Next time you’re at a hospital, listen for staffer’s code slang like suitcase sign, meaning “the patient is determined to check himself in no matter what,” or a gown sign, meaning they suspect a patient of getting ready to...
Is it okay to use the term hospitalized? A journalist says a professor taught him never to use the term because it’s unspecific and reflects laziness on the part of the writer. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Catherine from Northern California encountered griage at a school flu-shot event, where greeters directed families to the right place. A brand name dating to about 2002, it blends greeter and triage. In a hospital or disaster setting, the griage is...
Good night, nurse! is an old-fashioned exclamation for surprise, disbelief, or frustration, and Debbie in Dallas, Texas, uses it as a cussword substitute. An early example dates to 1908, close to British lexicographer Eric Partridge’s estimate of...
kangarooing n.— «But Colton never came home to the picture-perfect nursery his parents had set up for him. Instead, Donny and Amy Chilla and their parents spent hours cradling Colton, in a practice known as “kangarooing,” as...
multimorbidity n.— «People with multiple health problems—a condition known as multimorbidity—are largely overlooked both in medical research and in the nation’s clinics and hospitals. The default position is to treat complicated patients...