Unit 20 Vocabulary: Medical Slang

Noun (person)
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UK
Albatross
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UK
a chronically ill patient who will remain in hospital until they die
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UK
"We try to provide comfort to the albatrosses, even though we cannot cure them."
Noun (thing)
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UK
Appy
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UK
an appendicitis operation, or severe appendix pain
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UK
"He presented complaining of an appy."
Noun (person)
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UK
Bounceback
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UK
a patient who is readmitted to hospital after being discharged
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UK
"If a doctor gets too many bouncebacks, it raises questions over his original diagnosis."
Verb (infinitive)
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Circle the drain
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UK
to be close to death
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UK
"She was circling the drain when I left last night so I wasn't surprised to hear she had passed away."
Noun (thing)
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UK
Code brown
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UK
a fecal emergency, incontinence
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UK
"Most nurses dread hearing the words, "code brown"."
Noun (place)
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Departure lounge
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UK
the geriatrics ward
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"Working in the departure lounge requires a lot of patience and empathy."
Verb (infinitive)
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Discharged up
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UK
passed away; dead
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"Two patients were discharged up last night so we have two free beds."
Noun (person)
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UK
Frequent flyer
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a patient who spends a lot of time at hospital, or comes in often
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"Everyone at the hospital knows Mary, she is a real frequent flyer."
Noun (person)
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Gatekeeper
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UK
an administrative doctor, whose job is to reduce costs by only admitting emergency cases or those with suitable insurance
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UK
"As the gatekeeper, he decides who should be admitted and who should not."
Verb (infinitive)
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Get hammered
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UK
to have a large number of admissions while on duty
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UK
"A&E departments usually get hammered on Friday and Saturday nights."
Noun (person)
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UK
Goldbrick
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UK
a patient who demands more time than their condition deserves
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UK
"He only had a slight temperature but from the way he was complaining you would have thought he was going to die - what a goldbrick!"
Noun (place)
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UK
LPN (low paid nurse)
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a play on words with the term LPN Licensed Practical Nurse
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UK
"I'll get one of the LPNs to give her a sponge bath, I certainly am not going to do it myself."
Noun (person)
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UK
Noctor
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UK
a junior nurse who thinks they are a doctor
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"One of the most annoying things for doctors is dealing with noctors who think they know more than the doctor does."
Noun (person)
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UK
Puppies
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UK
interns or residents
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"All puppies should be present for rounds at 8am."
Verb (infinitive)
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Shotgunning
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UK
ordering a wide variety of tests in the hope one of them will show what is wrong with a patient
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"The doctors had no idea what was wrong with the patient so resorted to shotgunning."
Noun (person)
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UK
Slasher
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UK
a surgeon
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"Slashers have a reputation of being less intelligent than other doctors, but this is rarely true."
Verb (infinitive)
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UK
Turf
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UK
to get rid of a patient by referring them to another ward, team, or doctor
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UK
"It is not uncommon for a problem patient to be turfed from one department to another until they are discharged."
Noun (person)
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UK
Velcro
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relatives or friends who stay with a patient at all times
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UK
"Other patients in the ward felt uncomfortable because of her velcro who stayed with her around the clock."
Noun (thing)
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Wallet biopsy
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the process of confirming a patients insurance before admission to hospital
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UK
"In corporate America, the wallet biopsy has become commonplace."
Noun (thing)
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Zebra
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an obscure diagnosis when a more commonplace diagnosis is more likely
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"Some doctors seem to overlook the obvious and arrive at zebras."
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