Published
I think part of the reason the term is still in use is because of habit. It's sometimes hard to switch terminology after you've been using the same word your entire career. The other part is that it is a more "friendly" term with patients. Most of them tend to freak out when we tell them they have "gastroenteritis." They think it's some exotic deadly disease until we explain otherwise. :) As for being used as the diagnosis in charts, I have never seen it. Everyone I know writes "gastroenteritis."
loopylicious
7 Posts
I recently learned in my Microbiology class that there is no such thing as the stomach flu. Flu viruses affect your respiratory tract and not the GI tract. Also, what is often called a "stomach flu" is usually food poisoning caused by Staph. aureus. So then why is this term used in hospitals as a diagnosis if its not correct? What am I missing? I'm just curious so please correct me if I'm wrong about anything. Thanks in advance.