Nosocomial Infection

Definition

A hospital-acquired infection that patients didn't have when they checked in—a souvenir from your healthcare provider, complimentary with your stay.

Example Usage

The patient's nosocomial infection with MRSA extended their hospital stay by two weeks and cost an additional $50,000.

Origin

From Greek 'nosos' (disease) + 'komos' (hospital); coined to describe infections literally picked up in hospitals.

Fun Fact

Approximately 1 in 31 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Source: CDC infection control standards

Related Terms

Intermediate

endoscopy

A medical procedure where doctors literally insert a tiny camera on a stick (called an endoscope) into your body to peek around inside like nosy relatives at Thanksgiving. It's invasive but illuminating, both literally and figuratively.

🏥 Healthcare / Medical

Intermediate

pathologic

Medical terminology for anything caused by or related to disease, as opposed to "normal" biological processes. It's the doctor's way of saying "yeah, this definitely shouldn't be happening" when looking at test results or tissue samples. Essentially, it's the difference between your body doing its thing and your body doing very wrong things.

🏥 Healthcare / Medical

Intermediate

Protocol

A set of rules that doctors follow for treating specific conditions, which sounds reassuring until you realize it basically means medicine runs on checklists. The healthcare version of an IKEA instruction manual, except the furniture is your body.

🏥 Healthcare / Medical

Intermediate

cleavage

In biology, it's the cellular division that happens in early embryonic development; everywhere else, it's that thing people pretend not to stare at. Biologists use it to describe how a fertilized egg splits into multiple cells, while geologists talk about mineral cleavage patterns. Context is everything with this term.

🏥 Healthcare / Medical

Intermediate

prevalence

A statistical measure epidemiologists use to describe how many people in a population have a disease at any given time, turning human suffering into percentages since forever. It's different from incidence (new cases) but gets confused with it constantly, even by people who should know better. Think of it as a disease's market share in the population.

🏥 Healthcare / Medical

Beginner

PRN

Latin abbreviation for 'pro re nata' (as needed), indicating medication should be taken when necessary rather than on a fixed schedule—basically healthcare's version of 'your call.'

🏥 Healthcare / Medical

Translate This Term

See “Nosocomial Infection” in Corporate Speak, Gen-Z Slang, Pirate Speak, and more.

Try the Translator

Share This Term

Post on X Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn

Discover a Term

Beginner

bipoc

Black, Indigenous, and people of color...