Why do people say 'wards'?

[Eilat87]

I've never heard of anyone say wards outside of people at school, professors and such.

Is it an old term? Who uses it?

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[Smurfette]

Wards is a pretty common term, actually, for 'inpatient' rotations. More common amongst the medical specialties ("I'm on the wards this month").

It stems from back when hospitals were set up with the ward system (imagine 40 beds in a row lining a room, without private rooms). So patients were assigned to a bed in a given ward. And residents/students were assigned to a ward or service (say ward 10 was the renal service, for example). The term hasn't completely fallen to the wayside yet.

 

[OnToDO]

I've never heard of anyone say wards outside of people at school, professors and such.

Is it an old term? Who uses it?

Same here and it always sounds like a prison for some reason

 

[colbgw02]

I've never heard of anyone say wards outside of people at school, professors and such.

Aren't there a lot of words that you don't hear people say outside of school/the hospital? And I don't just mean medical jargon...I remember the first time I heard people say things like "strong work" or "incompatible with life". No one outside of medicine talks like that.

 

[Eilat87]

Aren't there a lot of words that you don't hear people say outside of school/the hospital? And I don't just mean medical jargon...I remember the first time I heard people say things like "strong work" or "incompatible with life". No one outside of medicine talks like that.

You're absolutely right but for some reason the word 'wards' comes off as so terribly outdated.

 

[dally1025]

it always sounds like a prison for some reason

sometimes it feels like prison. especially in the jail ward...

 

[OnToDO]

sometimes it feels like prison. especially in the jail ward...

True. Especially when we're there without much of a choice.

 

[secants]

I've heard "floors" more than wards here

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[Poetic Silence]

That word always makes me think of the psychiatric inpatient unit for some reason.

 

[Eilat87]

I've heard "floors" more than wards here

This.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

I've heard "floors" more than wards here

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I admit to the FLOOR or to the UNIT

I'm on SERVICE when I am in the hospital, on an inpatient rotation, regardless if im in the UNIT or on the WARDS. But I could also be on SERVICE on a CONSULT team.

Just illustrating the common use of WARDS and FLOOR. WARDS being the thing you do, FLOOR being the place you admit them. May be local calloquial, though.

 

[meanlean]

I like this description of ward. It reminds me of the second world war movie hospitals