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Shutterstock | Tyler Olson
If you’ve ever treated a “frequent flyer” patient with a case of “Nintendo thumb” or “Avatar blues,” you may be familiar with this list of 47 humorous nursing lingo terms.
Courtesy of our Scrubs magazine readers and SlangRN.com, we present the newly-updated slang terms nurses use. Scroll to the bottom to submit your favorites!
1. PITA
Definition: Pain in the as$
Usage: The patient’s whiny girlfriend is such a PITA!
Contributed by Scrubs readers Lisa, Amy Wortley, Jeanne Vacca and Mikki Loive
2. BATS
Definition: Broke all to sh*t.
Usage: That poor kid has a BATS fracture from falling out of a tree.
Contributed by Scrubs reader Becca
3. FMPS
Definition: “Fluff my pillow” syndrome. A demanding patient that acts sicker than they really are.
Usage: Watch out for room 304; she’s got a real case of FMPS.
Contributed by Scrubs reader Sharon
4. CAH
Definition: Crazy as hell.
Usage: The patient is sweet, but I’m diagnosing his mother with CAH.
Contributed by Scrubs reader Vernika
5. FTF
Definition: Failure to fly. Usually used in cases of head bumps, but can be used to describe various traumas.
Usage: She broke her leg jumping off the roof–I’m diagnosing it as a FTF.
Contributed by Scrubs reader NurseDaisy
6. Rotater
Definition: A patient so complex or high maintenance that they have to be rotated to a different nurse each day to prevent staff burnout.
Usage: She uses the call button so often that she’s going to be a rotater!
Contributed by Scrubs reader Rebecca
7. Dr. Too Long
Definition: A nurse’s message for a physician who is tied up with a very long-winded patient and can’t escape.
Usage: Excuse me, Doctor? Dr. Too Long needs to speak with you immediately!
Contributed by Scrubs reader Jan D
8. Jack in the Box
Definition: A patient who can’t stand or walk yet insists on trying.
Contributed by medmagazine.com Facebook fan, Susan Broadway
9. FDGB
Definition: An acronym used in the ER which stands for ‘Fall Down Go Boom.’
Contributed by medmagazine.com Facebook fan, Tiffany Pizzimenti
10. F/U
Definition: A shortened version of ‘Follow Up.’
Fun (and cautionary) fact: The contributor of this term actually got in trouble by the state surveyor for using it in his charting!
Contributed by medmagazine.com Facebook fan, John Allen Hough
11. Crispies
Definition: A patient who is a tanning booth victim.
Contributed by medmagazine.com Facebook fan, Ruth Metzger
12. Trainwreck
Definition: A patient with multiple health problems and multiple diagnoses that has no business on a med-surg floor but doesn’t “qualify” for ICU until they code in the middle of the night.
Contributed by medmagazine.com reader, Tabatha
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