This is the overview for the medical abbreviations series.

This list is far from complete; you can help by expanding it. Comprehensive reference books of medical abbreviations are available in bookstores and libraries. (See the bibliography for some suggested titles.)

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 crypticness (making the communication harder for others to understand) and ambiguity (having more than one possible interpretation). In other words, a smart communicator uses good shortcuts, but makes sure that other people will understand what he means. Certain medical abbreviations should be avoided to prevent mistakes.

Orthographic styling

Periods (stops)

Periods (stops) are often used in styling abbreviations. Prevalent practice in medicine today is often to forgo them as unnecessary.

• Example:
  • Less common: The diagnosis was C.O.P.D. [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]
  • More common: The diagnosis was COPD.

Plurals

The prevalent way to represent plurals for medical acronyms is simply to affix a lowercase s (no apostrophe).

• Example: one OCP, two OCPs [oral contraceptive pills].

Possessives

Possessive forms are not often needed, but can be formed using apostrophe + s. Often the writer can also recast the sentence to avoid it.

• Example:
  • BP's effect on risk of MI is multifaceted.
  • The effect of BP on MI risk is multifaceted.