Harmless sayings that shouldn't be misheard:

The medical field certainly has its own language - which can cause problems when we think we are saying one thing but a patient or family hears an entirely different meaning.  Often, the double meanings can be entertaining, but they can also seem quite offensive. Imagine how you would feel if you overheard a physician saying these phrases without any other context:

1) "Go get the cow out of room 320."

2) "Wow, that patient is really tachy!"

3) "He is a little S.O.B.!"

Surely, you can see how these would sound offensive to someone overhearing them. But here's what they really mean:

1) COW stands for "computer on wheels" - or just a cart that we can wheel around to use the electronic medical records on the move.  For obvious reasons, the hospital is trying to eliminate the term "COW" from our vocabulary.

2) Tachy is short for tachycardic, meaning the heart is beating faster than normal.

3) S.O.B. in medicine simply means Short Of Breath, nothing more and nothing less.  Most of us don't even think about the cultural meaning of the abbreviation when we say or write SOB.

When you're in health care settings, if you hear words that don't sound quite right or don't sound familiar, just ask.  We don't always remember we speak a different language.