Learn To Say It Correctly!!

Algardner76 · Feb 4, 2009

I love this forum! It must be a nursing thing, however I will admit there are somethings that I am unsure of the correct pronunciation. Like duodenum. Is is doo odd eh num> or due oh dee num? I've heard it both ways. I'm with the person who said they hate hearing the word orientated! THAT drives me BONKERS!!!!!

BabyLady, BSN, RN · Feb 4, 2009

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.

As a student getting ready to graduate this semester...trust me, no one is more embarrassed than us.

A huge portion of my program is online. What happens with that, is I read about some drugs, procedures, so many medical terms, but I never get the opportunity to get to hear an instructor say them.

I have been embarrassed more than once...and I always thank the nurse or physician who corrected me...b/c they are going to save me from a career of embarrassment.

I sure as heck don't do it out of ignorance...but honesty.

rn/writer, RN · Feb 4, 2009

I love this forum! It must be a nursing thing, however I will admit there are somethings that I am unsure of the correct pronunciation. Like duodenum. Is is doo odd eh num> or due oh dee num? I've heard it both ways. I'm with the person who said they hate hearing the word orientated! THAT drives me BONKERS!!!!!

Here's a quote from another website:

is it duo-dee-numb
or is it do-ah-deh-numb
Either pronunciation is correct.
The 1st way you mentioned is the British pronunciation, and the 2nd way tends to be the more American pronunciation. (although I have heard many Americans pronounce it the British way).
You will not be faulted with saying it either way, but do try to be a little consistent, otherwise you'll be stumbling over your own words by thinking too much about them... :)

In a similar vein (pardon the pun), I was taken aback when one of the docs on CSI Miami spoke of alveoli and pronounced the word al-ve-OH-li rather than al-VEE-oh-li.

talaxandra · Feb 5, 2009

In a similar vein (pardon the pun), I was taken aback when one of the docs on CSI Miami spoke of alveoli and pronounced the word al-ve-OH-li rather than al-VEE-oh-li.

That's how we pronounce it here - and ca-PILL-ary, not CAP-illary (t really htrough me in first year when our A+P lecturer talked, in his American accent, about CAPillary beds)

morte, LPN, LVN · Feb 5, 2009

Here's a quote from another website:
In a similar vein (pardon the pun), I was taken aback when one of the docs on CSI Miami spoke of alveoli and pronounced the word al-ve-OH-li rather than al-VEE-oh-li.

yup, went to school in woostah (worcester) mass....and we learned al-ve-OH-LI

AlexIsMySunbeam · Mar 3, 2009

So glad other people are coming across the same issue. A girl I've been in classes with for two semesters says things incorrectly all the time with "cloth" instead "clot" as just one of the many examples. It kind of scares me to hear people mispronounce simple medical terms--these are the people that are/will be talking to the patients. And we wonder why our patients mispronounce words! :banghead:

ERNRS13 · Mar 3, 2009

Actually, where I have given it, norco has 325 mg of acetaminophen, not 500 mg like vicodin. Ooooh, the sat/stat kills me too. Another that annoys me is lor-A-tab, no... its lortab. On a side note, one FF the other day said, "The only thing that works for me is d-d-d-diloo-diloo-lu." I never did tell her the correct pronounciation of the medication. One has to love the FFs in the ER (note, no apostrophe). :jester:

LilyBlue · Mar 3, 2009

Let's see----

Metoprolol (MET-oh-pro-lawl is how I hear it all the time)

Phenergan (usually mispronounced by patients as "Finnagrin"

Protonix (yep, even heard this one get turned into PRO-ton-icks)

Some of the, shall we say, quainter nurses say "I BATH'd him" instead of "Bathe". They "bath" the patient.

"Superpublic" instead of "suprapubic" - "They have a super public cath" and I said, "Wow, that doesn't sound like any fun!" and the nurse stared at me blankly.

Improper classification of age groups. I had an EMT tell me once he was bringing an "infant" in to me - so I am preparing for someone less than 1 year of age. He brought in a five year old, and then stood there and argued with me that no, anyone under age 8 is considered an infant. Oooooook.

Saifudin · Mar 3, 2009

Anyone 'got shuga'?

LilyBlue · Mar 3, 2009

When patients call a colonoscopy a colostomy. There's a little bit of a difference there, folks.

WoofyMutt80 · Mar 3, 2009

I have heard 2 of the craziest:

All-Timers Disease (Alzheimer's)

He is Dietetic, and he is hypoglycemic (Diabetic)

WoofyMutt80 · Mar 3, 2009

I too live in Mass but not in Worchester or Wooostah (Worcester) but work in Bahhhston in a cath lab and the docs unclog ahhhteries (arteries) and I work wicked hahhhd