The new study, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that overweight and obese people who increased their fat intake and lowered the amount of refined carbohydrates in their diet - while still eating fiber-rich foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans and lentils - had greater improvements in their cardiovascular disease risk factors than those who followed a similar diet that was lower in fat and higher in carbs. (The letter “K” is the symbol for potassium on the periodic table.)Ī new study, one of the largest and most rigorous trials of the subject to date, suggests that eating a diet low in carbohydrates and higher in fats may be beneficial for your cardiovascular health if you are overweight, reports my colleague Anahad O’Connor. In this case, the shorthand actually meant the patient took a prescription potassium tablet once a day. “Slow k OD” A patient’s wife saw this and thought it suggested a patient had overdosed. “Dizziness and giddiness.” A patient was appalled by this description, but the terms are commonly used to describe a patient who feels unbalanced or lightheaded. “Denies recreational drug use.” A patient was upset by the phrase, because she thought that it implied she was lying about substance use. “Patient is well nourished.” While it might sound unflattering, the term usually just means the patient isn’t malnourished. “Patient is a poor historian.” It’s not a criticism of the patient’s knowledge of history, but the way doctors often note that a patient can’t remember details of their own medical history. In the recent Twitter discussion, health workers added to the list of potentially unsettling medical terms. OD: This abbreviation for the Latin term “oculus dexter,” or the right eye, can cause confusion. SOB: The report advised doctors to write out “short of breath” to avoid offending the patient.į/U: It’s better to avoid abbreviating the words “follow up” when noting a patient’s medical record. The study noted that abbreviations commonly used in medicine could also be a problem, including: A doctor may casually write that a patient has “renal failure.” A better description is “chronic kidney disease,” the report said. Reading scary medical terms in the patient record can also be devastating to a lay person. A patient may be insulted to see themselves described as “disheveled.” Instead, the report advised, be specific and say, “The patient’s shirt was untucked.” Many hospital systems now offer convenient portals where patients can check in for appointments, send notes to their doctor and read lab results and medical records.įor instance, medical records often describe the patient’s appearance. (While medical errors can still happen, this protocol has drastically reduced “wrong site” surgeries, in which doctors mistakenly operate on the left leg, for example, rather than the right one.)īut misunderstandings like this are becoming more common as patients gain access to their electronic medical records. Members of the medical team take a “time out” immediately before starting their work to triple check that the right procedure is being performed on the right patient and on the correct body part. What she didn’t realize is that the “time out” noted in her medical record referred to a crucial safety step that doctors are supposed to take before medical procedures and surgeries. The good news is that the patient wasn’t in trouble. One patient read the notes from her colonoscopy report, which included a reference to a “time out.” The woman reportedly was upset by this, and called her doctor saying she was “well behaved during the procedure and did not need a ‘time out.’”
This week on Twitter, a group of health care workers shared stories of patients who became upset after reading the physician notes in their medical records. Medical jargon can be confusing, but it can also sometimes hurt a patient’s feelings. Have you ever been insulted by your own medical records?
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