Nursing Slang

Altered mental status; a change in awareness or thinking.

A corpse processed for the mortuary

A phlebotomist or lab tech who draws blood

A homeless patient with no fixed bed of their own

Going through delirium tremens (alcohol withdrawal)

Anaesthetists

Implying symptoms are psychological, not organic

General surgeons

Mature content — open to view.

IV pain/sedation cocktail

A fascinating, unusual case or lesion

Motor vehicle collision; a car crash.

Emphysema patient who stays pink by breathing hard

A catheter placed in a large central vein near the heart.

Normal saline; 0.9% sodium chloride IV fluid.

Patient's wet the bed, get the cleanup kit.

See champagne tap; also generic praise for a clean result

Mature content — open to view.

Shortness of breath; difficulty breathing.

Flowers at the bedside suggest a well-supported patient

Advanced Cardiac Life Support; the cardiac arrest protocol.

Mature content — open to view.

A demanding patient on the call bell for trivial requests

'Little Old Lady in No Apparent Distress'

Endotracheal tube; the tube placed during intubation.

Mature content — open to view.

Mature content — open to view.

'High-Velocity Lead Poisoning' — a gunshot wound

Officially 'Within Normal Limits'; joked as 'We Never Looked'

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation; chest compressions and rescue breaths.

Infant abduction (or paediatric/neonatal emergency) alert

The decline from mouth-open to tongue-out toward death

The critical first hour after major trauma

A patient suspected of presenting mainly to obtain narcotics

A deliberately half-hearted resuscitation attempt

Mnemonic for the causes of altered mental status.

A white-haired elderly patient

A quiet anaesthetic list

Mock-Latin for a malingerer: 'swinging the lead'

Cynical gloss of 'Within Normal Limits' — see main entry