It has come to our attention from several emergency rooms
that many EMS narratives have taken a decidedly creative direction lately.
Effective immediately, all members are to refrain from using slang and abbreviations
to describe patients, such as the following:
Cardiac patients should not be referred to with MUH
(messed up heart), PBS (pretty bad shape), PCL (pre-code looking) or HIBGIA
(had it before, got it again). Stroke patients are not "Charlie Carrots," nor are rescuers
to use CCFCCP (Coo Coo for Cocoa Puffs) to describe their mental state. Trauma patients are not CATS (cut all to shit), FDGB
(fall down, go boom), TBC (total body crunch) or "hamburger helper." Similarly,
descriptions of a car crash do not have to include phrases like "negative
vehicle to vehicle interface" or "terminal deceleration syndrome." HAZMAT teams are highly trained professionals, not "glow
worms." Persons with altered mental states as a result of drug
use are not considered "pharmaceutically gifted." Gunshot wounds to the head are not "trans-occipital
implants." The homeless are not "urban outdoorsmen", nor is endotracheal
intubation referred to as a "PVC Challenge". And finally, do not refer to recently deceased persons
as being "paws up," ART (assuming room temperature), CC (Cancel Christmas),
CTD (circling the drain), NLPR (no long playing records), or TSTL (Too
Stupid To Live).
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