac, Thoracic, Vsg, ENT, GU.

Glad to see semantical nit pickers are still alive and well! Stay the course people!:yeah:

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Specializes in MR/DD.

It drives me crazy to hear people say "I got sugar" instead of "I have diabetes".

In nursing school I had an Instructor that would say.

"pacific" instead of specific

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A surgeon doesn't get mad at you, hopefully..., when you mispronounce or completely mangle a a technical term. We also should accept that our patients aren't healthcare workers and healthcare terms are a foreign language to them. We can try to make them a bit more literate in phrases from our language that are important to them specifically, but other than that it's no big deal.

Healthcare workers on the other hand should be able to at least approximate a correct pronunciation of technical medical terms, as it is a matter of safely communicating very sensitive information--mistakes to matter! Whenever I hear anyone, NA to surgeon, really mangle a medical word, I get worried.

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I think having "sugar" comes from when they differentiated "sugar diabetes" from diabetes insipidus. This is a very old way of differentiating, from back in the day when patients were supposed to know only enough about their illnesses to do what they were told. No one expected patients to be well informed back then and everything was put in laymen's terms.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
tainted1972 said:
It drives me crazy to hear people say "I got sugar" instead of "I have diabetes".

In nursing school I had an Instructor that would say.

"pacific" instead of specific

Hi this can be a cultural thing with the 'I got sugar'.

Many Aborigines & Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people in Australia have English as their 3rd or 4th language, if they speak English at all. I was told when I worked in an Aboriginal Health Unit that there is no ATSI word for diabetes, so they say the equivalent to 'sugar', and try to explain the diabetes that way.

I think this has to be taken into consideration with cultural differences, as many older, traditional aboriginal type people cannnot understand diabetes when it is explained to them, even in simple terms.

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Specializes in Cardiac, Thoracic, Vsg, ENT, GU.

Not sure what the point of your story is. I would think one of the reasons for

your being a part of the Aboriginal Health system is to TEACH. Then again,

what are you to teach, YOUR way or THEIR way?

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Specializes in Medical.

Yeah, I think that's her point - using their (ATSI) languages and cultural concepts of disease to explain a Western phenomenon unknown to the indigenous population before settlement.

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Specializes in Cardiac, Thoracic, Vsg, ENT, GU.

I'm sure that's her point. She started in such a negative spirit of being "driven

crazy" because of a defining difference amongst cultures. To me, it would cause a smile, not a frown! Plus, I love to teach and share what I know (which I found wasn't all that much until I started listening and watching)

so these differences would make me feel needed.....a human weakness? ha ha

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I have seen a lot of people comment on the dia-beet-us thing, saying it's funny or that it drives them crazy. I don't get it. Someone please tell me what is wrong with this or how it is supposed to be pronounced. I'm missing something here.

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
handyrn said:
I have seen a lot of people comment on the dia-beet-us thing, saying it's funny or that it drives them crazy. I don't get it. Someone please tell me what is wrong with this or how it is supposed to be pronounced. I'm missing something here.

I've always been taught to pronounce it "dia-beet-EEs"

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
Elizabeth A said:
Your post just reminded me of one that really drove me nuts. My acceptance letter from the Nursing program said, "We expect you to act like a professional at all times....not adhering to our strict guidelines will cause you to LOOSE your position." Seriously?

You loose woman you! ?

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