by Ever caught medical student’s syndrome? Or come across a googlechondriac on ward rounds? If you haven’t a clue what we are on about check out the slang list below. Essentially the urban dictionary for Medical Students. Got any slang to add? Email us with your additions!
ALS – Absolute Loss of Sanity
Appy – a person’s appendix or a patient with appendicitis
Bloodsuckers — medical workers who regularly take blood samples
Bug Juice – antibiotics
Bugs in the rug – pubic lice
Bobbing for apples – unblocking a badly constipated patient with your finger
Chocolate hostage — a patient who is constipated
Clinic unit — a way to covertly discuss a patient’s weight (1 clinic unit = 200 pounds)
Cock Doc – urologist
Code brown – A bed full of poop. “Got a Code Brown in 214.”
Code Yellow – a patient who has lost control of their bladder
DOMA — (stands for “Day Off, My Ass”) when residents are given a “day off” but can’t leave work until noon and have to come back the “next day,” which is a few hours later
ECU — (stands for “Eternal Care Unit”) a euphemism for death; i.e. “My patient was transferred to the ECU”
Frequent flyer — a patient who visits the ER regularly for minor health problems
Googlechondriac – someone who googles everything that is wrong with them
Hollywood code — calls for a fake resuscitation for a patient with no hope of being saved, usually for the benefit of loved ones
Incarceritis — a prisoner who fakes an illness so they get sent to the hospital
Medical student’s syndrome – having a fear of or preoccupation with serious illness
NFB – Normal for Barnsley
PITA — (stands for “Pain In The Ass”) a warning to other nurses that a patient or relative is particularly uncooperative
Status dramaticus — a fake Latin term for patients anxious patients who believe they are extremely ill or dying when they’re not; a play on status asthmaticus, a severe asthma attack that doesn’t respond to usual treatment
Stream team — a team of urologists
To cheech — to order every possible test in order to diagnose an illness
TTFO – Told To Fuck Off
Weekend syndrome — when doctors filling in for colleagues on the weekend refuse to make any major medical decisions
Whiney primey — a first-time mother-to-be who repeatedly comes to the hospital, thinking she’s in labor when she’s not
Zebra — an extremely rare diagnosis, usually made my internists who might overlook more routine illnesses