While reading “HERS” by Klass, I was able to related to everything the author said. As a radiologic technologist, I had to learn the language used in the medical field. Our job as a technologist include reading medical scripts for medical imaging. We need to know the diagnosis, the patient’s symptoms, and reason for the exam. All this information is necessary so that we can convey to the radiologist, who will then use that information to write their reports. Many times, if not always, this information on the scripts or referrals is in abbreviated form. They will write something like “CXR, r/o PNA”. I’ll know that this means they want a chest X-ray to rule out pneumonia or a pulmonary disease. This patient probably has a bad cough, fever, chest pain and when I confirm with the patient they will usually say these are the symptoms. The medical field is fast moving so knowing these abbreviations will make things go faster. It’s not easy and in the beginning I would find myself constantly asking what certain abbreviations meant. But I learned to catch up. There will even be doctors that make up their own abbreviations, so we had to learn these as well.

Another place where I felt I had to learn another “language” was in when I was in grade school. I grew up in Sunset Park back when it was a predominately Dominican neighborhood. Many of the students spoke Spanish but they used different words. I had to learn many of these words in order to fit in. And until this day I find myself using many of these words. It isn’t until I’m talking to my grandmother who lives in Mexico, that I realize I’m using words unknown to her. I feel like this is how patients must feel when they hear us talking in medical jargon.