Most of these abbreviations are not things I personally would use to describe patients, ayemmeff! I think you could get into BIG trouble using some of them, especially if the person you were talking to didn't have a slightly cracked sense of humour, or if a patient were to overhear.
However, black humour and off-colour humour have always been a part of how people cope with seeing life in the raw, day in, day out. I find this type of humour is especially common in ER nursing, where the nurses have to deal with a lot of alcoholics, drug addicts, and victims of violent crime. Dehumanizing the patients by calling them 'smurfs', etc. helps deal with the stress.
Personally, if I ever reach the level of burnout where I find myself doing that, I hope I'll have the sense to quit....
Jay-Jay,sorry,I didn't mean to imply that anyone would call a patient these things to their faces,and i know black humour is part and parcel of the medical profession.Just that "smurf" struck me as more cruel than usual!
The one I liked best ...........My ER doc and I were dealing with one of our saturday night drunks and his order was for Haldol and Ativan TTN.........I said what the heck is TTN .....the response.............Titrate Till Nice...........I almost cracked.....
ayemmeff
205 Posts
Jay-jay,Thank-you! we have smurfs here too,so i know what they look like.Thats a pretty mean name to call a patient though!