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Fun With Abbreviations

30 comments




You see, we EMS folks like to apply numerical grades in a vain attempt to quantify stuff, including that which cannot really be quantified. Like the 0-10 pain scale, for instance.

From burns to liver injuries, edema to diaphoresis, heart blocks to intracranial bleeds, we use numbers to classify the severity of a problem. Generally speaking, the higher the number, the more severe the condition.

So, based on that premise, “PMS x 4″ in this report would indicate a really, really bitchy female patient*. Modern medicine prefers the term premenstrual dysphoric disorder to describe this degree of PMS, but only because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.

Prehospital treatment in such cases is usually supportive, and is aimed toward counseling the involved spouse to administer liberal doses of chocolate and repeated screenings of Hope Floats until symptoms resolve. For cases refractory to conventional therapy, reverse isolation may be effective.

Limit contact with the PMDD sufferer in question. The presence of beer, NFL football, farting, toilet seats left up, and statements like “Whaddafuck is your problem???” have been shown to aggravate the symptoms of PMDD, often resulting in physical harm to the male spouse in question.

*Um, not really what it stands for.

  • just a girl

    hilarious, as always, AD. my husband (a brand-new sparky student) just asked the same question and i gave him a very similar answer. he believed me til he realized he was reading about a male patient, then i had to explain pulse/motor/sensory

  • just a girl

    hilarious, as always, AD. my husband (a brand-new sparky student) just asked the same question and i gave him a very similar answer. he believed me til he realized he was reading about a male patient, then i had to explain pulse/motor/sensory

  • Dani

    LOL! My basic course was taught to a bunch of 17-18 year olds. 6 females to 32 males. We had fun telling them it was PMS and not Pulse/Motor/Sensory. We could tell who read the book a week later. :P

  • Dani

    LOL! My basic course was taught to a bunch of 17-18 year olds. 6 females to 32 males. We had fun telling them it was PMS and not Pulse/Motor/Sensory. We could tell who read the book a week later. :P

  • Epijunky

    *snort*You had me at "Mad Cow disease".

  • Epijunky

    *snort*

    You had me at "Mad Cow disease".

  • 40lizard

    You are a mess!

  • 40lizard

    You are a mess!

  • shrtstormtrooper

    I peed a little laughing at Mad Cow Disease. Well done, sir. Well done.

  • shrtstormtrooper

    I peed a little laughing at Mad Cow Disease. Well done, sir. Well done.

  • serverwench

    That is hilarious! My son would say PMSx10 and that you should include the poor, oppressed male offspring in your treatment.

  • serverwench

    That is hilarious! My son would say PMSx10 and that you should include the poor, oppressed male offspring in your treatment.

  • Rogue Medic

    I'll have to start using that bit about Mad Cow Disease as a pick up line. If I live through the response, she may be a keeper. ;-)

  • Rogue Medic

    I'll have to start using that bit about Mad Cow Disease as a pick up line. If I live through the response, she may be a keeper. ;-)

  • philthemedic

    Maybe that's why I learned it as "CSM": circulation, sensation, motion.

  • philthemedic

    Maybe that's why I learned it as "CSM": circulation, sensation, motion.

  • Ambulance Driver

    Heh. And the Army medics would wonder why you're referring to their Command Sergeant Major that way. ;)

  • Ambulance Driver

    Heh. And the Army medics would wonder why you're referring to their Command Sergeant Major that way. ;)

  • Rogue Medic

    Heh. And the Army medics would wonder why you're referring to their Command Sergeant Major that way. ;) Because she would make me run for miles with a pack on, if I commented on her PMS. If I called her a mad cow, there might not be any body parts to recover.WV: entickle – that is a nice made up word.

  • Rogue Medic

    Heh. And the Army medics would wonder why you're referring to their Command Sergeant Major that way. ;)

    Because she would make me run for miles with a pack on, if I commented on her PMS.

    If I called her a mad cow, there might not be any body parts to recover.

    WV: entickle – that is a nice made up word.

  • Ted

    I learned it as "PSM", and to this day it bugs the hell out of me to hear about a patient with PMS in his foot.

  • Ted

    I learned it as "PSM", and to this day it bugs the hell out of me to hear about a patient with PMS in his foot.

  • Steve

    I document as SMCx4 simply because the thought of PMS conjures images of my wife as a praying mantisShe becomes EXTREMELY hormonal, like a cat in heat that won't leave me alone but at the same time screams/bitches/rips-my-head-off for blinking more than once while she's talking LOL

  • Steve

    I document as SMCx4 simply because the thought of PMS conjures images of my wife as a praying mantis

    She becomes EXTREMELY hormonal, like a cat in heat that won't leave me alone but at the same time screams/bitches/rips-my-head-off for blinking more than once while she's talking LOL

  • Library-Gryffon

    And here I was thinking PMS stands for Preventive Maintenance Service.

  • Library-Gryffon

    And here I was thinking PMS stands for Preventive Maintenance Service.

  • miss clampett

    Gotta love someone with a twisted sense of humor… You Rock!

  • miss clampett

    Gotta love someone with a twisted sense of humor… You Rock!

  • Seth from Massachusetts

    I once saw an ad for a T-shirt with the message "I have PMS and a gun, any questions?"

  • Seth from Massachusetts

    I once saw an ad for a T-shirt with the message "I have PMS and a gun, any questions?"


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