Cassidy Jacobsen
Monday, March 10th, 2025
Professor Nancy Simpson
In this interview I interviewed Whitney Cass who is my cousin. Whitney works at Maine Medical Center in the CTICU (cardiothoracic intensive care unit), where she graduated in 2024 from nursing school. I asked Whitney six questions regarding the importance of medical terminology.
The first question I asked Whitney was; how do you use medical language in your job? With whom? She replied with “I use medical jargon/language every day in my job. Whether it be explaining to patients the effects of medication on their bodies, or expectations of their care and providing answers for the discomfort they may feel post surgery. communicating with providers and getting new orders/updating on a patient status, etc. working with respiratory therapists and coming up with a plan for a patient’s respiratory status while on the ventilator with different ventilator settings, etc.” This response shows how important medical terminology is, by the way Whitney explains that she uses it by communicating with not only her co-workers but her patients.
The second question I asked Whitney was; How does using medical terminology support your professional role? Whitney says “Using medical terminology allows for practice that leaves a smaller margin of error. When communicating at a certain level that includes medical terminology that is standard across the board, efficiency follows and allows for a conversation to ensue among team members that can really assist in critical thinking – all in all it supports my role as a nurse to become a better nurse.” With this response, Whitney explains that using medical terminology makes for less error all around in the medical world.
The third question I asked was; Can you share some examples of word parts, terms and abbreviations you use daily? Her examples include, “maybe using temporary pacemaker settings on a pacer box like whether a patient is A or V pacing, at a certain rate, mA output, and sensitivity. what underlying rhythm a patient may have, junctional, bradycardic, in afib with RVR, or a life-threatening rhythm like vtach or vfib. Other medical terminology might provide a patient picture such as “x patient is acutely decompensating with hypotension with a MAP of 43, HR in the 120’s, JVD present with muffled heart sounds” this would be indicative of a cardiac tamponade. regularly, in my unit specifically, we may use medical terminology such as, “patient on VA ECMO is centrally cannulated and has a left IJ quad, right radial art line with good waveform draws back appropriately, and 2 16 gauge IV in the right forearm. currently on a dex drip at 1.4, levo at .06 and vaso .06. neuro intact.” This response shows how much medical terminology is actually used through her unit, and her unit is just one of thousands.
The fourth question I asked was; How is medical language used in patient records? Whitney said that, “a patient’s H&P uses a lot of medical language that gives a basis for the present illnesses or past medical history of a patient. Generally the story of a patient is found and explained by using medical terminology “PMH of HLD, HTN, CAD, T2DM with an A1C of 8.9, former tobacco user, s/p ureteral stenting BSL BUN/Cr 20/1.7.” This type of information ties into the last question that is asked. Because of how important it is to know what each medical term is presented. This is also important because it makes it so there is less confusion and mess-up on the job because medical terminology is very organized.
The fifth question I asked was: Has the use of electronic medical records affected the use of medical terminology in your job? She says that, “the EHR has assisted with understanding a patient’s story and why they are in the hospital as well as looking to see if possible, any other visits the patient may have had to the hospital. it’s important that EMS notes or ED notes are looked over to get a better picture of how the patient arrived at the hospital and where they are now.”
The last question that I asked Whitney was: What do you do when you encounter a term you don’t know? Whitney lastly replies with, “I ask someone who may know what it means or I can look to online resources to figure out what something means if I don’t understand.” This is important because not knowing something is normal. There is so much medical terminology information, so not knowing one and asking another healthcare professional can help you learn more as a new nurse.
Overall this interview was very interesting and helpful to listen to. I found out how important it is to pay attention and learn about the medical terminology that is presented to us during the first few years of nursing school. The one answer that surprised me the most was when Whitney states that if she doesn’t know what something means, she easily just asks another nurse. This surprised me because as a new nurse like Whitney, it can be scary to ask questions, but she showed the importance of asking questions. Which can lead to not only learning more on the job, but also avoiding miscommunication or mess-ups on the job. Thank you Whitney for participating in this interview with me.