The other day while challenging us with a case in which the patient needed extensive advanced medical care the prof asked "OK, what next?". I responded with "Does the patient have medical insurance?" And the professor joked that first on the TO DO list is a "wallet biopsy". We laughed. It is necessary to assess people's ability to pay for ( Read more... )

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A&W = alive and well
AAA = abdominal aortic aneurysm
AB = antibody
( Find here a few more random linguistic observations from year 2 ND school. Medicalese is a thick jargon with many interconnected specialties. While this collection has been interesting it is a time sink and I will probably not add to it. The acronyms used depend on the person and specialty, and when combined without regard for specialties are nearly meaningless. But it was interesting to see just these few jumbled up and to see some overlap. )

( This list is entirely from notes and classes last quarter. If you know anything about medicine you'll be able to see exactly which areas we covered. I will update this list with some new alphabet soup after the next quarter. )

bafflegab = jargon = "a peculiar kind of language that is unique to public servants who are trying very hard to justify their existence" used in the title of a recent Canadian government report entitled Emergency Preparedness in Canada: How the Fine Arts of Procrastination and Bafflegab Hobble the People Who Will Be Trying to Save You When Things ( Read more... )

Yesterday I rode my bike to work and the wind was howling. It blew me up the hill, all the way to the warehouse. Going home was somewhat more difficult, but the wind had died down some from the frenzy it reached midday. Instead the challenge was little pellets of snow on my gloveless hands. On my way home I went to visit Ingrid and Gunther. It ( Read more... )

ACFAN = Arizona Child & Family Advocacy Network ( Read more... )