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This is a totally different issue than those so eloquently coveren in the "Medical Ebonics" thread.
We had a situation recently where a patient came into the ER by EMS under CPR. While the patient was coded the family arrived at the front desk. They told the clerk that their family member was just brought in and "He's a trauma." To them "trauma" meant "really sick." The clerk told them that if the patient was a trauma they would have been taken to the trauma center down the block so the family left and went to the other hospital. At the trauma center no one could find the patient so they called us with the patient's name and by the time the family arrived the code was over. They were really upset but it's easy to see how this happened.
This made me think of some of the words that we use all the time that the majority of patients and families misinterpret.
Word -- What patients think it means
Trauma -- Really bad, they think a "trauma center" is where really sick patients go
Acute -- Severe, "I've had this acute pain for 6 months."
Chronic -- Severe
We had a situation recently where a patient came into the ER by EMS under CPR. While the patient was coded the family arrived at the front desk. They told the clerk that their family member was just brought in and "He's a trauma." To them "trauma" meant "really sick." The clerk told them that if the patient was a trauma they would have been taken to the trauma center down the block so the family left and went to the other hospital. At the trauma center no one could find the patient so they called us with the patient's name and by the time the family arrived the code was over. They were really upset but it's easy to see how this happened.
This made me think of some of the words that we use all the time that the majority of patients and families misinterpret.
Word -- What patients think it means
Trauma -- Really bad, they think a "trauma center" is where really sick patients go
Acute -- Severe, "I've had this acute pain for 6 months."
Chronic -- Severe