Please study the 20 vocabulary below and press the Mark Complete button to continue.
- albatross
- a chronically ill patient who will remain in hospital until they die
- appy
- an appendicitis, or an appendix
- bounceback
- a patient who is readmitted to hospital after being discharged
- circle the drain
- to be close to death
- code brown
- a fecal emergency, incontinence
- departure lounge
- the geriatrics ward
- discharged up
- to pass away, die
- frequent flyer
- a patient who spends a lot of time at hospital, is frequently admitted
- gatekeeper
- an administrative doctor whose job it is to reduce costs by only admitting emergency cases, or those with suitable insurance
- get hammered
- to have a large number of admissions while on duty
- goldbrick
- a patient who demands more time than their condition deserves
- LPN (low paid nurse)
- a play on words with the term LPN Licensed Practical Nurse
- noctor
- a junior nurse who thinks they are a doctor
- puppies
- interns or residents
- shotgunning
- ordering a wide variety of tests in the hope one of them will show what is wrong with a patient
- slasher
- a surgeon
- turf
- to get rid of a patient by referring them to another ward / team / doctor
- velcro
- relatives or friends who stay with a patient at all times
- wallet biopsy
- the process of confirming a patients insurance before admission to hospital
- zebra
- an obscure diagnosis when a more commonplace diagnosis is more likely
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We try to provide comfort to the albatrosses, even though we cannot cure them.
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He presented complaining of an appy.
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If a doctor gets too many bouncebacks, it raises questions over his original diagnosis.
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She was circling the drain when I left last night so I wasn't surprised to hear she had passed away.
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Most nurses dread hearing the words, "code brown".
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Working in the departure lounge requires a lot of patience and empathy.
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Two patients were discharged up last night so we have two free beds.
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Everyone at the hospital knows Mary, she is a real frequent flyer.
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As the gatekeeper, he decides who should be admitted and who should not.
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A&E departments usually get hammered on Friday and Saturday nights.
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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!
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I'll get one of the LPNs to give her a sponge bath, I certainly am not going to do it myself.
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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.
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All puppies should be present for rounds at 8am.
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The doctors had no idea what was wrong with the patient so resorted to shotgunning.
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Slashers have a reputation of being less intelligent than other doctors, but this is rarely true.
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It is not uncommon for a problem patient to be turfed from one department to another until they are discharged.
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Other patients in the ward felt uncomfortable because of her velcro who stayed with her around the clock.
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In corporate America, the wallet biopsy has become commonplace.
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Some doctors seem to overlook the obvious and arrive at zebras.