[Magdalen] medical terminology

[Jon Egger]

In my years of nursing I saw two things that disturbed me.  The first was
how med students, inters, and residents had horrible spelling and grammar
issues.  On nights, when we checked the charts, we'd make note of egregious
errors and have those making them fix them in the chart.

The other thing:  When I started in nursing, I noticed how med students
started off as nice people, but by the time they were done with their
internship or residency they had become irritable beasts, often mean or
flippant.  That was a result of their training.   Long hours reduced them
into error making, poorly observant people.   BUT, that started changing in
the mid-90s.  Medical schools began looking at the rigors involved in the
way the on call schedules were made, and KU developed a specialty in
Critical Care Medicine.

KU went to a wonderful system:  students and interns rotated call every
week, and the residents were on call for a month.  The intern and residents
slept a few doors down from our ICU.  We had lots more time to hang with
them and talk.  They got to see what we, as nurses, had to deal with...and
more importantly became aware of how important our role was.  Getting to
know the residents was amazing...we'd talk about our families, how our
weekends were, and so on.  They knew they'd be with us all night and
usually hung around and helped until they wanted to go to bed.  Every other
Thursday and every other Sunday, my team would order Chinese delivery and
the docs loved when the A team was on cuz they knew they could order a nice
meal.

+++
Grace & peace,
jon


On Thu, Oct 30, 2014 at 11:47 AM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Oh my...definitely LOL stuff!
>
> > On Oct 29, 2014, at 11:43 PM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > What happens when medical practitioners are allowed to make up their own
> > descriptions? The following are actual unedited notes written by doctors
> on
> > patients' medical charts:
> >
> > 1. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
> > 2. On the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it
> > disappeared completely.
> > 3. She has had no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she
> was
> > very hot in bed last night.
> > 4. The patient has been depressed ever since she began seeing me in 1993.
> > 5. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be
> > depressed.
> > 6. Discharge status: Alive, but without permission.
> > 7. Healthy appearing, decrepit 69 year-old male, mentally alert but
> > forgetful.
> > 8. The patient refused an autopsy.
> > 9. The patient has no past history of suicides.
> > 10. Patient has left his white blood cells at another hospital.
> > 11. Patient's past medical history has been remarkably insignificant with
> > only a forty pound weight gain in the past three days.
> > 12. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
> > 13. Between you and me, we ought to be able to get this lady pregnant.
> > 14. Since she can't get pregnant with her husband, I thought you might
> like
> > to work her up.
> > 15. She is numb from her toes down.
> > 16. While in the ER, she was examined, X-rated, and sent home.
> > 17. The skin was moist and dry.
> > 18. Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.
> > 19. Patient was alert and unresponsive.
> > 20. Rectal exam revealed a normal size thyroid.
> > 21. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life until
> she
> > got a divorce.
> > 22. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical
> > therapy.
> > 23. Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.
> > 24. Exam of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
> > 25. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
> > 26. The patient was to have a bowel resection. However, he took a job as
> a
> > stockbroker instead.
> > 27. Skin: Somewhat pale but present.
> > 28. The pelvic examination will be done later on the floor.
> > 29. Patient was seen in consultation by Dr. Blank, who felt we should sit
> > on the abdomen, and I agree.
> > 30. Large brown stool ambulating in the hall.
> > 31. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.
> >
> > James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
> > *“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things
> better
> > for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your
> time
> > on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente
>