descriptive

I don't believe I've ever told you about the time that we got a really unique order for a culture.

It was pretty early in the morning and I was on autopilot, entering lab orders into the system. A phlebotomist came in to drop off some specimens, and stopped to show me an order.

I looked at it and did a double take. It was an order for a culture, and they have to fill in the source. The nurse had written, "Pussy Discharge."

Oh, my.

We sat there for a minute, amused and a little shocked. Usually they write "genital" or "vaginal," but this nurse apparently decided to use a different word. Then I looked at the patient's information, and noticed that it was from a male patient. Hrm.

Now, I have seen a few transgender/ transsexual/cross dressing patients, but they are usually biologically male. Thinking that there may have been a mix-up with the paperwork and/or specimen, I checked the actual swab. Sure enough, the name matched the paperwork, but the source was specified as something like a right elbow wound.

Then it occurred to me. PUS. Infection. Pus-like. Oh my gosh, this nurse meant to describe the pus from a perfectly respectable wound site, but instead wrote something much more vulgar. Hilarity. I wonder if she ever had any clue or just hurriedly filled out the paperwork. Regardless, we had quite the laugh.

Just another day at work.