Medical Jargon

By Edward Pullen Platinum Quality Aut
Almost all of us have a jargon we use in everyday language that is foreign to everyone not involved in our niche. As a bird watcher I talk of the dawn chorus, category 5 birds, coverts and tertials as though everyone should know what I'm talking about. As a physician when I use jargon there is more concern that problems

can arise, because often having my patient understand me is pretty important.

That said, here are a few of the common medical terms thrown around as though everyone knows what they mean, when likely many people don't:

Stool: I sit on a rolling one in my exam room, but when a physician asks you if you've had any change in your stool, they mean in your feces (poop).

Meatus: This is a natural body opening, like the urethral meatus at the tip of the penis or at the upper vagina in women where the urethra empties the bladder to the outside.

Micturition: Another name for urination. The verb is to micturate.

Parity: The number of times a woman has given birth. A nulliparous woman, or "nullip" for short, is a woman who has never given birth. A multiparous woman has given birth, and a "grand-multip" is a woman with more than 5 child births. Twins count as only one.

Gravity: The number of times a woman has been pregnant, including births, miscarriages, terminated pregnancies, and ectopic pregnancies. Twins counts as only one.

Comedone: This is a blocked skin pore seen in acne. These can be an open comedone or black-head, or a closed comedone or pimple.

There are lots more odd terms we use, but these are some of my favorites.



Labels: