A Good Friday Rant
Really quickly: everyone in the world (who's not a doctor) needs to learn to use the following words properly - "acute", "chronic" ...and "severe". I say this because of the number of times people in conversation or even in news articles use "chronic", or indeed "acute", when they mean "severe". The result of which is often that patients are described as having "acute chronic *whatever*" - which if you're actually familiar with the meaning of those words, is ridiculous. I'm sure you all know this flist, but I need to rant it, so quickly: "acute" means it happens quickly - usually both onset and resolution. Eg acute septicaemia happens in hours to days and has either killed you or you've recovered in days. "Chronic" means it happens or resolves over time. Like chronos, chronometer etc, time. Eg chronic renal failure is that which is not going to get any better, ever, and eventually will result in needing a transplant or dialysis. Acute and chronic are opposites; although acute can progress to chronic if not treated properly or if you're unlucky with the cause of, eg, your acute renal failure and it's not a treatable one. Most of the time when people on teh interweb/in conversation/occasionally in print refer to "acute" or "chronic" anything, they mean "severe". Gah.
In other news, happy Easter everyone. I'm working.
In other news, happy Easter everyone. I'm working.