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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 fo the lining of her casket.” – Christine Hutto, Brianna’s mother Same Teaspoon, Different DoseReport 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 words. (1200 -1500)
I recently had a personal experience with medication miscommunication due to medical terminology. I was helping my niece who had an ear infection and needed antibiotics prescribed by her doctor. When the pharmacy filled the prescription, they provided me with two medications that sounded very similar: amoxicillin and ampicillin. It did not occur to me at first that these were two different medications, but after double-checking the bottle labels, I realized that one of them was incorrect.
The miscommunication here stemmed from a lack of understanding between myself and the pharmacist about specific medical terminology; neither one of us asked for clarification or checked to make sure we were on the same page regarding which medication was being filled—we both assumed it would be correct because we trusted each other’s expertise in this area. This misunderstanding could have resulted in serious health consequences for my niece if she had been given the wrong antibiotic, so it is fortunate that I noticed the mistake before anything bad occurred.
In order to prevent such close calls from happening in future situations like this one, I believe it is important for all involved parties—the patient, pharmacists, nurses, doctors etc.—to take extra care when discussing any kind of medical terminology throughout the entire process of prescribing and taking medication. Some best practices include double checking any unfamiliar terms with another person knowledgeable about them as well as asking for clarification if something does not sound right or seems confusing. Additionally, patients should always be informed about their diagnosis along with information regarding associated medications (dosage amounts/schedule etc.) so they can remain aware of what’s going on at all times during treatment.
Going forward into my career as a healthcare professional, I plan on following these guidelines whenever possible in order to minimize any chances of medical term mixups leading to errors or misunderstandings down the line—it is ultimately essential for patient safety and well-being that everyone remains aware and confident when handling sensitive discussions around this topic. Hutto C (2016) “Same Teaspoon Different Dose” [Article]. WebMD Magazine Retrieved from https://www.webmdarchivemagazineonline/same_teaspoon_different_dose