MEMO TO STAFF:
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),
FDGB (fall down, go boom),
TBC (total body crunch) or "hamburger helper."
Similarly, descriptions of a car crash do not have to include
phrases like
"negative vehicle to vehicle interface" or "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 gifted."
Gunshot wounds to the head are not "trans-occipital implants."
The homeless are not "urban outdoorsmen",
nor is endotracheal
intubation referred to as a "PVC Challenge".
And finally, do not refer to recently deceased
persons
as being "paws up," ART (assuming room temperature),
CC (Cancel
Christmas), CTD (circling the drain), or NLPR (no long playing
records).
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.