Definition:

Conducting a series of different lab tests to determine the underlying cause of a patient's illness. Performing multiple tests in the hopes that one will result in the answer is analogous to a shotgun scattering buckshot into a flock of birds in the hopes of hitting one. It is often a measure of last resort.

Usage:

I know Dr. Jones was desperate because he had his team shotgunning all night.

Created Aug 18, 2009

Definition:

Sedimentation rate. A test that measures the distance that red blood cells fall in a test tube in one hour. This distance determines the amount of inflation: the further the cells descend, the greater the inflammatory response of the immune system. Knowing a patient's sed rate is useful for diagnosing diseases such as multiple myeloma, temporal arteritis, polymyalgia rheumatica, various auto-immune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic kidney diseases. A sed rate can also serve as a "sickness index" in an asymptomatic patient who is believed to have a disease.

Usage:

Dave's rheumatoid arthritis explains his high sed rate.

Synonyms:

erythrocyte sedimentation rate, ESR, Biernacki Reaction

Created Aug 25, 2009

Definition:

Complete blood count. It's an all-purpose blood test used to diagnose various illnesses and afflictions.

Usage:

Get a CBC.

Synonyms:

complete blood count

Created Nov 15, 2009

Definition:

CT scanner.

Usage:

Alright, let get this guy in the doughnut.

Synonyms:

CT

Created Dec 01, 2009

Definition:

Prepared.

Usage:

Dr. Smith, David's prepped for surgery.

Created Jan 06, 2010

Definition:

A diagnosis which may be faddish, not proven to exist, or physiologically explained. It could also refer to a diagnosis described without specificity, and thus so broadly inclusive to the point of being scientifically useless

Usage:

Well, we could go with your wastebasket diagnosis, or we could stop trying to be Greg House and figure out what's really wrong with him.

Created Jan 14, 2010

Definition:

An expensive, extensive, intensive, and sometimes painful diagnostic evaluation initiated by a particular patient complaint.

Usage:

He came in with his x-rays in hand and was complaining that he had the "worst headache of his life," so we gave him a million-dollar workup.

Created Jan 18, 2010

Definition:

Dipstick. Medical dipsticks can be used to test for a variety of liquids for the presence of a given substance, known as an analyte. For example, urine samples might be tested for haemoglobin, nitrite (produced by bacteria in a urinary tract infection), protein, glucose and occasionally urobilinogen or ketones.

Usage:

Where's the dip?!

Synonyms:

dpistick

Created Jan 30, 2010

Definition:

Urine osmolality (abbreviate as such in charting). Urine osmolality is a measure of urine concentration, in which large values indicate concentrated urine and small values indicate diluted urine. In healthy individuals with restricted fluid intake, urine osmolality should be greater than 800mOsm/Kg, while a 24 hour urine osmolality should average between 500 and 800 mOsm/Kg and a random urine osmolality should average 300 and 900 mOsm/Kg.

Usage:

.. urine osms 750 m0sm/Kg ...

Created Jan 30, 2010

Definition:

Ordering a host of medical tests to determine the cause of a patient's pain because everyone's clueless.

Usage:

The paninvestigram is underway.

Created Feb 08, 2010