Emergency Medical Services Directive to EMTs
Not a true story, but as a volunteer EMT, I can tell you that it could almost be true!
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It has come to our attention from several emergency rooms that many EMS narratives have taken a decidedly creative direction lately. Effective immediately, all members are to refrain from using slang and abbreviations to describe patients, such as the following:
- Cardiac patients should not be referred to with MUH (messed up heart), PBS (pretty bad shape), PCL (pre-code looking), or HIBGIA (had it before, got it again).
- Stroke patients are not "Charlie Carrots". Nor are rescuers to use CCFCCP (Coo Coo for Cocoa Puffs) to describe their mental state.
- Trauma patients are not CATS (cut all to shit), FDWB (fell down, went boom), TBC (total body crunch), or "Hamburger helper". Similarly, descriptions of a car crash do not have to include phrases like NV2VI ("negative vehicle to vehicle interface") or TDS ("terminal deceleration syndrome").
- HAZMAT teams are highly trained professionals, not "glow worms".
- Persons with altered mental states as a result of drug use are not considered "pharmaceutically enhanced".
- Gunshot wounds to the head are not "Trans-occipital implants".
- The homeless are not "urban outdoorsman", nor is endotracheal intubation to be referred to as a "PVC challenge".
- And finally, do not refer to recently deceased persons as being TBTT ("to be toe-tagged"), ART (assuming room temperature), CC (cancel Christmas), CTD (circling the drain), or RFDN (ready for dirt nap).
I know you will all join me in respecting the cultural diversity of our patients to include their medical orientations in creating proper narratives and log entries.
Posted November 23, 2009 8:00 AM
Category: Medical -- Prev: My First Mammogram | Next: Stress Management