Discourse Community – David Ponce

A discourse community that I’ve become a part of is the hospital community, specifically the Transportation Department, last June and in my one year of being there I’ve learned a tremendous amount. I was taught the in’s and out’s of the transportation system. This included learning how to pick up jobs through the work phone I was provided. By clicking the button that reads “Accept Job”, you’ve now agreed to transport a patient, medical supplies, bedding, etc. from one location of the hospital to another. Once you finish the task, you click a button that reads “Complete Job.” My peers have also taught me that certain things don’t have to go through the system. Like the lingo used within our Transportation Department. For instance, “pick up a job” refers to anyone from transport telling another transporter to pick up while they’re on their break. We do this to each other as a tease to call that person lazy even though they’re simply on their respective break. “Can you do echo?” Echo, (echocardiogram/ekg), is when we have to pick up jobs specifically in that field. Moments where there are patients in the dialysis room, we get told to “clean up dialysis.”, which actually means to transport the patients from dialysis back to their rooms.

In a busy hospital, every department has to have lingo to get by saying things much quicker with a bigger meaning. Sometimes certain phrases are used within multiple departments. As transporters, we have to interact with nurses many times throughout the day. When I was being trained, I was told that I have to get EZ passes signed by the nurse, which I learned was a quick rundown of the patient. They explain everything from the languages they speak to what allergies they have. Lastly, like any other job, we too have to take our breaks. We get two types of breaks: a 30-minute break and an hour break. Instead of us telling others “I’m taking my 30-minute break” we instead use the phrase “taking my scheduled” or “taking my 30.” This helps us differentiate from our full hour break because that phrase is “taking my hour” or you can also say “taking my lunch.”