Medical abbreviations Pertaining to pharmacy: s.i.d. – once daily b.i.d. – twice daily t.i.d. – three times daily q.i.d. – four times daily p.o. – per os; by mouth n.p.o. – nothing by mouth; fasting (for blood draw or procedure involving anesthesia) q. – every (e.g. – q. 8 hours; can be used similar to t.i.d.) qd – each day, as in taking a medicine daily q2h – every 2 hours q3h – every 3 hours qhs – at each bedtime qod – every other day ad lib – ad libitum; at liberty, as much or often as desired cap - capsule tab – tablet cc – cubic centimeters; for example, amount of fluid removed from body mls – milliliters D/C – discontinue h.s. – at bedtime; as in taking medicine at bedtime p.r.n. – as needed Pertaining to planes of the body (abbrev commonly used in imaging): V/D – ventral dorsal A/P – anterior posterior Lat – lateral LLQ LUQ RLQ RUQ Pertaining to drug delivery: SC/SQ/SubQ – subcutaneous IV – intravenous IM – intramuscular IP – intraperitoneal p.o. – by mouth in vitro – in the laboratory in vivo – in the body
Examination: BMI – body mass index BP – blood pressure (one of vital signs) bpm – beats per minute CC – chief complaint; patient’s primary concern C/O – complaint of; patient concern DDX – differential diagnoses – variety of possible diagnoses DX – diagnosis FX – fracture HP – history and physical examination H/O or h/o – history of IMP – impression – summary conclusion of patient condition by healthcare provider JT – joint LBP – low back pain (among most common medical complaints) N – normal N/V – nausea/vomiting P – pulse (one of vital signs) R/O – rule out T or Temp – temperature (one of vital signs) VSS – vital signs (T, BP, P) are stable Wt – weight WNL – within normal limits Procedures: Bx – biopsy Cath – catheter CBC – complete blood count Chem panel – chemistry panel for blood work to detect liver and kidney function, and electrolyte levels C&S – culture and sensitivity DNC, D&C, or D and C – dilation and curettage H&H – hemoglobin and hematocrit UA or u/a – urinalysis Diagnoses: DM – diabetes mellitus (always read contextually for this abbreviation – dermatomyositis, and degenerative myelopathy may use the same abbreviation in literature) URI – upper respiratory infection UTI – urinary tract infection From veterinary field: O. – owner ADR – slang for “ain’t doing right” PE – physical examination
Prefixes a-‐, an-‐ ab-‐ ad-‐ ana-‐ ante-‐ anti-‐ aut-‐ bi-‐ brady-‐ con-‐ dia-‐ dys-‐ ec-‐ endo-‐ epi-‐ ex-‐ exo-‐ extra-‐ hemi-‐ hyper-‐ hypo-‐ in-‐ inter-‐ intra-‐ mal-‐ meta-‐ neo-‐ para-‐ peri-‐ poly-‐ post-‐ pre-‐ pro-‐ pros-‐ quadri-‐ re-‐ retro-‐ sub-‐ syn-‐ tachy-‐ trans-‐ tri-‐ ultra-‐ uni-‐
no, not, without away from toward, near up, apart before, forward against self two, both slow with, together complete, through bad, painful, difficult, abnormal out, outside within, in, inner above, upon out outside outside of half excessive, more than normal, too much below, less than normal, under in, into between within bad change, beyond new beside, near, along the side of surrounding many, much after, behind before before, forward before, forward four back behind under, below with, together fast across, through three beyond one
Suffixes -‐al -‐algia -‐ation -‐cision -‐crine -‐cyte -‐dipsia -‐ectomy -‐emia -‐gen -‐globin -‐gram -‐graphy -‐ia -‐ic -‐ine -‐ism -‐itis -‐lapse -‐logist -‐logy -‐lysis -‐meter -‐mission -‐mortem -‐oma -‐opsy -‐osis -‐ous -‐partum -‐pathy -‐phagia -‐plasia -‐plasm -‐plegia -‐pnea -‐rrhea -‐scope -‐scopy -‐section -‐sis -‐stasis -‐tension -‐thesis
pertaining to pain process, condition process of cutting secretion cell thirst cutting out; removal, excision blood condition to produce protein record process of recording condition pertaining to pertaining to condition, process inflammation to fall, slide specialist in the study of study of loosening, breakdown, separation, destruction measurement to send death tumor or mass (process of) viewing abnormal condition pertaining to birth disease condition eating formation (condition) formation (tissue) paralysis breathing flow, discharge instrument to visually examine process of visual examination using an instrument (or “scope”) to cut state of to stand, place, stop, control pressure to put, place (state of putting or placing)
-‐tic -‐tomy -‐trophy -‐um -‐uria -‐vascular -‐y
pertaining to process of cutting into; incision nourishment; development structure urine condition pertaining to blood vessels process, condition
Diagnostic Suffixes -‐algia -‐emia -‐ia -‐itis -‐megaly -‐oma -‐osis -‐pathy -‐rrhea -‐rrhage or -‐rrhagia -‐sclerosis -‐uria Adjective suffixes -‐al or –eal -‐ar -‐ary -‐ic Procedural Suffixes -‐centesis -‐ectomy -‐gram -‐graphy -‐lysis -‐plasty -‐scopy -‐stomy -‐therapy -‐tomy
Meaning Condition of pain, pain Blood condition Condition Inflammation Enlargement Tumor, mass Condition; abnormal condition Disease condition Flow, discharge Excessive discharge of blood Hardening Condition of urine ALL mean pertaining to* pertaining to pertaining to pertaining to pertaining to Meaning Surgical puncture to remove fluid Removal, resection, excision Record Process of recording Separation, breakdown, destruction
Surgical repair, surgical correction Process of visual examination Opening Treatment Incision, cutting into
Example Neuralgia Septicemia Pneumonia Bronchitis Cardiomegaly Adenoma Necrosis Encephalopathy Rhinorrhea Hemorrhage Menorrhagia Arteriosclerosis Hematuria Peritoneal Vascular Axillary Chronic Thoracentesis Amniocentesis Tonsillectomy Hysterectomy Myelogram Mammography Dialysis Rhinoplasty Laparoscopy Colostomy Chemotherapy Phlebotomy