The Secret Language of the Health Professions

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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  

Report on medication errors due to medical terminology miscommunication.

Include the following aspects in the discussion:

• Share a personal experience or near miss that medical term miscommunication caused or locate an article to use
• Summarize the situation including the specific medical 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.