Mispronunciations That Drive You Nuts

[ixchel]

Car-dee-ya-zem.

It's car-di-zem. Or dil-ti-ya-zem.

Cardiazem isn't a real thing.

Can I get an amen?!

[crispycritter]

How many new nurses have documented that the wound was "pu*sy" instead of pus filled, or purulent drainage. Not the word I wanted to use,but the editor stars out the other word.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

Okay, I have a question for y'all, now that we're on the topic. How do you pronounce "diabetes"? I had one of our (non-clinical) health educators say that she thought the way I said it was "cute" - I say it like "die-uh-BEE-dus" - how do you all say it?

I say die-uh-bee-tees

[sop832]

"Firebirds" of the uterus- from a patient having a hysterectomy.

"Allergy to sulfur [i guess they meant sulfa] gives them "whelps" [welts?] [or causes puppies?] This was on a preop chart from a doctors' office

"Defibulator" from a nurse educator

[sop832]

Oops, forgot "acetableum" for acetabulum [from an orthopedic salesman in the OR

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

"Firebirds" of the uterus- from a patient having a hysterectomy.

"Allergy to sulfur [i guess they meant sulfa] gives them "whelps" [welts?] [or causes puppies?] This was on a preop chart from a doctors' office

"Defibulator" from a nurse educator

I wanna take a drug that causes puppies to appear in my house. Puppies are cute. :)

I agree that dilaudid is the most mispronounced drug of all time.. di-lawd-uh is what I hear from one of the regulars. At least she's close!

[ThorpyNurse]

As a nursing student I was greatly confused by an RN's pronunciation of Clopidogrel (which I'm led to believe is "claw-PID-oh-grel" - here in the UK at least!) as "cloppy-dog-rell"..... Loved the mental image of a clumsy dog with hooves!

[nurse.toni]

When I worked in a LTC facility, we had a resident who would yell down the hall for his "Colonial Penn"... took me a few weeks before I realized that he was referring to his his Klonopin! The funniest part is that he would correct you if you didn't pronounce it "his" way. :)

[nurse.toni]

Another funny one... when doing clinicals on peds floor in nursing school, we were going through paperwork filled out by a patient's mother. In response to a question about any complications the child had immediately after birth, she wrote "Just a little John Dish". We all had a good laugh when we finally realized she meant jaundice 

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

roser13 said:

I say die-uh-bee-tees

I think it's just easier to say "I got the sugar."  That seems to be common amongst our patient population.

[HIPPIECHIKRN]

Way back in the day I remember some women in the GYN clinic complaining about passing "clogs" during their periods. I like new shoes too but that was ridiculous!

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

Patient reports that previous surgeries include a hysterical rectum. I asked did it mean she cannot have babies and she said yes so I took it to be hysterectomy.

And in the South, where the trees are grown, the word is peaCahns. Pee cans are those things you put under your bed in the winter so you don't have to run to the outhouse in the middle of the night. :)

[sop832]

Pee cans are what you take fishin'