Hospital Slang Abbreviations Lexicon

The following are slang abbreviations commonly found around the hospital setting:

1. OJT ( On Job Training): Instead of going to RT School, RTs used to learn on the job. At this point RTs were basically ancillary staff who were paid to do a procedure. However, as this line of work progressed, and RTs started picking up new wisdom and became part of the patient care team, OJTs were phased out like yesterday's bad news.
2. Taking a dump (TAD): Hospital slang to describe a patient who appears to be taking a turn for the worse; not looking very well and perhaps going to crash; getting worse; tanking.It basically means that a call to the physician is necessary to prevent the patient from getting worse.
3. Swirling the Drain (STD): a) Hospital slang used to describe a patient who has a do not resuscitate (DNR) order, usually has a terminal illness, may be on comfort measures only, and is expected to die soon. b) An inappropriate term medical people occasionally use to describe a patient who's a DNR and has a grim prognosis
4. He's Gonna Die (HGD): a) Hospital slang used to describe a male who has a do not resuscitate (DNR) order, usually has a terminal illness, may be on comfort measures only, and is expected to die soon. b) An inappropriate term medical people occasionally use to describe a male patient who's a DNR and has a grim prognosis.
5. She's Gonna Die (SGD): a) Hospital slang used to describe a female who has a do not reuscitate (DNR) order, usually has a terminal illness, may be on comfort measures only, and is expected to die soon. b) An inappropriate term medical people occasionally use to describe a female patient who's a DNR and has a grim prognosis.
6. Comfort Measures Only (CMO): A patient who usually has a do not resuscitate order (DNR) and whose caregivers and physician have decided to make no heroic measures to save the patient, and to basically do only measures that will provide comfort for the patient until he or she expires.
7. Do Not Resuscitate: NO CPR and no intubation, however the patient should still be treated otherwise. This is a common sense order for any patient with a terminal illness or elderly, it's not an excuse to be lazy.
8. QID:  Doctor is smart enough to know patient will be short of breath four times a day
9. BID: Doctor is smart enough to know patient will be short of breath only twice a day.
10. TID: The patient will be short of breath only three times today
11. PRN: You don't have to give useless treatments.
12. MDI: Metered Dose inhaler; inhaler, puffer.  They work just as well as a nebulizer and you only have to pay for the inhaler and the initial instruct, every puff thereafter has a minimal cost
13. SVN: Small Volume Nebulizer, nebulizer, breathing treatment, updraft, aerosolizer, aerosol.  For many doctors, these are the cure all for all diseases and what you order when you're too lazy to think.
14. Q4ever:  The belief that this next treatment just might be the one.
15. QA analyzer:  Quality Assurance Analyzer; a hired hand who constantly double checks our charting; nit pickers.  Their intent is to make sure the hospital gets reimbursed for that patient.  They make sure the doctor orders what a person who has no clue about medicine has decided must be ordered for that DRG for the hospital to be reimbursed for that patient.
16. DRG:  Diagnosis related group.  These are the basic diagnosis's your doctor can choose from. The government pays a set fee depending on what DRG you choose.  Likewise, the doctor will only reimburse for a particular DRG if you order certain things for that patient, such as Q2 neuro checks, IVS and breathing treatments.  Basically, it's an excuse for the government to get out of paying what average citizens pay for healthcare.  It's one of the reasons for skyrocketing healthcare costs for those who pay their own health insurance.