By: Ben Kinnear MD MEd, Nicole Damari MD, Kate Jennings MD, Christine Zhou DO, Bi Awosika MD, Leslie Applegate MD, Danielle Clark MD MEd, Jackson Hearn MD, Matthew Kelleher MD MEd, Salima Sewani MD, Stephanie Thomas MD, Danielle Weber MD MEd, Eric Warm MD
Health professions education (HPE) requires engaging with patients during their most vulnerable moments, while learners and educators navigate the intense demands of cognitive load, fatigue, efficiency, resilience, and compassion.
This dynamic environment acts as a crucible, shaping a rich tapestry of experiences, ideas, and moments—each profound yet fleeting, and difficult to put into words.
Fortunately, language is like Play-Doh—flexible and adaptable, allowing us to mold and shape it to name and share ideas. While we often think of language as a fixed structure, it is, in fact, constantly evolving and changing to help us express new concepts more effectively.
We believe that humans should use language as a tool to serve our purposes, rather than feel bound by the limitations of existing words. With this in mind, the medical education team at the University of Cincinnati is working to expand the lexicon of Health Professions Education (HPE) by creating neologisms—new words that capture the complex mix of experiences and ideas in HPE that currently lack precise terms.
To be clear, this is not a novel idea – we drew inspiration from John Koenig’s Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. In this book, Koenig beautifully creates neologisms to describe unnamed yet deeply relatable experiences and feelings in a clever and emotion-evoking way. Our group does not claim (nor aspire) to outdo or usurp Mr. Koenig’s work. We highly encourage you to check out his book – it is well worth the read (no, we do not get royalties). Rather, we hope to translate his idea to the world of HPE to enrich our field’s vernacular.
Why are we doing this? Like you, our group has often encountered experiences that lack a precise word to capture the concept. Inspired by Koenig’s work, we decided to follow his lead and help fill this linguistic gap. We’re also a playful and creative group who enjoy inventing new things. Our goal isn’t to act as lexical gatekeepers. Instead, we hope others will adopt these words, adapting and editing them as they see fit. We also invite the HPE community to contribute and expand this growing tapestry of neologisms.
With that, below is the first set of entries from the Cincinnati Dictionary of Unspoken Moments in Health Professions Education. We hope you enjoy!
- Asumptacea (ah-SUM-ta-SEE-ah) n. The feeling of developing the perfect medical treatment plan only for social and logistical barriers to prevent you from being able to implement it.
- Etymology: From Greek asumptōtos, “not falling together” + Greek panakeia, “all healing”
- Dolofessio (DOH-loh-FESS-ee-oh) n. The feeling of someone calling you by your professional title for the first time (e.g. “Doctor” or “Nurse” or “Pharmacist”) and feeling like they must have the wrong person. Similar to impostor syndrome, but different in that you actually feel that allowing someone to call you by a title is being deceitful about your true identity.
- Etymology: From Greek dolos, “deceit or trickery” + Greek professio, “public declaration or profession”
- Famagui (Fam-a-gwee) n. The feeling as a health professions trainee of simultaneously trying to stand out and be noticed by your supervisors while also trying to avoid being in the way or bothering anyone
- Etymology: From Latin fama, “fame” + Chinese gui, “ghost”
- Falsaxien (fals-AHX-see-EN) n. A question asked of a colleague or superior not out of uncertainty, but as a way to tactfully make a point when there is not another clear way to do so while at the same time navigating politics and hierarchy; often beginning with the statement “just for my understanding” or “just for my learning”
- Etymology: From Middle English fals, “false” + Middle English axien, “question”
- Melodeim (MEH-loh-deem) n. The feeling when a particular tone in a song sounds just like a code pager and your adrenal glands empty themselves causing irrational panic.
- Etymology: From Greek melos, “song” + Greek deimos, “the personification of terror or dread in mythology”
- Oratrud (OH-ruh-trood) n. The feeling when your patient gives a completely different history when your clinical supervisor walks into the room. A misplaced sense of being betrayed for even small shifts in the patient story that emerge when one’s supervisor is listening.
- Etymology: From Latin orare, “to speak” + Latin tradere, “to betray”.
- Vacilvidia (VAH-sil-VIH-dee-ah) n. The feeling of relative certainty that you know the answer to a question, but you are still clouded by self-doubt, so you don’t say anything, only for someone else to be applauded for saying what you were thinking
- Etymology: From Latin vacillare, “to waver” + invidia, “envy” or “jealousy”
- Serilaunce (se-REE-launs) n. The moment of silence that follows delivering bad news, heavy with the question of what comes next as you wait to hear what someone will say in a moment that defies words
- Etymology: From Old French seriuex, “grave” or “serious”+ Old French silaunce, “silence”
- Syldagan (Skil-DA-gan) n. The feeling of walking into a difficult clinical or social situation and instinctively looking for someone more experienced to guide you, only to have the sobering realization that you are the most experienced one present.
- Etymology: from Old Norse Skylda, “duty” + Old Norse ogn, “fear”.
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