Tip #316 Un-Wise Words Wednesday 3; Learning the ABC's

     So, this Week's Wise-Words Wednesday post comes in 3 installments - this one being the last of the three. If you haven't read the others, here's the deal: I thought it would be fun to poke some fun at some of the medical lingo/acronyms/abbreviations without forgetting to give credit to human error in the midst of it. That said, I'd also like to clarify that the words are not necessarily "unwise" (though I think some are), but words/phrases/letters etc. used unwisely or unwisely created words. For instance, a word might be a technically correct entity, but not an appropriate word in every situation - like, for example, when a situation calls for tact.
     The first post addressed Logic and Language Casualties - extremely logical words and phrases that somehow manage to defy logic at the same time.... perfect for creating confusion. The second post was Collateral Damage - words/phrases that inadvertently create chaos and miscommunication. And, this post is all about letters, like when a wrong letter changes a definition, or various initials that contribute to making medical words that much more mumbo-jumbo-like. For consistency though, note that letters can mean initials, acronyms, and abbreviations, as well as, well, you guessed it - actual literal letters from the good old alphabet.
     A prime example of an letters gone wrong (in the form of acronyms) happened to me in University. One of my prof's told us in our measurement and research class that initials, acronyms, abbreviations and confusion were plentiful, and that we would be responsible for attaching meaning to a given page of initials on our first day of class. We all got stuck with one in particular, "RBI." Turns out it was "Runs Batted In" (baseball analogy). Since it was a class with a focus on measuring accurately for scientific research, we made an assumption that all of the initials were medical. In fact, only one of us in the whole class got it right (and it certainly wasn't me!). What did we learn? ALWAYS ask when you aren't sure what letters mean. Put aside any pride and ask - they could mean something very different than any seemingly reasonable assumption and resulting in disaster or worse.
      Okay, here we go - a few of my favourite types of wily, wonky, wonderful wonders. First up:

Old is Out, New is In 

I'm good with change. A lot of people hate it, but truly I don't mind - unless of course the change seems pointless.

Bewilderment:  Why do medical acronyms change whilst still describing the same thing?
Life context: Are you sitting down? I'm speechless. Me, miss long-windedness, LOL!  I can't think of a single non-medical example....

Medical example: In the auto insurance part of the world that involving people recovering from motor vehicle accidents, the short form used said incident was "MVA" and is now an "MVC." "A" means "accident," and "C" means "collision." Why? 

Double Duty

It's common to be confused initially, but "initial" confusion can be long-lasting - especially when an an abbreviation abbreviates different things!

Bewilderment: Why do so many new abbreviations use the same letters as existing ones? 

Life context: Quick quiz. What does "SOS" stand for? Not a lot of people knows what it stands for I would guess, but  we all know that it means "Help!" By the way, "SOS" actually stands for "Save our Ship"). But guess what? Ask your 15 year old the same question, and see what they say. Turns out in this day and age when texting/facebooking/emailing/chatting and other such things are a normal part of life from a young age, that "SOS" has taken on a new meaning. Now, "Sibling over Shoulder" is the winner. Who knew?

Medical example: Malignant Hyperpyrexia, Malignant Hyperthermia, and Malignant Hypertention all have the abbreviated initials "MH" but are 3 VERY different things. Tricky!

What's What?

Sometimes it gets tricky to call a "spade" a "spade" in regular life and seems exponentially more difficult in the medical world, particularly when letters are involved. Huh? Stay with me...
Bewilderment: In some disciplines more than others it seems that it becomes second nature to use the acronym for an item as a descriptor of the item rather than the words the letters represents. What???? I know that sounds complicated, but I think the two examples below will help make more sense of it for both of us. 

Life context: Do you know when I learned that "SOS" means "Save our Ship?" About five minutes ago! When thinking of examples, it occurred to me that I knew that "SOS" meant "Help me!" and likely accompanies the words "I'm stranded" as well. Everyone knows that part I think. And, at 10 years old I already knew the Morse code (three long, three short, three long), but until today I didn't actually know what words it represented.

Medical example: There are different types of feeding tubes: "NG," "PEG," "G," "J," "G-J", etc). Often the first is a "PEG" tube, and the subsequent ones are often "G" tubes. "G" tubes can be changed at home. "PEG" tubes require a surgical procedure, and are not done at home. So, trying to arrange a change of a feeding tube can be hair-pulling frustrating with all of the miscommunication about when, where, and how the change can be done!

     Well, I think that's it, finally, for the Un-Wise Words Wednesday extravaganza:) In parting, let me leave you with an astonishingly common confusing communication complicater. Have you ever experienced the difference that just one letter can make in a term? Hypothermia means you are really cold. Hyperthermia means you are really hot. Hypothyroidism means you have an under active thyroid. Hyperthyroidism is the thyroid being too active. See the difference? Whenever it is Hypo, it means low, below, beneath and Hyper means high, above, up. So, it probably wouldn't be all that helpful to take the person with Hypothermia to the lake, or the one with Hyperthermia to the sauna.....  I guess it just goes to say that "a little dab will do you," - er, actually let me amend that -  a little Letter will do you... In." LOL!

Happy Letter-Righting!