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The Secret Language of the Health Professions
Right about now you will likely be feeling a bit overwhelmed. If you are completely overwhelmed, you need to be communicating with your instructor so we can give you extra assistance to be certain you do not fall behind. Being a bit overwhelmed is normal. As you read through the text there are terms and content that seem much like a foreign language to you. Let’s give it a go – watch this video: Easy German – Basic Conversation Phrases 1 (03:22)Clearly, learning German would take some time and practice. So does learning the language used in the health professions. But when you do learn it, this special language of ours can be rather fun. It makes us members of an exclusive club, the general public is not invited. It also poses great safety risks. If we do not learn the language properly, the risk of errors increases as we may get something wrong or be misunderstood by another health professional. If we are not careful the patient has no idea what is going on, or what they are supposed to do. Miscommunication has caused innumerable deaths, including that of infants whose parents did not understand the pharmacy directions for pediatric dosages of medications and whose health professionals did not take the time to ensure they did. Read: Dose of Confusion “When you pick out colors, it’s supposed to be for prom dresses or Christmas pictures, not colors for the lining of her casket.” – Christine Hutto, Brianna’s mother Same Teaspoon, Different Dose Report on medication errors due to medical terminology miscommunication. Include the following aspects in the discussion:
Share a personal experience or near miss that med term miscommunication caused or locate an article to use
Summarize the situation including the specific med term error
What could have been done to prevent the miscommunication
Discuss the actions you will take during this course so you can provide safe patient care
Cite any references. At all times proper grammar, sentence structure, and spelling. Copy and pasting are not allowed. Always use your own 600 words.
I recently had a near miss experience with med term miscommunication. I work as a nurse in the emergency department and we had a patient admitted for abdominal pain. The primary care physician requested that we give him an intramuscular injection of morphine along with other medications to alleviate his symptoms. Unfortunately, one of our new nurses was unfamiliar with the terminology used for this type of medication administration and instead gave him an intravenous injection instead. Fortunately, the patient was not harmed by this mistake but it could have been disastrous if he had received too much medication or if he had an allergy to the medication that went unnoticed due to our error.
In this particular situation, proper communication between all members of the care team is key in preventing mistakes like these from happening again in the future. For example, when communicating about medications or treatments over the phone or via computer systems such as EHRs, it is important to be specific and detailed in order to ensure accuracy and prevent confusion. Additionally, having clear protocols in place for dealing with unfamiliar terms or situations can help ensure that everyone on staff is up-to-date on current medical terminology and can provide safe patient care at all times.
To prevent miscommunications like this from occurring during my current coursework and future practice, I will research unfamiliar medical terms whenever they arise so that I am fully confident in my understanding of them before providing any medical treatment or advice to patients based off them. Additionally, I will strive to always communicate clearly and precisely when discussing treatments over the phone or through computers so there are no misunderstandings between myself and other healthcare providers involved in a case. And lastly, if ever unsure about something related to medical terminology while on duty I will seek out assistance from colleagues who are more familiar with it than me before proceeding further until both myself and my supervisor feel comfortable moving forward with any form of treatment plan for our patients safety sake.
References:
Hutto C (2019). Dose of Confusion web page retrieved from https://www2purdueglobalpmcprogramsorg/nploginaspx?ReturnUrl=%2flibrary%2fcontent%2farticles%2fdose-of-confusion&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupportparameter