Rae from Baltimore, Maryland, works in a cardiac intervention lab where surgeons refer to the esophagus as the goose. Is that bit of medical slang limited to her workplace? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Goose, Esophagus”
We heard from Ray Hansen, who’s a nurse in a cardiac intervention lab in Baltimore.
And she says everyone in her unit, from the attending docs to the nurses to the radiation technologists, refers to the esophagus as the goose.
And she was wondering, is this just in our unit or is this a common thing?
And she said it’s so common where she works in this lab that they have a big sign on the wall that says, “Respect the Goose.”
And it has an image of a Canadian goose because when you’re doing heart surgery, you want to be careful not to damage the esophagus or the goose.
And she wondered if it was just unique to them.
But no, it’s a common term in surgery to talk about the goose as the esophagus.
And some physicians talk about, you know, if you swallow something and it gets caught in your esophagus, it’s chicken and the goose.
Oh, interesting.
That’s fantastic.
Is it about the shape or?
I don’t know if it’s about the shape or if it’s about the esophagus.
I don’t know.
I don’t know.
Maybe other people can tell us.
