Abbreviated words and medspeak sound dumb

[Dr McSteamy]

I heard the word "nick-you" (NICU) used for the first time in this rotation.

To me, it sounds stupid.

Why do people butcher abbreviations and words? To sound cool? 🙄


So, how many of you say "ick you" for ICU????? 👎thumbdown


if there were an LICU dept, then I'd be fine with "lick you", especially saying that to a chick.
"I'm gonna go run over to lick you for a while..."

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[MonkeyRalph]

I'm pretty sure "nick-u" is the universal pronunciation for NICU. I have never ever heard anyone say "en i see u" to refer to the NICU. So I doubt it has anything to do with "being cool." Rather, it has more to do with saying something universally understood in a quick, efficient way.
Nobody says "ick-u" for ICU where I come from.
To me this seems like a somewhat stupid thing to get worked up over. True, it's hard to figure things out at first, but within a few months on the wards, it'll be like second nature to you. Good luck figuring it all out. 🙂

 

[Dr McSteamy]

so does that mean saying en eye see you will get you weird looks?
i don't see what's wrong with that.

it's just like "eye see you", you can say "en i see you" all in one short breath.


people always have to abbreviate sh**. like they don't have the strength to utter another syllable.

 

[elwademd]

perhaps people say "nick you" to differentiate it from "eye see you"... since if you were to say "en eye see you", someone might think you mean an icu, and someone else might think you mean nicu!

of course, the patient's age should give it away, but you never know.

 

[theOne3]

so does that mean saying en eye see you will get you weird looks?
i don't see what's wrong with that.

it's just like "eye see you", you can say "en i see you" all in one short breath.


people always have to abbreviate sh**. like they don't have the strength to utter another syllable.

You do realize that ICU and NICU are themselves abbrevivations, right?
Do you say "neonatal intensive care unit?"

 

[lord_jeebus]

I always feel weird saying SICU (sick-you) within earshot of patients...

 

[Blade28]

Sorry, MICU (mick-u), SICU (sick-u), NICU (nick-u) and PICU (pick-u) are all common. 🙂

 

[Dr McSteamy]

perhaps people say "nick you" to differentiate it from "eye see you"... since if you were to say "en eye see you", someone might think you mean an icu, and someone else might think you mean nicu!

of course, the patient's age should give it away, but you never know.

good point. i figured that much today.

i guess i'll start saying the ick-you's myself.

 

[Ashers]

You do realize that ICU and NICU are themselves abbrevivations, right?
Do you say "neonatal intensive care unit?"

NICU also means NeuroICU.

 

[AlternateSome1]

I heard the word "nick-you" (NICU) used for the first time in this rotation.

To me, it sounds stupid.

Why do people butcher abbreviations and words? To sound cool? 🙄

Someone who named him/herself Dr McSteamy is complaining about people using standard slang to "sound cool"?

 

[deleted87716]

Every field has its acronyms. Look at what the U.S. military uses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._Army_acronyms_and_expressions

A few choice examples:

ANCOC — Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course. (Pronounced ay-knock)

BAH — Basic Allowance for Housing (formerly BAQ)

BNCOC — Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course. (Pronounced bee-knock)

HAHO — 'High-Altitude High-Opening parachute technique (type of parachute jump, self-explanatory);also referred to as a Stand-off infiltration technique.

POO — Point Of Origin.

Yeah...ours are stupid. 😉

 

[burlypie]

Seems like three letter can be said individually, four or more deserves an word. My favorite? IMRICU, pronounced as it's spelled (em-rick-you) for intermediate respiratory medical intensive care unit. Tell me it's not ridiculous to say it any way other way that shorthand! 🙂

Also -- places where there are Neuro ICUs and Neonatal ICUs often call the baby one the ICN (letters pronounced individually), for intensive care nursery.

 

[goodies]

Every field has its acronyms. Look at what the U.S. military uses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._Army_acronyms_and_expressions

A few choice examples:

ANCOC — Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course. (Pronounced ay-knock)

BAH — Basic Allowance for Housing (formerly BAQ)

BNCOC — Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course. (Pronounced bee-knock)

HAHO — 'High-Altitude High-Opening parachute technique (type of parachute jump, self-explanatory);also referred to as a Stand-off infiltration technique.

POO — Point Of Origin.

Yeah...ours are stupid. 😉

i like POO

 

[colbgw02]

Every field has its acronyms. Look at what the U.S. military uses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._Army_acronyms_and_expressions

A few choice examples:

ANCOC — Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course. (Pronounced ay-knock)

BAH — Basic Allowance for Housing (formerly BAQ)

BNCOC — Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course. (Pronounced bee-knock)

HAHO — 'High-Altitude High-Opening parachute technique (type of parachute jump, self-explanatory);also referred to as a Stand-off infiltration technique.

POO — Point Of Origin.

Yeah...ours are stupid. 😉

Those are only acronyms if they are pronounced as words. Otherwise, they are just abbreviations. For instance, no one says "baaahhh"; everyone says "B-A-H".

 

[Chulito]

Do people ever just say surgical eye-see-you, neonatal eye-see-you, pediatric eye-see-you, etc.? Brevity, conventional abbreviations but no silly words.

 

[Dr McSteamy]

Do people ever just say surgical eye-see-you, neonatal eye-see-you, pediatric eye-see-you, etc.? Brevity, conventional abbreviations but no silly words.

^^ i actually prefer that way.
clear and no confusion.

one extra word never killed anyone

all those ick-you's can actually be mis-heard cuz they all sound the same.

 

[KidDr]

Do people ever just say surgical eye-see-you, neonatal eye-see-you, pediatric eye-see-you, etc.? Brevity, conventional abbreviations but no silly words.

yes, and people also say peds-eye, S-eye, M-eye, etc--at least at places I've worked. there's tons of abbreviations for everything in medicine....get used to it.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

^^ i actually prefer that way.
clear and no confusion.

one extra word never killed anyone

all those ick-you's can actually be mis-heard cuz they all sound the same.

Day to day we say mickyou, pickyou, etc., but anything over the intercom (like when they call a code) is medical ICU, pediatric ICU to avoid confusion. Anyway, true one extra word never killed anyone, but the they really do add up to something. Think about writing a medicine daily note, does it really take that long to write/type "follow-up" instead of "f/u"? No, but combine it with the time saved using 50 other abbreviations and the task goes from taking 20 minutes down to maybe 10. Time is money in this profession, and most of us couldn't care less about sounding cool, we just want to leave the funking hospital while it's daylight.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Well, sorry you don't like the term nic-u, but I don't think there's much possibility for confusion in a stand alone Children's Hospital since we don't have neuro ICU's, MICUs, etc. But I'm guessing that you won't like the way we talk on rounds in the nic-u either (note this is what we say, our written notes are much MORE laden with jargon!):

"she's a BPDer with a Grade 4 IVH s/p PDA ligation and medical NEC. Now on TPN of 50, IL of 10 and 70 of SSC-24. We want to decrease the IMV to 20 and the PIP to 18 today and get a cap gas. Hopefully we can go to nasal CPAP tomorrow and PO her next week when she gets a cannula. But last time we tried nasal CPAP she had too many A's and B's so we tubed her with a 3.0 and are weaning her off now.""

 

[Chulito]

Yes, [...] get used to it.

😕

Have I written something that's made me seem hostile to the notion, or surprised or put off by it?

 

[71263]

Just make sure nobody looks at your charts when you write. Ive heard of patients getting quite upset after seeing things like 'chest pain, SOB'. 'Normal BS' has never gone over well either...

 

[Final]

I heard the word "nick-you" (NICU) used for the first time in this rotation.

To me, it sounds stupid.

Why do people butcher abbreviations and words? To sound cool? 🙄


So, how many of you say "ick you" for ICU????? 👎thumbdown


if there were an LICU dept, then I'd be fine with "lick you", especially saying that to a chick.
"I'm gonna go run over to lick you for a while..."

get over it?

 

[basupran]

argot

 

[Blade28]

Do people ever just say surgical eye-see-you, neonatal eye-see-you, pediatric eye-see-you, etc.? Brevity, conventional abbreviations but no silly words.

But that's too long!

E.g.:

"Surgical I-C-U" - 6 syllables
"SICU" - 2 syllables

You should know we abbreviate as much as possible in medicine! It may not seem like a big deal now, but later on, when you're running around writing notes on 30 patients in the morning, or presenting patients/consults quickly, they'll save a LOT of time.

 

[deleted29780]

i love the abbreviations in medicine. my only advice is dont go into an exam using abbrev, u will get into trouble....Cos when you are being trained, your tutors want to be sure you know what you are talking about. When you graduate, its assumed you know what you are talking about. 😀
This is to the op, if you u cant handle our shortcuts, you can quit the training...we are not in the mood to listen to a medic who pronounces terms in full.
imagine this senario with the op in charge...
resuscitating a primi....
you all know we need to assess, decide and act during the resuscitation..secs can mean the difference between life and death.

assistant - " breath two three, breath two three "

The OP - the auscultated heart rate was recorded as 2 beats in 5secs. the rhythm is irregular

The OP - since intermittent positive pressure ventilation is not working lets try the continuous positive airway pressure ventilator.

----- the neonate in the NICU will be dead know why?
he has used more than 30secs
he could have just said...lets use CPAV. in less than 2 secs...now our little primi is gone for ever...thanks to Mr.I HATE ABBREVIATIONS.