Send a text

In today’s episode, we explore one of the most common — and most misunderstood — diagnoses in medicine: urinary tract infection.

Why does foul-smelling urine trigger antibiotics?

What truly defines a UTI — bacteria, inflammation, or symptoms?

And how often are we treating colonization instead of infection?

Let’s return to the bedside, where a simple urine odor almost led us astray.

Send us a text

Some time ago in a teaching hospital far, far away, a familiar IV bag sparked an unfamiliar question. Why does a fluid that contains lactate not worsen lactic acidosis? Why is it safe in septic shock — and even preferred? And why do its electrolytes matter more than most of us were ever taught?

In this episode of The Clinical Etymologist, we follow an emergency department encounter to unpack the physiology, history, and misconceptions behind Lactated Ringer’s.

Send us a text

Welcome to Season 2

0.9% “Normal” Saline is one of the most commonly prescribed intravenous fluids in medicine, yet its name is one of the great misnomers of clinical practice.

In this episode, The Clinical Etymologist traces the laboratory origins of 0.9% sodium chloride and explains why it was never designed to replicate human plasma.

Through bedside teaching and clinical physiology, we explore how excess chloride alters acid–base balance and renal function.

The episode examines key evidence demonstrating the unintended potential harms of routine saline use and clarifies when “abnormal” normal saline is exactly the right choice—and when it is not.