Phonetic alphabet

Probably the two most potentially useful skills I learnt in the army were ironing (a skill I try to avoid putting to use at any cost) and knowledge of the phonetic alphabet.

With the melting pot of languages and accents prevalent in most hospitals around the world – both patients and staff – it is routine to have to spell out words to facilitate communication. However, the attempts of the uninitiated when it comes to using the phonetic alphabet can be quite comical – as Dara Ó Briain demonstrates:

The NATO phonetic alphabet system:

ALPHA   —   BRAVO   —   CHARLIE   —   DELTA   —   ECHO   —   FOXTROT   —   GOLF   —   HOTEL   —   INDIA   —   JULIET   —   KILO   —   LIMA   —   MIKE   —   NOVEMBER   —   OSCAR   —   PAPA   —   QUEBEC   —   ROMEO   —   SIERRA   —   TANGO   —   UNIFORM   —   VICTOR   —   WHISKEY   —   XRAY   —   YANKEE   —   ZULU

Chris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at The Alfred ICU, where he is Deputy Director (Education). He is a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University, the Lead for the  Clinician Educator Incubator programme, and a CICM First Part Examiner.

He is an internationally recognised Clinician Educator with a passion for helping clinicians learn and for improving the clinical performance of individuals and collectives. He was one of the founders of the FOAM movement (Free Open-Access Medical education) has been recognised for his contributions to education with awards from ANZICS, ANZAHPE, and ACEM.

His one great achievement is being the father of three amazing children.

On Bluesky, he is @precordialthump.bsky.social and on the site that Elon has screwed up, he is @precordialthump.

| INTENSIVE | RAGE | Resuscitology | SMACC

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