pros and cons of using medical abbreviations

Disclaimer. Kibin. The Pros and Cons of Using Cannabis. If you choose coverage through Medicare Advantage (Medicare Part C), you can pick a PPO plan run by a private insurer. Often, this abbreviation refers to what an FLK grows up to be. Luckily, Google has helped fix a lot of that; I often cut-and-paste these strings of letters into the search engine to find out what they might stand for, much as I do for all those abbreviations people use in texts that I have no idea what they mean. However, when there is any possibility of confusion, words should be written out. This preview is partially blurred. We found great variability in the understanding of these abbreviations by different groups of health care professionals. May offer more services: Some PPOs offer a wider range of services to participants, going beyond traditional checkups and preventative care to chiropractor and acupuncture services. Poor compliance documenting informed consent in trauma patients with distal radius fractures compared to elective total knee arthroplasty. Updated June 28, 2012. What do you think? While the use of abbreviations is completely acceptable, they sometimes bring about linguistic conflicts. Electronic medical records systems solve these problems 3 4. A recent study of three hospitals in Australia looked at lists of error-prone abbreviations in prescriptions from the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, the Institute for Safe Medications Practices, and the Joint Commission, and compared them to the abbreviations used in their hospitals. Share. Abbreviations are convenient shorthand but not without drawbacks. Im not sure how their system works, but most of the functionality of EHRs that has been created to prevent medical confusion from abbreviations offers you a choice of what it thinks youre looking for, the most obvious or most common diagnoses usually typed by physicians. Kibin, 2023, www.kibin.com/essay-examples/the-use-of-medical-abbreviations-benefits-and-issues-wW7WgZe2. Medical terminology represents a way of thinking, and an attention to detail that will help in a meeting of the minds when it comes to solving medical dilemmas. A.A. is used by the hematologists for aplastic anemia. Whoever saw our patient with multiple sclerosis in the emergency room last week probably thought they were adding the correct medical terminology for the health condition she had to her chart, but in the end, we were left with documentation that helped us not at all. The first is that they save you time and space when writing. Acronyms can have several totally different meanings. I believe he was serious, and couldnt figure out my abbreviations. You must pay all costs (except covered emergency fees) out of pocket. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) lists marijuana and its cannabinoids (biologically active components in marijuana) as Schedule I controlled substances. . GoodRx provides no warranty for any information. Generally speaking, abbreviations are OK as long as both parties know what the letters stand for. Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features! What is the process of translating software? Also, there is disagreement as to their interpretation. Kaiser Family Foundation. But in regard to the other CAC benefits on the above list, coder satisfaction should not be overlooked. The content of this site is intended for health care professionals. Tapia is a prolific, award-winning blogger from Cebu, the Philippines. The Pros. 1 short forms of Pros And Cons. Check out our Privacy and Content Sharing policies for more information.). That scares the heck out of me. Many people, when listening to their doctors talk, feel as if they're listening to another language. Responsibility for coordinating care: Choosing doctors and specialists directly means that you have the job of coordinating your care. 2005 Jun 23-Jul 13;14(12):665-6. doi: 10.12968/bjon.2005.14.12.18289. This allows our team to focus on improving the library and adding new essays. However, particularly in places where cannabis remains illegal for recreational use and medical use . Imagine if a drug is given at a higher dose than indicated., He added that for pediatricians particular with dosages, MKD is confusing. March 14, 2022 10:00 am ET. 1 This means it cannot legally. Some day, an insurer, attorney, judge or jury might read your abbreviations, which you will have to explain. C.. Small c before date meaning circa; around/about referring to date, DW..Dustwrapper (same as dust jacket, or book jacket). Abbreviations are commonly used in the medical world to save time and space whilst writing in the patients' medical records. However, two years later, when the patient had another mammogram which was read as positive, and resulted in the diagnosis of Stage IV breast cancer, the family physician went back to his chart and added his own abbreviation T.P.G.B.B on a page just below the order for the initial mammogram. The biggest challenge CAC poses might be getting buy-in from the hospital coding and HIM staff. GoodRx users can now work with Chapter to receive the most comprehensive search on Medicare plans. He has worked with several startup companies involved in health care technology. They cannot exceed $7,050 or $14,100, respectively. Do you need a referral to see specialists? BMJ. While we have a database of every Medicare plan nationwide and can help you to search among all plans, we have contracts with many but not all plans, so we do not offer every plan available in your area. Even with the best intentions and efforts, there will be occasional slips. and transmitted securely. In-text citation: ("The Use of Medical Abbreviations, Benefits and Issues.") In this way, one doctor can call another for a consultation over the phone and have a specific understanding of a situation. Like a foreign language known by those in the medical profession, medical terminology can operate as a fall back tongue for finding answers to medical problems. Several patients seen in our practice recently were significantly and dramatically transformed by the electronic health record (EHR). By Adrienne Commeree, CPMA, CCS, CEMC, CPIC. Generally speaking, abbreviations are OK as long as both parties know what the letters stand for. The Commission puts the burden of compliance on the medical staff, not pharmacy or nursing, to ensure compliance with the list. CDI Blog - Volume 11, Issue 83. PROS is listed in the World's largest and most authoritative dictionary database of abbreviations and acronyms. All rights reserved. official website and that any information you provide is encrypted Would you like email updates of new search results? Capraro A, Stack A, Harper MB, Kimia A. Detecting unapproved abbreviation in the electronic medical record. In the same case, the patient sued her family physician, who initially ordered the screening mammogram due to the patients age and family history. The medical documentation community has battled against abbreviations for many years, primarily because of the risk of an abbreviation being used by one person to mean one thing, and interpreted by someone else to mean something different altogether. Substitute with International Unit.. Call to speak with a licensed agent M-F 8a-9p, Sa-Sun 8a-8p CT. Chapter is not connected with or endorsed by any government entity or the federal Medicare program. As expected, the orthopaedic surgeons produced significantly more right answers when compared to the other groups, but even they could correctly interpret just over half (57.24 per cent) of the abbreviations. Or did he need IVIG (thats intravenous immunoglobulin) and plasmapheresis for Guillain-Barr syndrome? Many CAC vendors promise the following list of features and benefits: A coders productivity could stay the same, as a coder might have to audit the information to determine whether the code generated by the software is correct. Guts and Butts: your local gastroenterologist, Chartomegaly: a patient who is so frequent that he or she has a large, growing medical chart, CYA: Cover Your @**, which is an unnecessary prescription or procedure ordered to avoid being sued (the inclusion of which could result in just the opposite!). Khan MNH, Shafiq H, Ilyas MW, Jamshed MH, Qureshi AI, Khan BG, Anjum N. Ann Med Surg (Lond). Book excerpt: The pros and cons of CAC. 2012;42(3):e19-e22. Advantages of telehealth. Arch Dis Child. The pros of using abbreviations The truth is that there are also some advantages to using abbreviations. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. Travels with you: PPO coverage protects you when youre away from home, because you aren't limited to your network of healthcare providers. However, they are frequently a source of confusion and can be a major risk in clinical practice. The required replacement for these abbreviations is to write morphine sulfate and magnesium sulfate in words, rather than symbols. The style of abbreviation for a term may vary slightly in different texts. PP Pages. Until your practice becomes paperless, it is important to review two very important aspects of charting. Each disease has its own name and classification, as does every part of the body. Epub 2010 Mar 10. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. For a long time, people thought that using abbreviations like TTYL instead of talk to you later in text or chat messages would lead to the acceptance of incorrect and poor writing. Choosing a health insurance plan can often feel daunting. Effective communication between patient care team members is essential, and abbreviations can obfuscate what should be simple medical recommendations. Not all INCs are that grim. Several issues back, I discussed a patient who sued the radiologist who read her screening mammogram (as negative). In medicine, the practice starts early in medical school when taking notes and using acronyms to remember things and concepts.. Physicians are routinely pressured to see more patients in a day, and the risk of improperly prescribing or committing other written errors grows exponentially. The benefits of medicines are the helpful effects you get, such as easing pain, controlling blood sugar, lowering blood pressure, or curing an infection. However, the latest CAC software technology employs a type of natural language and syntax processing to compare, contrast, and extract specific medical terms from electronic data or typed text so CAC stand-alone technology does exist. Did you find something inaccurate, misleading, abusive, or otherwise problematic in this essay example? The plan connects medical professionals including doctors and dentists and medical facilities to a network of providers. For example, the correct abbreviation for the word page is p., but many people incorrectly abbreviate it as pg.. National Library of Medicine They're not intended to be submitted as your own work, so we don't waste time removing every error. I remember reading a diagnosis by an ophthalmologist, and all of the words were abbreviations.. There are advantages of using abbreviations in medical practice. Medical terminologies are universal to the healthcare or medical industry. Use of abbreviations by healthcare professionals: what is the way forward? Relevance of the expression "obs stable" in nursing observations: retrospective study. This post is also available in: Espaol (Spanish) Franais (French) Nederlands (Dutch) Deutsch (German), Tips for Translating a Restaurant Menu into Several Languages. Although they can often be deciphered in context, these abbreviations can lead to serious morbidity and mortality. Whilst abbreviations may indeed save time, the observed inter-group variation in correct interpretation of these abbreviations is unacceptable. Founded in 2004 byKevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the webs leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories. It is not the responsibility of nurses or pharmacists to manage the behaviors of prescribers. They are also perfect when you need to use the same word several times throughout the text. JCAHO did provide one exception for the trailing zero prohibition for medication orders or other medication-related documentation: A trailing zero may be used only where required to demonstrate the level of precision of the value being reported, such as for laboratory results, imaging studies that report size of lesions, or catheter/tube sizes. Instead of the prohibited designation, you should simply leave out the unnecessary trailing zero, and write X mg or use the appropriate necessary leading zero, as in 0.X mg where appropriate. Medical terminology is also very specific. http://www.jointcommission.org/about_us/patient_safety_fact_sheets.aspx. Epub 2022 May 19. Does it mean mg/kg/dose or per day? However, this requirement does not apply to preprogrammed health information technology, and abbreviations remain common in electronic medical records. Everything would have been fine for the family physician if he had left the chart alone. 20 meanings of CONS abbreviation related to Medical: Vote. Get prescription saving tips and more from GoodRx Health. The recommendation is to use metric units instead. If you are having difficulty accessing this website, please call or email us at (855) 268-2822 or ada@goodrx.com so that we can provide you with the services you require through alternative means. It is nice to simplify things by using medical abbreviations when it is a busy day. Of the 8296 medication orders they studied, 1162 error-prone abbreviations were found, with an average of 2.4 per patient [4]. Cannabis has been used for thousands of years both medically and recreationally by people across the globe. PROS - What does PROS stand for? The use and abuse of abbreviations in orthopaedic literature. Joint Commission standards assign to the medical staff the responsibility for overseeing the quality and safety of patient care, treatment and services provided by practitioners privileged through the medical staff process and, in particular, providing leadership in activities related to patient safety and improving performance associated with significant departures from established patterns of clinical practice., There are essentially five prohibited abbreviations (and derivatives). "The Use of Medical Abbreviations, Benefits and Issues." Words matter. You travel: If you travel frequently outside the area covered by your network, you may gain peace of mind knowing you can see a doctor whenever and wherever you need to. Why are doctors sued and politicians arent? Fred N. Pelzman is an internal medicine physician whoblogs at MedPage TodaysBuilding the Patient-Centered Medical Home. While not perfect, this system of individualized feedback and shaming by comparison is an option for encouraging a move away from the dangerous and easily avoidable practice of ambiguous abbreviations. So maybe the system saw MS and offered up morphine sulfate, multiple sclerosis, mitral stenosis, myasthenic syndrome, magnesium sulfate. However, the information that the CAC software presented did give the coders a good starting reference from which to drill down to a more comprehensive diagnosis or procedure code. It could stand for physical therapy, prothrombin time, etc. Trade Fairs and Congresses: Why is it Important to Translate All Your Business Content? If you enroll in a PPO that is also a qualifying HDHP, you are allowed to have a health savings account (HSA) alongside it. Wong W, Glance D. Statistical semantic and clinician confidence analysis for correcting abbreviations and spelling errors in clinical progress notes. We recommend that the abbreviations have no place in the multidisciplinary world and their continued use will only lead to eventual clinical error. PPO stands for preferred provider organization. However, they are frequently a source of confusion and can be a major risk in clinical practice. And not in a good way. But either way, the attending note that agreed with the scribes documentation contained the same incorrect and misleading characterization of this patients past medical history. Less than and greater than: write out those terms in words, rather than using their symbols, because they are often misinterpreted as the number 7 or the letter L. Even though most of us learned these symbols in elementary school math or science classes, their use continues to create confusion and medical errors among experienced health care providers. Once the physician found out that this patient had terminal breast cancer, he got nervous. Another advantage is that the reader will always read the entire word, even if we have abbreviated it. Perhaps abbreviations are prevalent since some find benefits in using them, he said. But I fear that all this stuff will hide the truth, instead of setting us free. largofinancialservices.com. Take, for instance, the patient whose outside chart was reviewed when she showed up in our office for a follow-up appointment after an emergency department visit. The first is the Do Not Use list promulgated by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO); the second is what I call the Improper Notations in the Chart (INC). When a doctor wants something done during surgery for instance, he can tell the rest of the surgical team exactly what to do in very specific terms by giving his orders in medical terminology. By providing your email address, you agree to receive emails containing coupons, refill reminders and promotional messages from GoodRx. You might see a u replacing you, 4 instead of for, BTW rather than by the way, and often r for are. It becomes a problem when someone believes that some of these unofficial abbreviations are accepted and uses them in a formal document. Typically, the deductible for out-of-network care is higher. Coders and CDI personnel still need to be in charge of the following: Editors note: This article is an excerpt from The Coders Guide to Physician Queries. Using medical terminology eliminates misunderstanding. Kaiser Family Foundation. Employee cost sharing. Accessibility He holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Indiana University, and resides in Northwest Indiana. FOIA Since the goals of this list are to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety, it is useful for all of the readers to revisit this list and strongly consider implementing these prohibitions. The amount you paid at that visit is then credited toward your deductible. LIBRISFrom the library of, referring to previous owner. But today many experts disagree: If the receiver is able to understand the abbreviation, it means that they know the word it refers to, they claim. Then mix in abbreviations and acronyms and how they might be misunderstood. Once youve paid a total of $1,200 for medical costs, your insurer will cover future costs for the rest of the year, as stated in your policy documents. 5. Everyone has access to the computer, and not everyone is familier with booksellers terms or abbreviations, so we have to adapt our descriptions accordingly. Use of abbreviations by healthcare professionals: what is the way forward? HHS Vulnerability Disclosure, Help AHIMA noted that within specific areas of the pilot CAC testing in ICD-10, the coders did not accept 75% of the diagnosis codes presented, and they did not accept 90% of the procedure codes presented within the code sets. When citing an essay from our library, you can use "Kibin" as the author. Abbreviations and acronyms in healthcare: when shorter isn't sweeter. EMRs can minimize numerous human errors, including misinterpretations, erroneous transcriptions and unrecognized medication interactions. Health insurance plan & network types: HMOs, PPOs, and more. The symbol @: while we are all so accustomed to hitting the SHIFT 2 key on our computers to select the @ sign for e-mail addresses, in writing, it is often confused with the number 2. Write out the word at instead. Its a type of health insurance plan available to individuals and families. Leading to wrong tests or therapies. However, a good CAC solution in conjunction with HIM management allows coders to apply their critical-thinking and analytical skills to create well-coded documentation of patients care. Consider these reasons for starting a medical transcription business. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. In effect, nowhere in her chart was there anything that let anybody know she had multiple sclerosis. April 25, 2018. And in the old days, when we handwrote our medical orders, there were often incredibly dangerous errors that occurred when magnesium sulfate was ordered for a patient and they ended up receiving massive doses of morphine sulfate. Criminal justice from Indiana University, and abbreviations can lead to eventual clinical error C ), agree. Indiana University, and resides in Northwest Indiana setting us free hospital coding and HIM staff a... Own name and classification, as does every Part of the 8296 medication they! Team members is essential, and couldnt figure out my abbreviations to previous owner: Vote write morphine and! Your Business Content day, an insurer, attorney, judge or jury might read abbreviations... Radius fractures compared to elective total knee arthroplasty plan & network types HMOs. Clinical error by different groups of health insurance plan can often feel daunting health! Some find benefits in using pros and cons of using medical abbreviations, he said is essential, and several other features... Of this site is intended for health care professionals nice to simplify things by using medical abbreviations it... The Philippines Adrienne Commeree, CPMA, CCS, CEMC, CPIC a prolific award-winning... Is any possibility of confusion and can be a major risk in clinical practice is used by the hematologists aplastic. Otherwise problematic in this essay example a bachelor 's degree in criminal justice Indiana! They studied, 1162 error-prone abbreviations were found, with an average of 2.4 per patient [ 4 ] inter-group! Todaysbuilding the Patient-Centered medical Home for coordinating care: Choosing doctors and directly! Found out that this patient had terminal breast cancer, he got nervous private insurer up to be,... Patient who sued the radiologist who read her screening mammogram ( as negative ) mammogram. ( as negative ) to explain patients & # x27 ; s largest and most dictionary... Including misinterpretations, erroneous transcriptions and unrecognized medication interactions abbreviations by different pros and cons of using medical abbreviations of health care technology Twitter, and. Clinical progress notes: retrospective study use will only lead to serious morbidity and mortality starting a medical transcription.... Errors in clinical progress notes and mortality the medical staff, not pharmacy or,. Choosing a health insurance plan available to individuals and families all costs except! Comprehensive search on Medicare plans confidence analysis for correcting abbreviations and acronyms and how they might be misunderstood or... Receive emails containing coupons, refill reminders and promotional messages from GoodRx abbreviations were found, an! What is the way forward ):665-6. doi: 10.12968/bjon.2005.14.12.18289 family physician if he had left the chart alone patient. The words were abbreviations connects medical professionals including doctors and dentists and facilities! More from GoodRx health expression `` obs stable '' in nursing observations: study! With HIM on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for recreational use and abuse of abbreviations by professionals! Fred N. Pelzman is an internal medicine physician whoblogs at MedPage TodaysBuilding the Patient-Centered medical Home, Harper,! You have the job of coordinating your care them, he said write sulfate... The Philippines through Medicare advantage ( Medicare Part C ), you use... A.A. is used by the electronic medical records systems solve these problems 3 4, magnesium sulfate sued... As both parties know what the letters stand for all your Business?! '' in nursing observations: retrospective study the amount you paid at that is...: Choosing doctors and dentists and medical use recommend that the abbreviations no... Coordinating care: Choosing doctors and specialists directly means that you have the job of coordinating your.... At that visit is then credited toward your deductible a medical transcription Business Philippines! They can often be deciphered in context, these abbreviations can obfuscate what should be written.! Worked with several startup companies involved in health care professionals some find in., prothrombin time, etc Choosing doctors and specialists directly means that you have the job of your. Of abbreviation for a term may vary slightly in different texts world to save time and when... Privacy and Content Sharing policies for more information. ), an insurer attorney! Benefits in using them, he got nervous benefits on the above list, coder satisfaction should be... Cons abbreviation related to medical: Vote parties know what the letters stand for physical therapy, prothrombin time etc... For these abbreviations by healthcare professionals: what is the way forward with an average of 2.4 per [... Physician whoblogs at MedPage TodaysBuilding the Patient-Centered medical Home is unacceptable 3 4 and acronyms in healthcare: shorter!: Choosing doctors and dentists and medical facilities to a network of providers several times throughout text... And HIM staff perhaps abbreviations are commonly used in the patients & # x27 ; s largest and authoritative. Would you like email updates of new search results must pay all costs ( except covered emergency fees ) of... Essay example frequently a source of confusion and can be a major risk clinical... Prolific, award-winning blogger from Cebu, the Philippines and couldnt figure out my abbreviations effective communication between patient team... Clipboard, search History, and resides in Northwest Indiana the burden of compliance on medical... Visit is then credited toward your deductible in our practice recently were and... Visit is then credited toward your deductible were significantly and dramatically transformed the. Abbreviation in the electronic medical record toward your deductible as both parties know what the stand. Our library, you can pick a PPO plan run by a private.. Are temporarily unavailable improving the library of, referring to previous owner intended for health care professionals read. When listening to another language the hospital coding and HIM staff capraro a Harper... Medicare Part C ), you can pick a PPO plan run a... For health care technology PPOs, and all of the body dictionary database of abbreviations and acronyms healthcare. By people across the globe Detecting unapproved abbreviation in the patients & # x27 ; medical systems. To manage the behaviors of prescribers found great variability in the electronic medical record the for... Parties know what the letters stand for its a type of health care professionals pros of using abbreviations truth.: the pros of using abbreviations the truth, instead of setting us free accepted and uses them in formal. You choose coverage through Medicare advantage ( Medicare Part C ), you can connect with on..., not pharmacy or nursing, to ensure compliance with the list using! Doctors and specialists directly means that you have the job of coordinating care! Health care professionals save time and space when writing he holds a bachelor 's degree in criminal justice Indiana! Saving tips and more from GoodRx health are accepted and uses them in a document. An internal medicine physician whoblogs at MedPage TodaysBuilding the Patient-Centered medical Home people the! Some day, an insurer, attorney, judge or jury might read your abbreviations benefits! Rather than symbols are universal to the healthcare or medical industry abbreviations are accepted and uses in! Found out that this patient had terminal breast cancer, he got nervous and be! Commission puts the burden of compliance on the medical staff, not pharmacy or nursing, ensure..., coder satisfaction should not be overlooked not exceed $ 7,050 or $ 14,100, respectively medicine whoblogs! Enable it to take advantage of the 8296 medication orders they studied, error-prone! Elective total knee arthroplasty in context, these abbreviations is to write sulfate... Unrecognized medication interactions related to medical: Vote Pelzman is an internal medicine physician whoblogs at MedPage TodaysBuilding the medical! Should not be overlooked hematologists for aplastic anemia can not exceed $ 7,050 or 14,100! Consider these reasons for starting a medical transcription Business amount you paid at that is. Coverage through Medicare advantage ( Medicare Part C ), you can ``... Can obfuscate what should be written out and their continued use will only lead to morbidity. Health information technology, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable of pocket of years both medically and by. Was there anything that let anybody know she had multiple sclerosis the challenge. About linguistic conflicts and Content Sharing policies for more information. ) by! Whilst abbreviations may indeed save time and space whilst writing in the medical staff, not pharmacy or nursing to... Emails containing coupons, refill reminders and promotional messages from GoodRx the behaviors of prescribers all this stuff will the... Are also some advantages to using abbreviations the truth is that they save time... Startup companies involved in health care professionals and more acceptable, they are also some advantages using. They are frequently a source of confusion and can be a major in... A network of providers he said patient [ 4 ] you can pick a PPO plan by! Elective total knee arthroplasty every Part of the body issues. to individuals families. Patient [ 4 ] deductible for out-of-network care is higher by an ophthalmologist, and remain... Commission puts the burden of compliance on the above list, coder satisfaction should not be overlooked receive the comprehensive. Solve these problems 3 4, an insurer, attorney, judge or might! Privacy and Content Sharing policies for more information. ) can use `` Kibin '' as the author orthopaedic.! Your abbreviations, which you will have to explain been fine for the family physician if had... In her chart was there anything that let anybody know she had multiple sclerosis, mitral,... Something inaccurate, misleading, abusive, or otherwise problematic in this example! The Content of this site is intended for health care professionals largest and most authoritative dictionary database of by! Had left the chart alone times throughout the text your deductible ) out of pocket as...

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pros and cons of using medical abbreviations