Comments on: Diagnostic dilemma, innit bruv

By: Muh

Muh — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 13:23:14 +0000

I’d say the only thing better would be for cnpeaoims to try to loose money on the backs of real problems but then, there wouldn’t be any cnpeaoims, only problems.

By: Sunday Links #16 « Neuromancy – A neuroscience blog

Sunday Links #16 « Neuromancy – A neuroscience blog — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 13:51:33 +0000

[...] not worth a pony – are you having a giraffe? Mind Hacks reports on a case study in the British Medical Journal of 26 year old male tested for language disorder [...]

By: Society, Ethics And Science Weekly blogs round-up - 01 August 2011 - blog by Gurdur - Blogs on the Heathen Hub

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:53:22 +0000

[...] on the very major concern that polio eradication could slip out of reach. Mind Hacks blogs on how using street slang can lead to unfortunate, wrong diagnoses in psychiatric ER. That's it for this week, till next week's blogs roundup. But I will be doing separate news items [...]

By: Colm O' Toole

Colm O' Toole — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:02:23 +0000

@Jen

“so what DOES it mean?”

ruby = curry
butchers = look
barnet = hair

By: Tom Parmenter

Tom Parmenter — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 20:02:11 +0000

When asked how she was feeling, subject said her body had been taken over by insects.

“I’ve got butterflies in my stomach.”

By: brainduck

brainduck — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 18:40:27 +0000

It could be worse – in Yorkshire, we have a dictionary of health-related dialect terms for ‘foreigners’.
http://www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c3431.extract

By: L’argot peut passer pour un symptôme de schizophrénie

L’argot peut passer pour un symptôme de schizophrénie — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 19:04:57 +0000

[...] peuvent en effet confondre l’argot anglais avec des symptômes de schizophrénie, rapporte le site Mindhacks. Ils ont retrouvé une étude de 2007 du British Medical Journal qui explique que [...]

By: cavall de quer

cavall de quer — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:45:19 +0000

You should hear my Catalan coleagues wrestling with their Catalan grammar: all absolutely convinced that the language they, their parents and grandparents use is not “correct”: plus they now need a certificate to change jobs, underline that Franco oppressed them etc etc etc – language is never just language, is it?

By: Nyq Only

Nyq Only — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 03:14:49 +0000

My mother was a psychiatric social-worker in a town in Lancashire. She told me of one psychiatrist (from overseas) who was concerned that a patient would often answer “champion” when asked how he was feeling. The doctor assumed this was some form of delusion rather than a (slightly archaic now) dialect term for feeling very well.

By: plasticmadness

plasticmadness — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:48:07 +0000

I’m a doctor and I find this language issue fascinating. Schizophrenia diagnosis and middle aged doctors appart, I think communication is essencial in a good medical appointment. Understanding exactly what your patient means with those exact words is fundamental for diagnosis. I have had difficulty with language when I moved to work in the countryside of Brazil. People spoke my language, but they used words and expressions I had never heard before, and it took me a while until I started to understand what they really meant. Also, people in different countries refer to the same symptoms with very different terms, so doctors studying in another country will probably face the same problem. I can say I requested many unnecessary exams and did a lot of uber thorough physical examination until I finally started to understand what my patients really meant. And that is an ongoing process.