Dumbing Down Doctors: A Profession Without a Language

We are being robbed: Robbed of the tools of language our profession has used and shared with the world at large. Popular culture has embraced our language and incorporated it in other areas: Who hasn’t seen a bill hit the senate floor DOA or STAT communications in non-medical contexts, for example? But now, we – the first users of our language – are restricted from using it.

For over a hundred years, prescriptions have used abbreviations, like PRN, PO and QID. Those are now slated to disappear. Even the Joint Commission says so.

Every area of life has a rapidly evolving vernacular, full of newly minted abbreviations for concepts that didn’t exist until yesterday. NFTs, non-fungible tokens, for the first rendition of a ubiquitous internet image, is the latest one that comes to mind.

First, the argument was that we needed to issue prescriptions via computer because our handwriting was sloppy. Now, even neat, digital prescriptions and office notes are unwelcome because lay people or lazy or inattentive readers might misread our electronic communications.

Why does this apply only to us? Why are there USB connectors, when the real term is Universal Serial Bus? How come online chats are allowed to use terms like LOL and ROFL? What if a newcomer doesn’t understand those abbreviations? And what about finance? Why can they use terms that even their customers don’t understand.

Should we level the playing field and simply outlaw all abbreviations in this country? Or, should we allow rapid communication between technical experts in their own language? Lower the bar or maintain and protect it?