What do you think of nurses who can't spell medical terms?

[Mini-Murse]

Honestly, no personal attacks, but im curious..

I see posters on this forum who can't spell "cough" or "aspirin" or "Morphine" correctly.. and it really concerns me. I'm not really a grammar nazi, but when someone who claims to be an RN for a number of years and can't spell basic medicine or procedures, it makes me wonder how much harder it makes the job for their co-workers.

Thoughts?

[Chixie]

diarrohea is one of the words that i struggle to spell on paper

[crb613, BSN, RN]

I will admit I am not the greatest when it comes to spelling. I do try, and am very aware of that....spellcheck, and google are my friends! I have never had any complaints from my patients.....when they roll through the doors they are just glad I know how to save their butt....they don't care if I can spell it or not!:)

[3dayRN]

After 12 hours I don't even know how to spell my name sometimes:)

[wishiwereanurse, BSN, RN]

my favorites are:

Diabetis

PNC

Amniodarone

Jaunticed

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

Just depends I guess. I worked with an ER doc that spelled Rocephin as Rocefin. I'd correct him, correct the chart and next one I'd pick up would be same Rocefin. One of the sharpest docs I've ever worked with and a miracle worker with sutures. He could do a running subcuticular stitch and you'd be hard pressed to find the wound edges when he was done. Couldn't spell worth crap but one of the finest ER docs I have ever worked with.

I knew one cardiologist who always wrote "Coumadine." Kind of odd that he always did this with a fairly common medication.

For me, the word I always have trouble with is aneurysm. I don't know why, but I always end up looking it up (like I just did while I was typing this!).

[brownbook]

I agree with everyone!!!! I try to forgive typos. Many posters are from around the world and accepted spelling of words are different from USA accepted spellings.

However I don't like to see misspelled words (okay, did I spell misspell correctly?) Thank goodness for spell check. For some reason one of my e-mail accounts has spell check and the other doesn't!!! I have to keep a dictionary handy.

I would have sworn "a lot" was one word until spell check!!!! There are some words I can never remember. I always mess up codeine, I can't remember i before e or e before i, and dilatation or dilation??? I am going to have to Google that after this post. Some words I abbreviate (yep I misspelled that one, two b's) so often I have to stop and think how to write them. I used to always make polyp, pylop??? I think I was thinking of cyclops or something????? My co-workers got a big laugh out of it.

[GM2RN]

I always mess up codeine, I can't remember i before e or e before i,

Ever heard this little rhyme?

i before e,

Except after c,

Or when sounded as "a,"

As in neighbour and weigh.

[melmarie23, MSN, RN]

diarrhea used to always trip me up.

my spelling is otherwise pretty good. Pronunciations? bwhahahhaha. Whole other ball game. I swear that whomever makes these drugs name them something completely wack-o just to get off. Hilarious.

[eagle78]

I agree with everyone!!!! I try to forgive typos. Many posters are from around the world and accepted spelling of words are different from USA accepted spellings.

However I don't like to see misspelled words (okay, did I spell misspell correctly?) Thank goodness for spell check. For some reason one of my e-mail accounts has spell check and the other doesn't!!! I have to keep a dictionary handy.

I would have sworn "a lot" was one word until spell check!!!! There are some words I can never remember. I always mess up codeine, I can't remember i before e or e before i, and dilatation or dilation??? I am going to have to Google that after this post. Some words I abbreviate (yep I misspelled that one, two b's) so often I have to stop and think how to write them. I used to always make polyp, pylop??? I think I was thinking of cyclops or something????? My co-workers got a big laugh out of it.

"a lot" is not one word??? Shut the door...

[Yiggs]

While some people might get overly concerned about other people's ability to spell, I wouldn't loose sleep over it. For some people English is not their first language but they are doing the best they can. For others, they are so tired of being "straight lace and formal" that they view the forum as a little less formal and a more relaxed 'place.'. A place where they can let their hair down and relax without worrying about being critiqued for grammer or spelling errors. If they were writing scholarly papers I would be more concerned, but not if an occasional word is spelt incorrectly in a post. If I understand correctly nurses from "all over the world" participate in this forum; not everyone write english or speak english fluently. I hope your comment does not discourage people from posting comments because they are afraid their entries will be analyzed for spelling or gramatical errors. There are times when my punctuation might be off but I do the best I can. I am not endorsing sloppy posting but I would be more discerning. Yiggs

[BonewaxRN]

The OP is specifically referring to medical terminology and the names of medications. Those are things that should be spelled correctly, no matter what, in my opinion. As to grammar and spelling for non-native speakers on the forum, I think it is common sense to grant allowances for that.

[Hygiene Queen]

I would have sworn "a lot" was one word until spell check!!!! There are some words I can never remember.

Yes!!! That!

OMG, I thought it was just me!

I promise you I was taught to spell it as one word!

And what about "everytime"?

I thought that was one word too!

Of course, now that I'm looking at it-- it does look wonky!

BTW, I distinctly recall being taught to spell "ice cream" as "ice-cream" and "Halloween" as "Hallowe'en".

Sorry to get off topic.

It struck a chord with me!