A
· Ambo
Transporting ambulance
· Ambu
Ambu Bag
· Amp and gent
Ampicillin and gentamicin; spell them out
· Appy
Spell out appendectomy
· Art line
Arterial line; spell it out
· A's and B's
Apnea and bradycardia...sometimes, particularly when referring to a neonate. A note to the dictator might be in order here, especially if dictated in the diagnosis or if the meaning is unclear
· Avpu
Mnemonic for assessing level of consciousness
- B -
· Bag/banana bag
Liter of IV fluids given to alcoholic intoxications named because of its yellow color, and contains multivitamins, folate, thiamine, and sugar. Its goal is to provide hydration as well as depleted nutrients, the absence of which can cause complications in alcoholics.
· Bagging
Ventilation patient
· Banana bag
Acceptable term; an IV potassium drip
· Banger/gang banger
ER patient, often referred to as being in the ER due to traumatic injury, involved in gang activities, specifically violent acts
· BIBA
Brought in by ambulance
· Bili
Bilirubin; spell it out
· Bili lights
An acceptable and long-used term, dictated usually by neonatologists in reference to lights used in treatment of neonatal jaundice (hyperbilirubinemia)
· Binky test
Ability of an infant to evidence basic stability and an interest in "the important things in life" by placidly sucking on a pacifier
· Bleed
Routine lingo for a hemorrhage (can be used in many phrases, such as arterial bleed, GI bleed, head bleed, venous bleed)
· Blue bloater/pink puffer
Stereotypical description of bodily appearance of COPD patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema
· Body packer
Drug courier who swallows bags/condoms of drugs
· Bounce back
Patient who returns to ER with same complaint shortly after being released
· Bovied
you can substitute "Bovie coagulated"; however "bovied" has become an acceptable corruption of the proper noun. Do not capitalize a term whose part of speech has been changed, even if it has been derived from a proper noun. Such terms are referred to as "back-formations" A back-formation is a coined verb which was formed from an already existing noun, and the result is technically not a dictionary term. Medical dictators love to make verbs out of nouns which are about as acceptable as the bastardization of the noun modem into "modemed" a term many of us use in our everyday conversation. Follow the guidelines of your employer with regard to usage of these back-formations. As long as the meaning is clear, it may be an exercise in futility to attempt to convert such commonly dictated terms into the deathless prose we would like our transcription to be. Aside from that, many dictators do not take kindly to our changing their dictation style. As author/teacher, Vera Pyle was fond of saying, "Doctors dictate, transcriptionists transcribe."
· Bruisability
Not a word in the true sense, but used a great deal by dictators to indicate that the patient bruises easily. Okay to type as dictated.
· Bus
Sometimes used to describe a transporting ambulance
- C -
· Cap gas
Capillary blood gas; spell it out
· Catcher's mask
Device used for patients with bleeding varices in throat to stop bleeding
· Cathed
Catheterized; spell it out
· Champagne tap
Clear tap; no blood
· Chandelier sign
Intense amount of physical response, including near levitation from the bed to the chandelier on the ceiling, induced by examining for cervical motion tenderness in cases of pelvic inflammatory disease
· Chapter
Usually refers to a delusional or hallucinatory patient (from legalese Chapter 51, etc.)
· Chicken spray
Nickname for ethyl chloride spray, liquid used for transiently numbing injection sites
· Circling the drain
Patient's future prospects of life are dim; rapid deterioration
· Coag
Coagulation (time)
· Code black
Deceased patient
· Code brown
Incontinent patient
· Code call
Urgent medical emergency
· Code green
Ambulatory injury; walking wounded
· Code red
Critical patient
· Code yellow
Urgent trauma
· Coke
Street name for cocaine
· Consented
Statement is often made "The patient was consented for surgery." What is actually meant, of course, is that the patient signed an Informed Consent form. However, the
misused form of "consent" is becoming quite popular, and the meaning is not distorted by this phrase. See "bovied" and "double-doc'ed" for further discussion on such terms.
· Crack
Street name for a particularly potent crystalline solid form of cocaine
· Crank
Mixture of crack cocaine and another stimulant, such as amphetamine
· Crasher
Someone who passes out in ER (usually family member)
· Crispy critter
Severely burned patient
· Crit
Hematocrit; spell it out
· Crock
Patient whose physical complaints are without organic or discernible basis or frankly bogus
- D -
· D&D
"Death and donuts"-slang for morbidity/mortality conference
· DC
Discontinue (or) discharge; when the meaning is obvious, as it usually is, spell it out.
· Dead shovel
Obese male patient who dies while shoveling snow
· Decels
Decelerations; expand to full word in reports
· Dehisced
Actually, a wound does not dehisce; it is in a state of dehiscence, but here again the word has become acceptable through usage. See "bovied."
· DeLee'd
A better way would be to substitute "DeLee suctioned"
· Demerol sponge
Great capacity, tolerance to, and desire for high doses of narcotics by patients with chronic pain management problems
· Dex
Spell out dexamethasone
· DFO
"Done fell out"-dialectical expression of syncope
· Di-di twins
Spell out dichorionic-diamniotic
· Diff
As in "CBC with diff." It's best to spell out the word differential; however, the short form is acceptable in most facilities.
· Diffusely positive
Review of systems patient who reports findings or complaints broadly through each system of the body during the history interview of formal examination
· Dig ("dij")
Spell out digitalis. Even if the doctor is indicating digoxin, both are digitalis-derived drugs, and "dig" by itself is confusing and interrupts flow of thought.
· Digitalized
Not a proper term, but widely used. See "bovied"
· Digitation
Aside from the dictionary definition(s), ED doctors sometimes use this to mean amputation of a digit. When the meaning is clear, it should be transcribed as "amputation of digit" to avoid confusion with the legitimate definition.
· Dope addict
Patient addicted to (illicit) substances, usually cocaine or heroin
· Double-doc'ed
Meaning that two procedures are planned to be performed on the patient involving two surgeons such as an orthopedist and a plastic surgeon requiring two consents to be signed. You could possibly change the statement to say that the patient was consented (or signed consents) for both procedures. This one is a dilemma, and quite often we resort to putting this spurious term in quotes.
· DRT
"Dead right there''-patient has been deceased long enough to greatly decrease the probability of resuscitation
· Duck
Slang for a male urinal from its typical white enamelware construction and its similar silhouette to the bird
· Dumbbells
Mnemonic for cholinergic overdose (diarrhea, urination, miosis/muscle weakness, bronchorrhea, bradycardia, emesis, lacrimation, salivation/sweating)
- E -
· Echo
Echo what? echocardiogram? ECHO virus infection? echoencephalogram? Be certain of the meaning if you are going to expand the term. Otherwise, leave the prefix as dictated.
· Epi
Epinephrine; spell it out
· Epi sick
Pale, green, nauseous, chest-pounding, tachycardiac appearance of patient who has received aggressive subcutaneous epinephrine therapy in anaphylaxis or status asthmaticus
· Ex lap
Spell out exploratory laparotomy
· Exam
An acceptable short form of the word examination.
- F -
· Face plant
Victim fell forward injuring face against floor or other object
· Fame
Mnemonic for assessment of endocarditis
· FLB
"Funny-looking beat"-indeterminate or chaotic aberrance on the cardiac monitor that is not well described or not well seen as the tracing went by
· Floater
Patient who has drowned and been in water for some time
· Fluctuance
Used to indication the presence of a fluctuant mass. (not "fluctuants") This particular non-word has been hotly discussed on MT chat pages on the internet. It has become acceptable through usage.
· FOF
Found on floor
· FOS
Full of stool-clinical or radiographic determination that the patient's intestinal tract is full of stool found on sidewalk
· Four H's
Hypoxemia, hypoglycemia, hypovolemia, and high bladder
· Frequent flyer
Patient who overuses ER
· FTD
Fixing to die-patient's future prospects of life are dim; rapid deterioration
· FUBAR'ed
Fouled up beyond all recognition-used to describe either the severely traumatized individual or an intoxicated state so profound as to alter the patient's ability to be recognized as himself
- G -
· GGF1
Grandpa's got a fever-battery of tests for elderly with fever of unknown origin
· GI cocktail
Donnatal, viscous lidocaine, and Mylanta
· Glove up and dig in
Bowel impaction
· Glyco
Hemoglobin
· Golden hour/golden window
1st hour after myocardial infarction
· Gomer
Get out of my emergency room---term for elderly patients with multiple complicated medical complaints
· Gorked
Obtunded or not alert, either acutely or chronically
- H -
· H. flu
Okay to leave the H. as an abbreviation, but spell out influenzae
· Heparinized
Same principle as "bovied"
· Histo
Histo what? histoplasmosis? histiocyte? A note may be in order here unless the meaning is absolutely clear.
· HOD
Heroin overdose
- I -
· Impossible meningioma
Okay to transcribe as dictated; refers to meningioma near the optic foramen
· Incentaloma
Okay to type; means a mass discovered on sonogram that was not previously palpable
- J -
· Jake
Can refer to one of the Jako instruments or any instrument the surgeon wants it to. See joker.
· JIC tube
Just in case---when drawing blood for lab studies, JIC tube is drawn just in case the doctor adds more to the lab order later on
· Joker
May refer to any instrument a surgeon or ED doctor is used to being handed at this point in a surgery or repair procedure.
· Jump start
Cardiac defibrillation
· Jumper
Patient who commits suicide by jumping from a structure
· Junky
Patient addicted to illicit substances, usually cocaine or heroin
· Junky lungs
Nonspecific lung disease/noise; worthy of a note to the dictator.
- K -
· Knife and gun club
Used to describe potential patients who could come into the ER by virtue of either form of penetrating traumatic injury, i.e., the traumatic epidemiology from weapons that contributes to the case load of an ER
- L -
· Lab
Laboratory/laboratory data; an acceptable short form
· Laboring
In OB/GYN usage, labor should be a noun; the patient is in labor, not laboring (although many women would disagree). If dictated as "The patient was laboring satisfactorily" this should be recast to read "The patient was having satisfactory labor."
· Landmark walking
Practice of the ataxic, infirm, seasick, drunk, and others of unconfident stability and gait, of walking from one object to another to steady oneself or rest before moving on to the next
· LWBS
"Left without being seen"---abbreviation placed upon charts to account for patients who no longer can be accounted for
· Lytes
Electrolytes; spell it out
· Lytes
Electrolytes
- M -
· Meat wagon
Transporting ambulance
· Mec, mec-staining
Referring to meconium, which spell out
· Mets, metz
Can mean at least two things; metastases and/or Metzenbaum scissors, and should be typed out in the proper context of the report.
· Mikes
Micrograms; spell out in a sentence; use standard abbreviation when dictated with a quantity
· Mud pies
Mnemonic for anion gap acidosis
- N -
· Nitro
Used for many types of nitroglycerin; an acceptable term in most medical facilities. Aside from that we cannot assume WHICH form of nitroglycerin is being referred to.
- O -
· Olive
Not really slang; a term meaning a hard knot found in the right upper quadrant in pyloric stenosis
· Osteo
Osteoporosis? osteomyelitis? osteopenia? Here again we cannot second-guess the dictator, so we must leave the prefix stand alone
· Oxy hood and oxy tent
Oxygen hood, oxygen tent
- P -
· Peds
Spell out pediatrics
· Pee
Unless the doctor is quoting the patient, please substitute the word urinate for pee.
· Perfed appy
Ruptured appendix
· Perineal towel sign
Refers to panty liner, sanitary napkin, tissues, incontinence diapers, washcloths, or towels worn in underwear of elderly women with urinary incontinence which, in the context of otherwise unexplained illness or early urosepsis
· Peristalsing
Peristalsis is a noun and should not be back formatted to become a verb, even though often dictated that way. Recast the sentence to use correct format; e.g. instead of "Bowel sounds are peristalsing normally," it should read "Peristalsis is normal."
· Pneumo
Pneumo what? pneumonia? pneumothorax? pneumocentesis? pneumocystis? Do not spell out the entire word unless you are absolutely certain of what is meant by this dictated prefix. In this case I would attach a note for the dictator.
· Popper
A drug abuser who self-injects subcutaneously, usually because the drug habit has sclerosed all peripheral IV sites of access, leaving no other way for injection
· Pothole sign
Method to gauge sufferers of an acute appendicitis attack
· Preemie
Premature infant
· Preemie
Premature infant; best spelled out in medical reports
· Primip
Type out primipara
· Pulse ox
Acceptable, as there is only one meaning, but "pulse oximetry" is better spelled out.
· Pumper
Bleeding vessel seen during examination of or repair of a wound
- R -
· Rally pack
Combination of sodium chloride, folic acid, thiamine, and multivitamins frequently given to malnourished patients
· Retic count
Reticulocyte blood count test
· Rig
Transporting ambulance
· ROMI, romied
Meaning "rule out myocardial infarction," which may be spelled out or the acronym used. For the dictated "The patient was romied," it is usually safe to type "The patient was placed on a rule out myocardial infarction protocol." or "...placed on a ROMI protocol."
· Roofie
Barbiturate which can be slipped into a drink for abuse, often Rohypnol
· Rule of 9's
For assessing percentage of body surface area in burns
- S -
· Sad persons
Mnemonic for suicide risk factors
· Sat, satting
In the proper context, "sat" or "sats" refers to saturation of oxygen. The term "satting at..." is certainly unacceptable. Substitute "having saturations at..."
· Saucerized
Corruption of the word saucerization, and an acceptable term.
· Scanning a patient
Used to describe ordering or performing an imaging study of the patient in the form of CT scan or ultrasound nuclear medicine scan
· Scoop and run
In the event that no treatment is possible at accident scene, patient is urgently transported to ER
· Sed rate
Sedimentation rate blood test
· Segs
Segmented cells; acceptable abbreviation
· Shoot and boot
Medicate and discharge
· Shooter
User of injected illicit drugs; perpetrator who actually commits the act of firing on a victimwith a firearm
· Skeletonized
An acceptable back-formation used in surgery dictation which means that an anatomical part (usually an artery) was stripped of surrounding tissue.
· Skin popping
Used to describe self-injection of drugs subcutaneously, usually because the drug habit has sclerosed all peripheral IV sites of access
· Sludge
Mnemonic for cholinergic overdose
· Smurf sign
Slang for Chadwick sign and/or Jacquemier sign ("Smurf" because it refers to a blue discoloration of vaginal tissue in pregnancy). Okay to type as dictated.
· Stepdown unit
A monitored setting not as intense as any type of ICU
· Sundowner/sundown
Well-known tendency for senile or demented syndrome patients to have a nocturnal worsening of their mental status and confusion
· Swiss cheese
A colorful descriptive term sometimes used in radiology to describe severe osteoporosis. All we can do is type as dictated.
- T -
· Temp
Better to spell out temperature
· Tet syndrome
Tetralogy of Fallot syndrome; spell out
· The dwindles
Slow, vague failure to thrive or senile physical deterioration
· The vapors
Vague somatization and physical complaints
· Theo level
Theophylline level; spell out
· Thump
Vigorous thrust to the chest in order to try to stimulate heart
· Trach
Spell out when the meaning is known, which should be obvious; tracheostomy or tracheotomy
· Triple A
Abdominal aortic aneurysm
· Trumpet
Nasopharyngeal airway, said to be so named due to the flared end that keeps the tube from slipping backwards
· Tweak score
Scale for assessing alcoholism dependence
· Twisted gut
Volvulus; decision to be made on an individual basis as to the advisability of using this rather unprofessional description
- U -
· UA
An abbreviation which can be used in laboratory data for urinalysis or for uric acid; better to spell out for clarity
· Unit
Transporting ambulance
- V -
· V tach
Spell out ventricular tachycardia
· Vanc
Vancomycin; spell out in reports
- W -
· Walking wounded
Injured, not critical
· Wheezer
Asthmatic patient
· White coat syndrome
This is a perfectly acceptable term. The patient is anxious/nervous about being in the doctor's office which results in benign temporary hypertension.
- Y -
· Yuppie flu
Okay to transcribe as dictated