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Wiktionary says crump means "(intransitive, US, medical slang) (of one's health) to decline rapidly (but not as rapidly as crash)."

• tptacek 2y ago
  There are several doctors here, one of them could pop in and tell us if crumping and crashing are interchangeable. I actually thought "crumping" was the more severe thing to say.
  • DowagerDave 2y ago
    my understanding is "crump" as in crumple, fast but not immediate deterioration. I believe you can crash at the end of your crump.
  • ghufran_syed 2y ago
    I often use them interchangeably, but “crashing” implies it’s a bit faster (and therefore more obvious), whereas “crump” implies it can be a bit slower. So a “crashing” patient implies you have to run in the room and do something immediately, but a patient who “crumps” might gradually get worse over several hours, have to be put on a ventilator, require pressors, but with much less drama maybe? I think “crash” gets used more in the past tense, whereas “crump” gets used maybe equally in both future and past tense? e.g “that patient you signed out to me crumped a couple of hours later” , but also, say when leaving a shift, in the future tense, “the guy in bed 6 is admitted to medicine, but let me tell about him in case he crumps”.