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!

[SapphireJulzRN]

Penile Intubation: putting a Foley in a male patient :)

[Sue Damonas, BSN]

LOL- Little old lady

GOMER- Get Out Of My Emergency Room

[CountryMomma, ASN, RN]

Shake, rattle, & roll - The resp pts we have on cpt, aerobika/flutter valves, and bed rotation.

Bottled sunshine - iv Zyprexa (it's bright yellow)

DLOL/DLOM - demented little old lady/man

She likes to knit - a DLOL who is easily distracted with a small roll of unrolled kerlix - they often treat it like yarn.

The Ativan special - acute detoxer.

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

Penile Intubation: putting a Foley in a male patient :)

I've seen words "rectal intubation" in instructional booklet for a fancy rectal tube.

[vanilla bean]

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

Literally LOLing at this - thanks for that.

[klone, MSN, RN]

In OB, FLK ("Funny Looking Kid") - it means an infant who appears to have some type of genetic syndrome, evidenced by not looking quite right.

Honestly, other than that, I can't think of any slang that's unique to OB.

[Farawyn]

We had an LPN who used to say this little cookie is out to lunch with a big hero sandwich

For an old lady:man who was confused

It became hero/ cookie

Then it was HC in room 507

[RunnerRN2015, ASN, RN]

I'm in the ED. Our ETOHers are marked as MTF -- metabolize to freedom. When a bunch of orders pop up at shift change: DSP = day shift problem.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Working in the OR, it's more nicknames for procedures than anything else.

Poke & suck: incision and drainage of an abscess. Generally very quick surgery that means we truly are just poking a blade into the abscess, sucking the nastiness out, and getting the heck out of dodge.

Snip & pull: retained suture/wire/drain that the patient needs anesthesia to have removed, either because it's stuck or it's a little one/developmentally delayed kiddo who can't tolerate removal in the office. Like the poke & suck, very quick and get the heck out.

Peek 'n' shriek: Open patient up, realize that there's cancer everywhere, and close them back up because completing the lung lobectomy/bowel resection/other procedure won't be enough to treat and will only cause additional pain/suffering.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Vitamin H: Haldol

Bed blockers: refers to patients taking up acute care beds when they should be discharged to LTC or home.

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

PITA is not a "nursey" term---I've seen it in use for YEARS before becoming a nurse. You sound very young, OP =)

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

In OB, FLK ("Funny Looking Kid") - it means an infant who appears to have some type of genetic syndrome, evidenced by not looking quite right.

Honestly, other than that, I can't think of any slang that's unique to OB.

FLK isn't unique to OB, we use that term in Pediatrics too. Babies who are FLKs tend to remain so as toddlers, school aged and teenagers. Usually by school age/teenage years we at least know why they're an FLK.