Nurse Slang Yo!

[ladysushi]

So this morning, after my alarm clock rudely woke me up (so ruuuuude ) , I engaged in my terrible terrible habit of getting on facebook immediately after shutting my alarm off on my phone. I am friends with a few nursing students and they are always posting funny little nursey articles. Well this morning, one of my nursing student friends left a link to a pretty funny article that discussed the different slang used by nurses at work.They had it set up in a dictionary format, where they would use the words in a sentence as an example. As a dorky, overly excited pre-nursing student, I found them hilarious!

My fave was "PITA" which stood for Pain in the orifice.

Such as There is a PITA in room 9, just to let you know.

So I wanted everyone to share some of their "Nurse Slang" they may use daily or have heard before.

Thanks!

[Farawyn]

(edited for asterisk)

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Circling- as in, circling the drain, not doing well

Celestial discharge- patient died

Walkie/talkie- Largely independent patient, ie, one that walks and talks

Prince/Princess- Needy patient with high expectations

Vampire- phlebotomist

Going out for walk/fresh air- smoke break

COW- computer on wheels

[Bo,RN]

DFO = Done Fell Out, loss of consciousness

about to catch the bus = actively dying

repeat customer, frequent flyer = often at the hospital

[takingtoolong]

Psych patients = verbal diarrhea

[catform83]

We used "WOWs" not "COWs". That would be work on wheels instead of computer on wheels. Apparently a patient heard "COW" and thought a nurse was calling ppl offensive names! So we had to change that quickly! Lol

And def yes to the vampires, the frequent flyers, the walkie talkies (all mentioned by others)

And then there are a few of my favorite terms for certain types of behaviors often seen in patients suffering from dementia:

"sun-downers" (which is a real term- describing patients with dementia who do pretty well during the day, but really start losing it when the "sun goes down"),

"ninjas" (my personal term for little old patients with dementia who are confused, agitated and abusive if you come anywhere near them...some really pull out some crazy impressive moves and are incredibly strong!!!!)

Ohhh and "houdinis" (again, old patients with dementia...those that you thought could barely even move, but now the sun is going down...it's of course almost the end of your day shift...and somehow this patient figures out how to get out of their gown with a personal alarm still attached to it WITHOUT making it go off! And you enter their room with them completely naked, their IV pulled out- blood everywhere, the patient almost completely out of bed with their leg caught in the bed rail in some crazy twisted way like a pretzel, and their foley about to rip out of them bc the bag is hanging on the other side of the bed!!!!) THATS MY FAVORITE!!! Lmao!!! Seriously!!! I've seen this scenario more than I ever should! And when it happens, it's frustrating, and it's definitely a little frightening...and you are hoping the patient isn't injured...or that they aren't going to injure YOU when you try to intervene or the other nurses you call in to help...but it's a memory that will stay with you forever, and will always make you laugh!!!

Okay, a few others:

"dead in the bed" (self explanatory.)

"DOA"- dead on arrival (more for paramedics and ER staff.)

One of my personal faves I know my unit used- giving a patient "vitamin A" (when your patient has gone bonkers and you have to start with chemical restraints such as ativan ("Vitamin A")

FOS- full of stool

"holds" (admitted patients in ER waiting for a bed in a unit)

And, although I am not gonna list them here, I was always amazed at how many crazy little nicknames we came up with and used on a regular basis for lady partss and memberes!!! Actually it's amazing how much you have to discuss these parts of the body in general!!! Lol

[CelticGoddess, BSN, RN]

OTLP: on the launch pad

Breathing Treatment: Smoke Break

Nuts and Squirrels, or just Squirly: Anyone who is freaking out

Jumped Ship: Pt who eloped. Usually only used for those who are with it

Going to Churches: Elopement of a patient who is not with it.

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

Code azure - hopeless, "slow" code on a patient dying anyway

Code brown - large amount of stool

Code purple - primary respiratory emergency

Garden party - large noisy family in the room of patient in permanent vegetative state

Houdini - patient successfully getting out of restrains

Milk of amnesia, milk of heaven - propofol

4 -points alternative: Foley, fecal tube, central line and vent (as alternative to 4-point restrains)

Elf, elfie, elvish life: comatose patient on futile life support per family request, same as "wanna live forever"

Clocker, being on clock: patient requesting PRN pain meds precisely at set times

Neverland: induced coma/ICU psychosis with hallutinations/DT

DOA: dead upon assessment

SSS: Sick Sensor Syndrome (constant ringing due to low peripheral perfusion or defective SaO2 sensor)

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Going out for walk/fresh air- smoke break

Where I work, sometimes when staff goes out for a smoke, it's termed an air quality check.

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Positive gown sign - pt has walked out, leaving gown crumpled on stretcher or floor. Usually occurs after narcotics request denied.

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

Vitamin P = Lasix

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Resident suffers from FMPS=fluff my pillow syndrome. True story, or at least local legend... an older LTC facility that closed down several years ago got pretty big fines when this was discovered actually charted several times. It was never made clear exactly how state found out what was meant by FMPS, my guess is a soon to be former employee spilled the beans. What I don't get is why some nurses were dumb enough to actually chart this.