Medical slang is the slang of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other hospital and medical staff. One part of medical slang is the use of technical-looking acronyms to describe patients, co-workers or situations, often facetiously, to other medical professionals. Medical slang is found around the world and has entered popular culture through the medium of hospital and forensic dramas such as Casualty (UK), Holby City (UK), ER (US), House MD (US), NCIS (US) and Green Wing (UK). For other uses, see Slang (disambiguation). ... This article is about the occupation. ... The Star of Life, a globally recognised symbol for emergency medical services A paramedic is a medical professional, usually a member of the emergency medical service, who responds to medical and trauma emergencies in the pre-hospital environment, provides emergency treatment and, when appropriate, transports a patient to definitive care... For the town in the Republic of Ireland, see Hospital, County Limerick. ... For the chemical substances known as medicines, see medication. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Backronym and Apronym (Discuss) Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and ABC, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. ...

Limitations on use

In many countries, facetious or insulting acronyms are now considered unethical and unacceptable because patients can demand access to their medical records. Medical facilities risk being sued by patients offended by the descriptions. Another reason for the decline is that facetious acronyms could be confused with genuine medical terms and the wrong treatment administered.

In one of his annual reports (related by the BBC), medical slang collector Dr. Adam Fox cited an example where “TTFO” had been entered on a patient’s chart. This acronym means “told to fuck off” (q.v.). When quizzed about the term, the doctor was quick-witted enough to say it meant “to take fluids orally.” While this may or may not be true, it indicates the danger of using informal—and frequently insulting—acronyms.

As a result, medical slang tends to be restricted to verbal use and to informal notes or E-mails which do not form part of a patient’s formal records. It may also be used among medical staff outside of the hospital. It is not found on patients’ charts and, due to growing awareness of medical slang, often not used in front of patients themselves. Electronic mail, abbreviated e-mail or email, is a method of composing, sending, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems. ...

Non-English

Although online medical slang dictionaries are primarily from English-speaking countries, non-English medical slang has been collected by Fox from elsewhere. Brazilian medical slang includes PIMBA ("Pé Inchado Mulambo Bêbado Atropelado" meaning "swollen-footed, drunk, run-over beggar"), Poliesculhambado (multi-messed-up patient) and Trambiclínica (a "fraudulent clinic" staffed cheaply by medical students).

Annual round-up of medical slang

There is an annual round-up of the usage of medical slang by British physician Dr. Adam Fox of St Mary's Hospital, London. Fox has spent five years charting more than 200 examples, regional and national terms and the general decline of medical slang. He believes that doctors have become more respectful of patients, which has contributed to the decline. While its use may be declining in the medical profession, several dictionaries of the slang have been compiled on the internet. St Marys Hospital QEQM building (above) and old section (below). ...

Because of the limitations on usage in formal communications, the lists of words below are generally passed orally among healthcare professionals making it impossible to cite sources. Several online dictionaries exist as result of oral transmission and email contributions.

Acronyms

• AMF-YOYO* - "adios motherfucker, you're on your own"
• ART - "Assuming room temperature", used in reference to corpses.
• ATFO - "asked to fuck off", instructed to go away.
• BFH - "big fucking head", usually hydrocephalus, often used to describe an FLK as in "Go examine the FLK with the BFH."
• CATS- "Cut all to shit"
• CHAOS - "chronic hurts all over syndrome (PTSD/Fibromyalgia, ect.)"
• CROACC - "Cannot Rule Out Anything, Correlate Clinically" - sometimes used by radiologists
• DB - dirt ball (dirty person, dirty ben)
• DBI - "dirt bag index" - a number calculated by multiplying number of tattoos and missing teeth.
• DIC - "death is coming" - colloquial interpretation of the initials for disseminated intravascular coagulation
• DTS - "Danger to shipping"; obese
• DFO- "done fell out," used to describe fainting.
• ETOH - drunk (molecular abbreviation for ethyl alcohol)
• FFDID - "found face down in ditch"
• FFDIG - "found face down in gutter"
• FITH - "Fucked In The Head", describing extremely difficult or arrogant know-it-all patient with an attitude problem
• FLK - "funny looking kid" (Used to note a child/baby that looks like it has a genetic syndrome that has not yet been identified, or low-level abnormalities of appearance)
• FLK with GLM - covered above, but is a funny looking kid with a good looking mom. Likely a chromosomal abnormality.
• FOL,GOL,FOS - Fat Old Lady, Gone off Legs, Full Of Shit; An old term used to describe a confused elderly lady unable to exercise at home, now unable to move on her own and badly constipated as a result = causing Toxic Confusional State. Reversible within 10 days with regular bowel care, rehydration, good diet and mobility exercises.
• FOOBA - "found on ortho barely alive"
• FOOSH - "fall on outstretched hand"
• FOS - "Full of shit", describing severe constipation that can be seen on an xray of the abdomen
• FOPT - "Fell Outta Pickup Truck", used in emergency rooms in the Southwest, usually denoting Native Americans who have been ejected when the pickup truck they were riding hit a bump in the road.
• Geosphere - technical version of DirtBall (Geo=dirt; sphere = ball)
• GLF - "Ground level fall," i.e. a fall from standing, not a fall from a height.
• GLM - "good looking mum" (cf. MILF)
• GOMER - "get out of my emergency room"; patient, usually poor or elderly, in the emergency room with a chronic, non-emergency condition. Popularized by Samuel Shem in his novel The House of God.^[1]
• GOK - "God only knows"; confession of ignorance.
• GROLIEs - "Guardian readers of limited intelligence in ethnic skirts"; used to describe a naive hippy type, associated with The Guardian, a left-wing/liberal newspaper in the United Kingdom
• GSW - "gun shot wound" (JCAHO approved abbreviation)
• LGFD - "looks good from door"; used to describe a difficult patient that you do not want to enter the room and interact with.
• LOBNH - "Lights on but nobody home"; stupid.
• LOL - "little old lady"
• LOL FDGB - "little old lady fall down go boom"
• MTF - Metabolize to Freedom (i.e., let the person sober up, and then they can leave)
• MVA - "motor vehicle accident"
• NFN - "normal for Norfolk"; possible product of inbreeding (UK)
• NFR - Not For Resuscitation - a term written on a medical chart of an elderly patient indicating that they should be allowed to die naturally if their heart fails. This is frequently written without the knowledge of the patient themselves or their familty.
• NKDA - No known drug Allergies or Not Known Didn't Ask.
• P4P - Penicillin for a penile discharge (back when it was indicated for such)
• P(A)FO - "pissed, (and) fell over" ("pissed" is British slang for "drunk")
• PGT - "pissed, got thumped"
• PID - Pus in Dere (Pus in There) - colloquial interpretation of the initials for pelvic inflammatory disease.
• POPTA - "passed out prior to arrival"
• SPAK - "status post ass-kicking"
• SPAM - "Some Parts Are Missing" - refers to traumatic amputation
• TAT - "tired all the time"
• TBC- "total body crunch" -refers to multiple bone injuries.
• TBD - "total body dolor" -refers to complaint of pain everywhere
• TEETH - "tried everything else, try homeopathy"
• TFTB - "too fat to breathe"
• TLR - "two legged rat" refers to a patient undergoing experimental or extreme treatments
• TOBAS - "Take Out Back And Shoot", usually referring to someone in such sad shape that putting them out of their misery would be the kindest thing to do for them.
• TOG - Tears of Gratitude
• T. F. BUNDY - "totally fucked but unfortunately not dead yet" Usually ascribed to older and more troublesome patients.
• TTFO - "told to fuck off", instructed to go away. (This acronym can also be plausibly expanded to "to take fluids orally" for the benefit of inquiring authorities.)
• TTR - "tooth to tattoo ratio" or "tattoo to tooth ratio" - man analogue of DBI. Because of institutional variation in which ratio the acronym represents, TTR is often only used in conversation where wider context can make the usage clear.
• TUBE - "totally unnecessary breast exam"
• TVTP - "tried vancomycin, try prayer".
• UBI - "unexplained beer injury"
• UGLI - "Ugly", describing a patient (usually a child) who looks a bit odd but has nothing wrong with them
• UPF - "Un-passed fart", describing gaseous distention as seen on an xray of the abdomen
• VAC - "vultures are circling"
• VD - for Veak and Dizzy - n. Any older person who just doesn't feel "right". No specific complaint, but decided something must be wrong and came to the ER at 2am. "I am just veak (weak) and dizzy doc!"
• VOMIT - Victim of Medical Imaging Technology
• WNL - we never looked (alternatively within normal limits)

Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a pathological process in the body where the blood starts to coagulate throughout the whole body. ... Ethyl alcohol, also known as ethanol or grain alcohol, is a flammable, colorless chemical compound, one of the alcohols that is most often found in alcoholic beverages. ... This article is about the biological chromosome. ... Samuel Shem is the pen-name of the American psychiatrist Stephen Joseph Bergman (1944-). His main works are The House of God and Mount Misery, both fictional but close-to-real first-hand descriptions of the training of doctors in the United States. ... This article is about the book The House of God. ... For other uses, see Guardian. ... Norfolk (IPA: //) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ... Pelvic inflammatory disease (or disorder) (PID) is a generic term for infection of the female uterus, fallopian tubes, and/or ovaries as it progresses to scar formation with adhesions to nearby tissues and organs. ... Homeopathic remedy Rhus toxicodendron, derived from poison ivy. ... Crystal structure of a short peptide L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala (bacterial cell wall precursor, in green) bound to vancomycin (blue) through hydrogen bonds. ... For other uses, see Prayer (disambiguation). ...

Relating to death

• C/C- "Cancel Christmas" (dead)
• CTD - "circling the drain" (expected to die soon)
• ECU - Eternal Care Unit - after a patient dies, they "have been transferred to the ECU"
• FTD - fixing to die
• DOA - dead on arrival (JCAHO approved abbreviation)
• GPO - "good for parts only"
• JIC - "Jesus is calling"
• MFB - Measure for box
• NLPR - "no longer playing records"
• PBOO - "pine box on order"; see below
• NGMI - "not gonna make it"
• PBTB - "pine box to bedside"; indicates an imminent demise
• TDS- "terminal deceleration syndrome" -refers to death as a result of a sudden stop such as falling to one's death.

Slang terms

Terms for occupations

• Captain Kangaroo - head of a paediatrics department
• Freud Squad - psychiatry department
• Gasser, gas passer, gas man, Gaswallah, gas pusher - anaesthetist (Note: Gasser's also the name of a class of race car from the late 1950's-early 1970's that ran on petrol, as opposed to alcohol or Nitromethane)
• Slasher - surgeon
• Short-order chef - morgue worker
• Knuckledragger - orthopedist
• Overpriced Carpenter - orthopedist
• Orthopod - orthopedist
• Flea - internal medicine doctor
• Humpty-dumpty doctor - a physiatrist or rehabilitation physician; referring to verse from the popular nursery rhyme that "all the king's horses and all the king's men could not put humpty together again."
• Stream team - the urology service collectively
• Nephron - nephrologist
• Neuron - neurologist
• Pecker checker / Cock Doc- urologist
• Pediatron - paediatrician
• Baby catcher - obstetrician
• Rear Admiral - proctologist
• Rad - Radiologist
• Unclear medicine - nuclear medicine
• BoneHo - off-service resident working on Orthopedic service
• Osteopath - D.O., Doctor of Osteopathy--a physician licenced to practice medicine and surgery who is trained in osteopathic medicine
• Cath Jockey - A cardiologist that catheterizes every patient they see. Or one that does cardiac catherizations.

Pediatrics (also spelled paediatrics or pædiatrics) is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants and children. ... An MRI scan of a human brain and head. ... An anesthesiologist (American English), or anaesthetist (British English), is a medical doctor trained to administer Australia, for example, training is overseen by the United States, anesthesiologists are medical doctors (MD). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Flash point 35 °C R/S statement R: S: RTECS number PA9800000 Related compounds Related nitro compounds nitroethane Related compounds methyl nitrite methyl nitrate Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa) Infobox disclaimer and references Nitromethane is an organic... This article is about the medical specialty. ... Mortuary, a film directed by Tobe Hooper, see Mortuary (film). ... Orthopaedic surgery or orthopaedics (also spelled orthopedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with acute, chronic, traumatic, and recurrent injuries and other disorders of the musculoskeletal system, its muscular and bone parts. ... Orthopaedic surgery or orthopaedics (also spelled orthopedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with acute, chronic, traumatic, and recurrent injuries and other disorders of the musculoskeletal system, its muscular and bone parts. ... Orthopaedic surgery or orthopaedics (also spelled orthopedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with acute, chronic, traumatic, and recurrent injuries and other disorders of the musculoskeletal system, its muscular and bone parts. ... Doctors of internal medicine (internists) are medical specialists who focus on adult medicine and have had special study and training focusing on the prevention and treatment of adult diseases. ... This article is about the nursery rhyme. ... A physiatrist is a doctor with specialty training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... A nephrologist is a physician who has been trained in the diagnosis and management of kidney disease, by regulating blood pressure, regulating electrolytes, balancing fluids in the body, and administering dialysis. ... Neurology is the branch of medicine that deals with the nervous system and disorders affecting it. ... Urology is the field of medicine that focuses on the urinary tracts of males and females, and of the male reproductive system. ... Pediatrics (also spelled paediatrics or pædiatrics) is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants and children. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Proctology is the medical field on the diseases of the rectum, anus and pelvic floor. ... Radiology is the branch of medical science dealing with the medical use of x-ray machines or other such radiation devices. ... Shown above is the bone scintigraphy of a young woman. ... Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics (BE: orthopaedics) is the branch of surgery concerned with acute, chronic, traumatic and recurrent injuries and other disorders of the locomotor system, its musclular and bone parts. ... The current version of the article or section is written like a magazine article instead of the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia. ... ...

Physical exam signs

• Chandelier sign - n. used to describe a patient who experiences extreme pain during a physical exam and thus "jumps up to the chandelier." Classically used to describe cervical motion tenderness from a pelvic inflammation.
• Gown's Sign, positive - n. used to describe a patient who has left without official discharge orders.
• O-sign - n. used to describe a comatose patient with his mouth agape.
• Q-sign - n. similar to an O-sign but with the patient's tongue protruding.
  • A reversible Q-sign describes the ability to push the patient's tongue back into the mouth to form the O-sign.
  • An irreversible Q-sign occurs when the tongue keeps falling back out of the mouth despite repeated attempts to push it back in. A poor prognostic sign.
• Q-dot sign - n. similar to a Q-sign, but with a fly on the tongue. A poor prognostic sign. Also known as Dotted Q-Sign.
• Smurfing - (Also PSS - Positive Smurf Sign) Used to describe a cyanotic patient since they have a bluish discoloration of the skin just like a smurf.
• Throckmorton sign (USA), also known as the John Thomas sign (UK) - n. used to describe a penis that is visible on xray; tradition dictates that the side that the penis points to will have an abnormal finding.
• Meth Mouth - a finding among patients severely addicted to methamphetamine
• T-sign (UK) - the number of untouched cups of cold tea at a deceased patient's bedside. Used as an indicator of approximate time of death (i.e. the patient died but nobody noticed).

Cyanosis refers to the bluish coloration of the skin due to the presence of deoxygenated hemoglobin in blood vessels near the skin surface. ... This article is about the Cartoon characters. ... The John Thomas sign, also known as the Throckmorton sign, is the position of the penis as it relates to pathology on an x-ray of the pelvis. ... This article is about the psychostimulant, d-methamphetamine. ...

Other terms

• Agrosphere - a dirtball
• Amphoterrible - Amphotericin B, an antifungal medication which often causes severe side-effects in patients.
• Angel Lust - A death erection.
• Appy - n. appendicitis; also an appendectomy.
• Arsenic in antifreeze - Melarsoprol, a sleeping sickness drug. Literally a compound of arsenic dissolved in antifreeze for IV administration.
• Bean - n. kidney.
• Black cloud - n. used to describe a physician who seems to attract difficult or prolonged hospitalizations or an unusually high number of 'code blues'
• Blue Pipe - vein
• Bounce back - v. to be re-admitted to the hospital shortly after discharge, for the same or related condition.
• Bounce-back - n. A patient who has bounced back. For instance "I admitted one of your bounce-backs last night."
• Brain Fry - Electroconvulsive Therapy, ECT. For depression.
• Buff - v. to be sure all details regarding a patient's care are attended to so that discharge or transfer to another service or facility will proceed smoothly and no excuses or objections can be raised to prevent the discharge or transfer. For example "Be sure to buff the guy in 702 before we send him to the nursing home." It can also mean that you make up lab and other results, even if you haven't done them, to make yourself look good on rounds.
• Cabbage and tomato ward- Ward for comatose patients
• Celestial discharge (also celestial transfer) - n. death, as in "Mr. Smith received a celestial discharge overnight."
• Cephokillemall - Cepho Kill Them All: a very powerful antibiotic, probably belonging to the Cephalosporin class of antibiotics: "I don't think the usual antibiotics are going to work; I think we need to start giving Gorillacillin and Cephokillemall."
• Cheerioma - A particularly nasty tumour; one from which the patient will not survive (cheerio).
• Choly or Chole - cholecystitis, or a patient with cholecystitis; also a cholecystectomy.
• Code - v. similar to "crump", usually implies that CPR is necessary.
• Code Brown - fecal incontinence emergency
• Code Pink (triangle) - likely homosexual, used in the early days of HIV/Aids when test results took a while to come back.
• Code Yellow - urination emergency
• Cuckoo - alternative term for CCU
• Crispy critter - severely burnt patient
• Crook-U - similar to ICU, SICU, PICU, etc, but is a prison ward in a hospital.
• Crump - v. to have a sudden change for the worse.
• Dance - v. the process of tying a surgical gown behind the surgeon's back; involves a 180-degree spin by the surgeon. "Shall we dance?"
• Departure lounge - geriatric ward
• Digging for worms - varicose vein removal surgery.
• Donorcycle - n. a motorcycle. Refers to high likelihood that motorcycle riders involved in traumas are more likely to die.
• Dude Brothers - two fictional brothers, This Dude and Some Dude, who go around shooting "innocent" victims. Together, they're known as Two Dudes, see bellow. Typically referred to by a gang member after he's been shot: "I was doin' nothin'. I was sitting on my front porch minding my own business, reading my Bible, and This Dude (Some Dude, or Two Dudes) came and shot me."
• Dump - v. arranging for a patient who should probably be admitted to your service to be admitted to another service or another facility. Also used as a noun, for example "This guy was a total dump from the private hospital."
• Fascinoma - any interesting or amusing tumor or malignancy
• Foreverectomy - A surgical procedure that lasts a very long time.
• FUBIL - Fuck You Buddy, I'm Leaving. The act of a physician at a small hospital dumping a critically ill patient on larger hospital on Friday afternoon before he leaves for the weekend.
• Gomed Out - meaning someone who is who is rapidly declining and will quickly become a GOMER, e.g. "Mr. Jones looked okay yesterday, but today, he's totally gomed out."
• Gorillacillin - n. a very powerful antibiotic.
• Gorked - adj. unresponsive and nonverbal, either due to sedation or medical condition.
• GI Rounds - n. a meal. (GI is an abbreviation for "gastrointestinal")
• Hallucinoma - n. used when you thought you saw something that wasn't really there. For instance "The mass on the MRI turned out to be a hallucinoma."
• Head bonk - describing an otherwise uninjured patient who was struck on the head but came to the ER just to be sure.
• Hispanosis - n. derogatory term used to refer to a 'condition' seen in Hispanic patients (usually elderly women) with multiple complaints, usually psychosomatic. Also see TBD or Total Body Dolor.
• Horrendoplasty - A god-awful surgery with a probable poor outcome.
• “I fell on it” - invariably, the explanation given when a patient with a foreign object in his or her rectum is asked how it got there.
• Incidentaloma - something found on a scan that requires action, even though it was not what the discoverer was looking for in the first place. "I found an incidentaloma in the adrenal gland". Likely to be benign in nature, but full of liability risks.
• Knife and Gun Club - n. local street gangs and other criminal organizations, for example "We have a very active knife and gun club, so the trauma experience is outstanding."
• Lap - adj. a surgery performed laparoscopically--e.g. lap-chole (laparoscopic cholecystectomy), lap-appy (laparscopic appendectomy)
• Last flea to jump off a dead dog - n. oncologists who never seem to be able to let people die with dignity.
• Liver Rounds - when a group of medical staff, usually residents, get together for drinks.
• Milk of Amnesia - Propofol, a hypnotic drug that is kept in a lipid emulsion, giving it a milky appearance.
• Neuropenia - someone stupid, someone with a shortage of neurons. It's a play on the word Neutropenia, or lack of neutrophils, a white blood cell.
• NFP - Normal for Portsmouth - repeat abortion, particularly rife in Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK
• Oligoneuronia ('few neurons') - stupid, a play on "Oligouria", i.e. not enough urine. See Neuropenia.
• Peek and shriek - to open a patient surgically, discover an incurable condition, and close the incision immediately
• Pineboxatosis-collection of conditions which lead to transfer to the ECU, usually accompanied by PBTB with positive Q-sign or O-sign.
• Plumbum oscillans - 'swinging the lead' (a malingerer)
• Plumbii Pendulousus - 'swinging the lead' (a malingerer; used on medical certificates known to be used as an excuse in a Court of Law/Magistrates Court, especially when the Magistrate is known by the Doctor).
• Pneumo-cephalic - stupid (means 'airhead')
• Psycode - a code blue in a psychiatric hospital. It is always someone passing out from the side effects of their meds.
• Pumpkin positive - lacking in intelligence; implies that the patient's brain is so small that shining a torch into their mouth would cause their head to light up like a pumpkin
• Shit and Get - v. to access a trauma patient, say to yourself "Oh Shit!", stabilize and transfer.
• Sieve - n. A physician (usually a resident) who is not skilled at dumping or preventing dumps; the opposite of a wall.
• Shotgun labs - v. to order many labs in the hope that one will be abnormal and give you a clue what is wrong with the patient.
• Slow code - usually an elderly patient who is very ill, but wants everything done so they will not die. Everyone on the medical team disagrees. "Mr. Smith is a slow code". i.e. don't run to get the code cart (take your time).
• Slow code to China - same as above.
• Smashola - n. a patient with multiple blunt trauma injuries, usually a motor-vehicle accident.
• Snow - v. Accidentally giving a patient too much meds at one time and making the patient loopy and obviously in an altered state of consciousness, e.g. "Don't snow that patient with the Ativan and Fentanyl injections at the same time!"
• Squash - n. brain.
• Squirrel - n. a strange patient, particularly one whose eccentricities make your life difficult (also adj. - squirrelly). A common aphorism is "Squirrels get sick too", used as a reminder not to dismiss such a patient's concerns out of hand because they may actually have a real problem.
• Supratentorial - adj. literally "above the tentorium", loosely meaning "in the brain cortex" and used to imply that something is all in a patient's head, usually right in front of them. For instance "This patient's condition is supratentorial."
• Sweet Milk/ Mother's Milk - Propofol; a reference to its milky appearance due to the soy emulsion it is kept in, and its use in the ICU to keep patients asleep, especially while they're on the Ventilator. See Milk of Amnesia.
• Tattoo titer - a way to measure the likelihood of a patient being insane. The more tattoos the patient has, the higher the probability of mental illness.
• Tattoo to tooth ratio - a rough measure of social class and redneck probability. A higher ratio supposedly indicates a higher likelihood of experiencing trauma as well as an increased likelihood of surviving said trauma.
• Tough stick - n. a patient that it is difficult to draw blood from.
• Trainwreck (also "shipwreck") - adj. patient with multiple medical problems and complications that will keep one up all night
• Treat and street - v. to treat a patient in the ER or clinic without admitting them to the hospital.
• Trauma handshake - n. a digital rectal exam. Every major trauma patient gets one.
• Turf - v. to transfer a patient to another service. For example "The GOMER was healed from his surgery but his diabetes was still uncontrolled, so we turfed him to medicine." Similar to a dump.
• Two beers - the number of beers every patient involved in an alcohol-related automobile accident claims to have drunk before the accident
• Two dudes - The usual answer when doctors ask a patient who beat them up, as in "I was walking down the street minding my own business when these two dudes jumped me for no reason." The implication is that if it were only one dude the patient would have won the fight.
• Virgin abdomen - n. a patient that has never had abdominal surgery before, implying that there will be little intra-abdominal scarring.
• Vitamin D - n. Diesel. Meaning drive faster or use more diesel, accelerate.
• Vitamin H - n. Haldol. Alternatively, Heroin, in the case of an addict.
• Vitamin K - n. Ketamine. Also called "Special K" (street name).
• Vitamin L - n. Lasix. Also sometimes called "Vitamin P" because it is a diuretic.
• Vitamin M - n. Morphine.
• Vitamin V - n. Valium or Versed or any sedative given IV
• Vitamin Z - n. Zosyn.
• Wall - n. A physician (usually a resident) adept at preventing admissions ("dumps") to his service.
• White cloud - used to describe a doctor on call who tends to have uneventful call nights. Ex., "Dr. Smith tends to have a white cloud-- she had only 1 admit last night." Contrast with "black cloud".
• Win the game - v. to discharge all of the patients from your service, so that you have no inpatients to care for. For example "Mike won the game and doesn't have to round this weekend." Also known as a "Yahtzee"

Amphotericin B (Fungilin®, Fungizone®, Abelcet®, AmBisome®, Fungisome®, Amphocil®, Amphotec®) is a polyene antimycotic drug, used intravenously in systemic fungal infections. ... Something antifungal kills or inhibits the growth of fungus. ... A death erection or terminal erection[1] is a post-mortem erection, technically a priapism, observed in the corpses of human males who have been executed, particularly by hanging. ... Appendicitis (or epityphlitis) is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix[1]. While mild cases may resolve without treatment, most require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. ... An appendicectomy (or appendectomy) is the surgical removal of the vermiform appendix. ... Melarsoprol (INN) is a medicinal drug used in the treatment of Human African trypanosomiasis. ... Sleeping sickness or African trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease in people and animals, caused by protozoa of genus Trypanosoma and transmitted by the tsetse fly. ... For other uses, see Antifreeze (disambiguation). ... The cephalosporins, are a class of β-lactam antibiotics. ... Cholecystitis is inflammation of the gall bladder. ... Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy as seen through laparoscope X-Ray during Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Cholecystectomy (, plural: cholecystectomies,) is the surgical removal of the gallbladder. ... Fecal incontinence is the loss of regular control of the bowels. ... For the Physics term GUT, please refer to Grand unification theory The gastrointestinal or digestive tract, also referred to as the GI tract or the alimentary canal or the gut, is the system of organs within multicellular animals which takes in food, digests it to extract energy and nutrients, and... Rectal foreign bodies are a common occurrence in hospital emergency rooms. ... Laparoscopic surgery, also called keyhole surgery (when natural body openings are not used), bandaid surgery, or minimally invasive surgery (MIS), is a surgical technique. ... Propofol is a short-acting intravenous anesthetic agent used for the induction of general anesthesia in adult patients and pediatric patients older than 3 years of age; maintenance of general anesthesia in adult patients and pediatric patients older than 2 months of age; and sedation in medical contexts, such as... Neurons (also called nerve cells) are the primary cells of the nervous system. ... Lorazepam is classified as a sedative-hypnotic and a member of the group of drugs known as benzodiazepines. ... Fentanyl is an opioid analgesic, first synthesized by Janssen Pharmaceutica (Belgium) in the late 1950s, with a potency many times that of morphine. ... Propofol is a short-acting intravenous anesthetic agent used for the induction of general anesthesia in adult patients and pediatric patients older than 3 years of age; maintenance of general anesthesia in adult patients and pediatric patients older than 2 months of age; and sedation in medical contexts, such as... For other uses, see Tattoo (disambiguation). ... A titer (BE: titre) is the unit in which the analytical detection of many substances is expressed. ... A mental illness or mental disorder refers to one of many mental health conditions characterized by distress, impaired cognitive functioning, atypical behavior, emotional dysregulation, and/or maladaptive behavior. ... This article is about a stereotypical description. ... In medicine, a trauma patient has suffered serious and life-threatening physical injury resulting in secondary complications such as shock, respiratory failure and death. ... A rectal examination or rectal exam is an internal examination of the rectum by a physician. ... Haloperidol (Aloperidin®; Bioperidolo®; Brotopon®; Dozic®; Einalon S®; Eukystol®; Haldol®; Halosten®; Keselan®; Linton®; Peluces®; Serenace®; Serenase®; Sigaperidol®) is a conventional butyrophenone antipsychotic drug. ... Furosemide (INN) or frusemide (former BAN) is a loop diuretic used in the treatment of congestive heart failure and oedema. ... Piperacillin is an extended spectrum beta-lactam antibiotic of the ureidopenicillin class. ... This article is about the game. ...

References

1. ^ Michael Quinion (2001-09-15). Gomer. World Wide Words.

Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

• Fox AT, Fertleman M, Cahill P, Palmer RD (2003). "Medical slang in British hospitals". Ethics Behav. 13 (2): 173–189. PMID 15124632.  — Discussion of the "usage, derivation, and psychological, ethical, and legal aspects of slang terminology in medicine" as well as a glossary of common UK medical slang terms
• Paul S. McDonald (2002-08-24). "Slang in clinical practice". British Medical Journal 325 (7361): 444. 
• "Doctor slang is a dying art", BBC News, 2003-08-18. 
• National Lampoon. Slang words that hospitals use, some are funny. totse.com.
• Dragonqueen. DOCTORS' SLANG, MEDICAL SLANG AND MEDICAL ACRONYMS. — Medical Slang around the world
• Online Housestaff Community features Top 5 Annoying Medical Terms