What are common medical abbreviations used by healthcare providers?

Common Medical Abbreviations Used by Healthcare Providers

Healthcare providers use a wide range of medical abbreviations in clinical documentation, but research demonstrates that these abbreviations are frequently misunderstood across different specialties and healthcare disciplines, creating significant patient safety risks. 1, 2

Categories of Common Medical Abbreviations

Cardiovascular and Hemodynamic Abbreviations

• BP = Blood pressure (systolic BP [SBP] and diastolic BP [DBP]) 3
• HR = Heart rate 3
• CVD = Cardiovascular disease 3
• CAD = Coronary artery disease 3
• HF = Heart failure 3
• MI = Myocardial infarction 3
• CVA = Cerebrovascular accident 3
• CHF = Congestive heart failure 3
• LVH = Left ventricular hypertrophy 3
• LVMI = Left ventricular mass index 3

Respiratory and Critical Care Abbreviations

• COPD = Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 3
• HEPA = High-efficiency particulate air 3
• AGP = Aerosol-generating procedure 3
• PPE = Personal protective equipment 3
• ET = Endotracheal 3

Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine Abbreviations

• CPR = Cardiopulmonary resuscitation 3
• ACLS = Advanced cardiovascular life support 3
• BLS = Basic life support 3
• AED = Automated external defibrillator 3
• PEA = Pulseless electrical activity 3, 4
• VF = Ventricular fibrillation 3
• VT = Ventricular tachycardia (pVT = pulseless ventricular tachycardia) 3
• ROSC = Return of spontaneous circulation 3, 4
• DNR = Do not resuscitate 3
• IO = Intraosseous 3
• IV = Intravenous 3

Laboratory and Diagnostic Abbreviations

• CBC = Complete blood count 5
• Hb = Hemoglobin 3
• Hct = Hematocrit 3
• Plt = Platelet count or function 3
• INR = International normalized ratio 3
• GDF-15 = Growth differentiation factor-15 (also known as MIC-1) 3, 6
• cTnT-hs = High-sensitivity troponin T 3
• CrCl = Creatinine clearance 3
• eGFR = Estimated glomerular filtration rate 3
• PCR = Polymerase chain reaction 3

Medication and Treatment Abbreviations

• OAC = Oral anticoagulation 3
• APT = Antiplatelet therapy 3
• NSAIDs = Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs 3
• VKA = Vitamin K antagonist 3
• ESA = Erythropoiesis-stimulating agent 3
• PRN = As needed 3, 5
• NPO = Nothing by mouth 3, 5
• PO = By mouth 3
• IM = Intramuscular 3
• SC = Subcutaneous 3
• BID = Twice daily 3
• TIW = Three times weekly 3
• LAR = Long-acting release 3

Disease-Specific Abbreviations

• DM = Diabetes mellitus 3
• AF = Atrial fibrillation 3
• ATTR = Transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTRwt = wild-type, ATTRv = variant) 3
• CA = Cardiac amyloidosis 3
• PN = Polyneuropathy 3
• CD = Cushing's disease 3
• CS = Cushing's syndrome 3
• AI = Adrenal insufficiency 3
• VTE = Venous thromboembolism 3
• CKD = Chronic kidney disease 3

Cardiac Device and Procedure Abbreviations

• ICD = Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator 3
• CRT = Cardiac resynchronization therapy 3
• PM = Pacemaker 3
• LVAD = Left ventricular assist device 3
• MCS = Mechanical circulatory support 3
• PCI = Percutaneous coronary intervention 3
• ECMO = Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation 3

Clinical Assessment Abbreviations

• NYHA = New York Heart Association (functional class) 3
• ED = Emergency department 3, 5
• PCP = Primary care provider/physician 5
• ICU = Intensive care unit 3
• MICU = Medical intensive care unit 3
• LOS = Length of stay 3
• QoL = Quality of life 3

Risk Stratification Abbreviations

• HAS-BLED = Hypertension, abnormal renal/liver function, stroke, bleeding history or predisposition, labile INR, elderly, drugs/alcohol concomitantly 3
• HEMORR2HAGES = Hepatic or renal disease, ethanol abuse, malignancy, older, reduced platelet count/function, hypertension, anemia, genetic factors, excessive fall risk, and stroke 3
• ORBIT = Outcomes Registry for Better Informed Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation Registry 3

Critical Safety Concerns with Abbreviation Use

Evidence of Widespread Misinterpretation

• In a cross-sectional survey of 46 healthcare professionals (nurses, doctors-in-training, and consultant physicians), only 20% of tested abbreviations were correctly defined by more than 50% of participants, with an overall mean score of just 32% 1
• Three-quarters of abbreviations had one or more alternative definitions, creating dangerous ambiguity 1
• Even among orthopaedic surgeons using specialty-specific abbreviations, only 57% were correctly interpreted, while other healthcare professionals performed significantly worse 2
• Common acronyms like ED (emergency department) were correctly defined by only 32% of the general public, PCP by 18%, CBC by 14%, and PRN and NPO by 13% each 5

Specialty-Specific Variation

• Understanding of medical abbreviations across different departments averaged only 61.2%, with oncology abbreviations being least understood at 29.1% 7
• Non-standard abbreviations were poorly understood (40.2%) compared to standard abbreviations (70.8%) 7
• Significant differences exist between doctors from different departments, with some specialties scoring as low as 55-56% on abbreviation comprehension 7

Clinical Implications and Recommendations

The continued use of non-standard abbreviations in multidisciplinary healthcare settings poses imminent clinical risk and should be actively discouraged. 2, 7

• Healthcare institutions should encourage reporting of errors arising from abbreviation usage and introduce initiatives to discourage non-standard abbreviations in patient medical records 1
• Medical terms should be written in full whenever possible, particularly when communicating across specialties or with patients and families 2, 5, 7
• Abbreviations should only be used when they are widely understood and accepted as standard within the specific clinical context 7
• Clinicians must avoid using acronyms when communicating with patients and families to minimize confusion, as even common medical acronyms are understood by less than one-third of adults 5