Medical slang

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Medical slang is the slang of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other hospital and medical staff. One part of medical slang is the use of technical-looking acronyms to describe patients, co-workers or situations, often facetiously, to other medical professionals. Medical slang is found around the world and has entered popular culture through the medium of hospital dramas such as Casualty (UK), Holby City (UK), ER (US) and Green Wing (US).

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[edit] Limitations on use

In many countries, facetious or insulting acronyms are now considered unethical and unacceptable because patients can demand access to their medical records. Medical facilities risk being sued by patients offended by the descriptions. Another reason for the decline is that facetious acronyms could be confused with genuine medical terms and the wrong treatment administered.

In one of his annual reports (related by the BBC), medical slang collector Dr. Adam Fox cited an example where “TTFO” had been entered on a patient’s chart. This acronym means “told to fuck off” (q.v.). When quizzed about the term, the doctor was quick-witted enough to say it meant “to take fluids orally.” While this may or may not be true, it indicates the danger of using informal—and frequently insulting—acronyms.

As a result, medical slang tends to be restricted to verbal use and to informal notes or E-mails which do not form part of a patient’s formal records. It may also be used among medical staff outside of the hospital. It is not found on patients’ charts and, due to growing awareness of medical slang, often not used in front of patients themselves.

[edit] Non-English Medical Slang

Although online medical slang dictionaries are primarily from English-speaking countries, non-English medical slang has been collected by Fox from elsewhere. Brazilian medical slang includes PIMBA ("Pé Inchado Mulambo Bêbado Atropelado" meaning "swollen-footed, drunk, run-over beggar"), Poliesculhambado (multi-messed-up patient) and Trambiclínica (a "fraudulent clinic" staffed cheaply by medical students).

[edit] Annual round-up of medical slang

There is an annual round-up of the usage of medical slang by British physician Dr. Adam Fox of St Mary's Hospital, London. Fox has spent five years charting more than 200 examples, regional and national terms and the general decline of medical slang. Fox has also collected medical slang from around the world, demonstrating that it is a global phenomenon. He believes that doctors have become more respectful of patients, which has contributed to the decline. While its use may be declining in the medical profession, several dictionaries of the slang have been compiled on the internet.

Because of the limitations on usage in formal communciations, lists of words are generally passed orally among healthcare professionals. Several folk dictionaries exist as result of oral transmission and email contributions.

In the USA, medical slang has been popularised by the TV series ER. There are numerous online lists derived from this series. A major difference from British medical slang is the number of terms for gunshot wounds (mostly derivations of "acute lead poisoning") and those relating to health insurance (e.g. LWS or Low Wallet Syndrome and Negative Wallet Biopsy to describe a patient without adequate medical insurance).

[edit] GOMER

A GOMER (an initialism of (acronym for) "get out of my emergency room") is a patient, usually poor or elderly, in the emergency room with a chronic, non-emergency condition. The name was popularized by Samuel Shem in his novel The House of God.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Michael Quinion (2001-09-15). Gomer. World Wide Words.

[edit] Further reading

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