Hypoxia and Medicine

Doctor, I can't understand a word you just said.?

Have you ever been to the hospital, and been met with such a barrage of medical jargon that you just smiled and nodded dumbly until they went away? It's a trend I've noticed lately at the hospital I volunteer with, and even medical personnel answering questions on this website. Example: An elderly man in the burn unit coughs and turns blue, because of a smoke inhalation injury. When the panicked family runs to the doctor for help, he pops his head in the room, shouts- "HYPOXIA!" and goes back to filling out charts, or whatever he was doing before. The family was left confused, and still worried about grandpa. I've seen people 'diagnose' symptoms over the internet- THROMBOPHLEBITIS! MRSA... and that's all, no explanation, no idea how it works, and no real useful information. What ever happened to explaining things to people in words they understand? Patients who come in aren't idiots, they don't need to be spoon fed, but they also might not have had the medical background to interpret everything you just said. Opinions? Stories? Am I totally off base here? Edited to add, I'm a nurse, but I'm asking the question from the perspective of the average person that walks into the ER.

Public Comments

1. I SAID THERE'S ALIENS!! *PHEW PHEW PHEW!!!
2. The only doctor I see is my ob/gyn. I always ask tons of questions and she's very honest and elaborate with her answers.
3. Sign up for medical terminology class at community college and be in on the language! It's so cool to know what people are saying and helpful to your family and friends. It's really awesome you are volunteering and you might enjoy it even more. Keep up the good work!! Hypoxia is lack of oxygen and causes blue lips, nail bed, and cyanosis is blue tint in skin also from lack of oxygen. Thrombophlebitis is swelling of vein from a blood clot and MRSA is a bad dude! it's a bacteria infection that is resistant to most antibiotics and often picked up in a hospital in addition to a patient being there for another reason. Sometimes it's caused by nurses or other staff handling paper patient charts in different patient rooms then walking into other patient room without using antibacterial foam or gel.