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This is a list of abbreviations used in medical prescriptions, including hospital orders (the patient-directed part of which is referred to as sig codes).This list does not include abbreviations for pharmaceuticals or drug name suffixes such as CD, CR, ER, XT (See Time release technology § List of abbreviations for those).
Abbreviations are used very frequently in medicine. They boost efficiency as long as they are used intelligently. The advantages of brevity should be weighed against the possibilities of obfuscation (making the communication harder for others to understand) and ambiguity (having more than one possible interpretation).
The main discussion of these abbreviations in the context of drug prescriptions and other medical prescriptions is at List of abbreviations used in medical prescriptions. Some of these abbreviations are best not used, as marked and explained here.
ACEP. American College of Emergency Physicians. ACMPH. American College of Military Public Health. ACGME. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. ACOG. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. ACP.
nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug. NSBB. Non-selective beta blocker. NSCC. Non-squamous-cell carcinoma. NSCLC. non–small cell lung carcinoma. NSD. normal spontaneous delivery (see childbirth )
Use of abbreviations, such as those relating to the route of administration or dose of a medication, can be confusing and is the most common source of medication errors. Use of some acronyms has been shown to impact the safety of patients in hospitals, and "do not use lists" have been published at a national level in the US. Examples
Abbreviation Meaning Δ: diagnosis; change: ΔΔ: differential diagnosis (the list of possible diagnoses, and the effort to narrow that list) +ve: positive (as in the result of a test) # fracture: #NOF: fracture to the neck of the femur ℞ (R with crossed tail) prescription: Ψ: psychiatry, psychosis: Σ: sigmoidoscopy: x/12: x number of ...
Dentariae Medicinae Doctor, that is, Doctor of Dental Medicine: DME: durable medical equipment: DMPA: depot medroxyprogesterone acetate DMSA: dimercaptosuccinic acid DMT: dimethyltryptamine DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid: DNACPR: do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation DNI: do not intubate: DNR: do not resuscitate: DNAR: do not attempt ...