Regional differences in OB terminology ....

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Good morning everyone,

What are some of the regional differences in terminology you all have encountered? For example, I lived and worked in Chicago and the California Bay Area. When a lady is 10 cm she is "complete." Now I'm in New England and they say she's "fully." After 16 years of saying "complete" it's taking some time to get used to this and I'm not sure if I want to change my own usage of words, just because I guess I'm a stubborn old lady and want to hang onto something that I'm used to :) ;)

Does anybody else have other regional differences in terminology they'd like to share? Other OB terms? Is "fully" used anyplace else other than CT?

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Specializes in L&D/MB/LDRP.

AC - almost complete or anterior cervix lol (Wichita, KS)

AL - Anterior lip (Oklahoma)

instead of % for effacement, 1/2 cm, 1cm, 2cm

NCB - natural child birth (Washington)

Local - (Oklahoma)

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Lordy I lived in OK and never heard those terms!

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LOL, sometimes I think it's more of an individual hospital thing, than a regional thing. I'm in NH, and at 2 hospitals about an hour apart- at my old hospital, we said "fully"; at my current, they say "complete". Old hospital, when talking about misoprostil, we pronounced it "meeso". New hospital, they pronounce it "miso" (the I sounding like "eye" instead of like a long "e" sound). Little things.

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I'd probably just keep saying "complete". ;)

I have never really understood how we can use percentages on effacement. It doesn't seem very precise - or even true, depending on whether you checked a woman's cervix when she was not dilated at all to get a comparison.

steph

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It's complete here in southern Ohio. We also use NCB for natural childbirth. And when talking about Miso (meeso), we just call it Cytotec. :lol2:

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We USE cytotec.

steph

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I'd probably just keep saying "complete". ;)

I have never really understood how we can use percentages on effacement. It doesn't seem very precise - or even true, depending on whether you checked a woman's cervix when she was not dilated at all to get a comparison.

steph

I confess I sorta, kinda "guess" at effacement ... it is so imprecise. Not every cervix can be the same thickness! I think the important thing is for the same person to check the pt and compare sequential exams.

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It's complete here in southern Ohio. We also use NCB for natural childbirth. And when talking about Miso (meeso), we just call it Cytotec. :lol2:

We called it cytotec in CA, although we understand Miso (meeso). It's a tofu based Japanese soup! :lol2: I suppose one could call Miso soup cytotec soup and see if anybody got the joke.

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Specializes in L&D/MB/LDRP.

BUFA - baby up for adoption

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

in 30 years:

anterior lip: both california and washington

local: both california and washington (referring to local anesthesia for episiotomy)

for anything under 60 % effacement: thick both states. although some of our familly practice residents in california were phenomenal. they could measure effacement at 37.5%. no kidding! hahaha

rim: both states, to indicate that "almost complete" cervix

NCB: in washington, please tell me where. it seems no one here knows how to do that anymore:(

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You'd be fully here in PA. We use percentages for effacement. "Dutchified" is something or someone who is local and maybe a little backward too depending on the context. Can we feed someone who's hemmorhaging the "cytotec soup"?

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