Total Noob Thread: Terms and Abbreviations

[Cory]

Okay, I'm going to swallow my pride and be a total noob by starting this thread. My reason for doing so, I'm tired of trying to guess what the abbreviations used commonly here are. I'm not in EMS in any way, although I do know some medical terms and abbreviation (ie. CPR, ECG, AED, those kinda things)

But certain words like ED, and code, leave me totaly in the drak still. And I have decided, instead of running arund the internet typing in two letter searches in Google and spending an hour in searching for the meaning of the abbreviation ED, I would just ask here.

Who knows, this could help future noobs also.


So, post all common EMS terms and abbreviations, and just one typically used in discussion on these forums please.

And spare the "This makes me laugh" and the "Wow, noob" Not that I can think of anyone here who would say that, but someone might.




-Cory-

 

[DrankTheKoolaid]

re

http://www.yourdictionary.com/dictionary-articles/medical-abbrev.html

Also if you have a palm pilot, go to www.skyscape.com and under dictionaries there is a great program that has literally thousands of abbreviations

 

[Tincanfireman]

Try Google + "common EMS abbreviations". You'll get something like this:

http://www.weisscentral.com/EMS/Abbreviations.htm , or this

http://www.emszone.com/emti/AbbreviationGuide.cfm , or perhaps this,

http://www.emtlife.com/showthread.php?t=11290 (posted less than 6 months ago, right here on EMTLife.)

I would list a few more, but "common ems abbreviations" returned 898,000 hits on Google. My recommendation is to quit trying to get other people to do your research for you and learn how to do it yourself.

 

[Hockey]

Here you go


EMS Abbreviations

 

[Tincanfireman]

I'm not going to start a flame-war in a public forum. If you want to talk to me about your perception of my opinions, it's probably best done via PM.

 

[Cory]

I'm not going to start a flame-war in a public forum. If you want to talk to me about your perception of my opinions, it's probably best done via PM.

I have no interest in flame-wars, nor do I have anything more to say about this matter than what I have previously posted.

 

[ffemt8978]

Play nice or become the focus of my attention.

 

[EMS49393]

I just had to register on this site after reading this thread. Anyway...

A lot of abbreviations are also regional in nature and may be very uncommon in other areas of the country or world. Personally, I hate abbreviations, for the simple fact that not everyone is going to understand what a person is attempting to convey thus defeating the purpose of said person even writing.

I hate abbreviations so much that I don't even use them at work. I even write out "alert and oriented" for "A & O" and "level of consciousness" or "loss of consciousness" for LOC. That's a fine example of an abbreviation having two very distinctive meanings depending on the person writing it. Even if you "google" it, you still wouldn't know the intentions of the abbreviation without clarification from the writing party.

If you're going to use abbreviations, you shouldn't get bent when a someone asks for clarification.

 

[Meursault]

If you're going to use abbreviations, you shouldn't get bent when a someone asks for clarification.

You'll be hard-pressed to find many people who absolutely refuse to use abbreviations. For those of us who have yet to go to ePCRs, they save space and time, keeping people like me from trying to cram the rest of a complex narrative into the margin or scrawling out the last few lines because of hand fatigue.

Context and standardization on the service or local level should be enough to clarify most abbreviations. Because of the diversity of people here, standardization isn't really possible, but a little critical thinking and some targeted searching should reveal the meanings of most of the abbreviations. I will continue to berate people who refuse to use those two tools before asking, whether about abbreviations or anything else.

 

[EMS49393]

You'll be hard-pressed to find many people who absolutely refuse to use abbreviations. For those of us who have yet to go to ePCRs, they save space and time, keeping people like me from trying to cram the rest of a complex narrative into the margin or scrawling out the last few lines because of hand fatigue.

Context and standardization on the service or local level should be enough to clarify most abbreviations. Because of the diversity of people here, standardization isn't really possible, but a little critical thinking and some targeted searching should reveal the meanings of most of the abbreviations. I will continue to berate people who refuse to use those two tools before asking, whether about abbreviations or anything else.

Are you for real? Get an additional narrative. Being a paramedic in an urban area I can assure you that I write a lot more than you do. I don't cry about hand-fatigue because I'm more concerned with proper documentation. What in the heck could you possibly have to say at a basic level that would cause such pain and fatigue to your hands?

Who do you think you are that you should "berating" people because they have questions or because they don't understand your particular abbreviations. I hope you don't have any plans on becoming a mentor with that attitude.

 

[Meursault]

Are you for real? Get an additional narrative. Being a paramedic in an urban area I can assure you that I write a lot more than you do. I don't cry about hand-fatigue because I'm more concerned with proper documentation. What in the heck could you possibly have to say at a basic level that would cause such pain and fatigue to your hands?

Who do you think you are that you should "berating" people because they have questions or because they don't understand your particular abbreviations. I hope you don't have any plans on becoming a mentor with that attitude.

I generally don't get annoyed with people simply for not understanding me or for having questions. I get annoyed with people for having questions and not taking the time to search these forums to answer them.
As for who I am, I'll summarize: I believe strongly in "lurk moar, post less" and in the centrality of interesting and discussion-provoking content, not absurd notions of civility and niceness. I'm also a snarky, impatient twentysomething who hates seeing the same questions every week. I don't know what you mean by "mentor", but I have no aspirations to ever become an educator or, heaven forfend, a mod.

My handwriting is terrible, and it takes a bit of effort to make it legible. I exaggerated considerably about hand pain; glad you called me on it.

I do understand what you mean about proper documentation; this thread, though, was about abbreviations online, where absolute clarity of documentation is less critical.

 

[Lifeguards For Life]

haha, not to sound useless but there are so many abbreviations and acronyms used none of us could possibly make a dent listing them. i think there may be a thread that list alot of common acronyms. specificaly to answer your question the ED is the emergency Department. A few of the most common used at the more basic leves are as follows
HPI history of present illness
PMH past medical history
=/clrbbs equal and clear bilateral breath sounds
LOC level (or loss) of consciousness
SOB shortness of breath
N+v nausea and vomiting
c/p chest pain
EBL estimated blood loss
just to name a few basic ones

 

[Lifeguards For Life]

Ask questions when you don't know or aren't sure. When you ask a question, make sure you listen to the answer.

 

[ffemt8978]

Thread closed.