Where there is a fight, there is often injury. If your character ends up in the ER, here are some emergency room terms that might be said and/or written. I generally don’t like technical words in stories unless they are organic to the scene. This is one of those organicky times. You won’t hear an ER doctor say, “is she a little comatose or, like, a lot comatose?” Instead they will ask for the GCS, or the Glasgow Coma Scale. Also, I just bought a heap of used medical books and was feeling all “doctor-fied.” I had to pass that feeling on. By the way, speaking of books, I have an entire section on injuries in my book. Check it out.
Emergency Room Terms – Abbreviations
AAA – abdominal aortic aneurysm
ABCs – airway, breathing, circulation
ABG – arterial blood gas
ABW – adjusted body weight
ACLS – advanced cardiac life support
AEIOU TIPS – a mnemonic for altered mental status check (acidosis, alcohol, epilepsy, infection, overdose, uremia, trauma, tumor, insulin, psychosis, stroke)
ALS – advanced life support
AMA – against medical advice
amp – ampule
AO X3 – alert and oriented X 3
ATLS – advanced trauma life support
BF – black female
BLS – basic life support
BM – black male / bowel movement
BMI – body mass index
BSA – body surface area
BVM – bag-valve-mask (used for breathing management, it’s that mask that has a balloon attached, squeezing the balloon forces air in the mask)
CAPD – continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (a way of restoring kidney function)
CCU – coronary care unit
CID – cervical immobilization device (immobilizes the neck)
CPR – cardiopulmonary resuscitation
CVA – cerebrovascular accident (loss of blood flow to brain caused by blood clots and/or broken blood vessels)
D5 or D5W – 5% dextrose in water (form of glucose to help hydrate)
DNI – do not intubate
DNR – do not resuscitate
DOA – dead on arrival
ECC – emergency cardiac care
EMS – emergency medical service
EMT – emergency medical technician
ESR – erythrocyte sedimentation rate (blood test to reveal infection in the body, above 100 can mean infection, heart disease, cancer)
ETA – estimate time of arrival
FACEP – Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians
FDIU – fetal death in utero
FHT – fetal heart tone
FOOSH – fall onto outstretched hand
GCS – Glasgow coma scale (measures verbal, physical and eye response)
GSW – gunshot wound
HF – Hispanic female
HM – Hispanic male
IABP – intra-aortic balloon pump (helps the heart pump more blood)
IBW – ideal body weight
IM – intramuscular
IO – intraosseous (injecting blood, fluid or medication in the bone marrow)
IV – intravenous
IVDA – intravenous drug abuser
IVP – intravenous push (medication put into the IV line)
JONES – a mnemonic for assessment of rheumatic fever
LMA – laryngeal mask airway (alternative to intubation that you can remove before patient awakes)
LOC – loss of consciousness
LR – lactated Ringer (replaces water and electrolytes for patients with low blood volume or bp)
LWBS – left without being seen
M&M – morbidity and mortality
MVA – motor vehicle accident
NG – nasogastric (tube)
NS – normal saline
NSR – normal sinus rhythm (related to heart rhythm)
OD – overdose
OPQRST – a mnemonic for pain evaluation (Onset of pain, Provocation & palliation aka what makes pain better or worse, Quality of pain, Region, Severity, Timing of pain)
PALS – pediatric advanced life support
PQRST – a mnemonic to quickly evaluate chest pain (like OPQRST)
RRR – regular rate and rhythm
TTP – trauma transport protocol
WD – withdrawal
WF – white female
WM – white male
WNL – within normal limits
WNR – within normal range
WO – weeks old
WOB – work of breathing (energy needed to inhale/exhale)
WX – wound of exit
XKO – not knocked out
XRT – radiation therapy
Y / N – yes / no
YO – years old
Emergency Room Terms – Rx Abbreviations
If you have a prescription, one of these is on it. Here’s the abbreviation, what it means and the original latin which explains the abbreviation. By the way, Rx comes from the Latin word recipere, which means, “take thou.”
ac – before meals – ante cibum
bid – twice a day – bis in die
cap – capsule – capsula
gt – drop – gutta
hs – at bedtime – hora somni
od – right eye – oculus dexter
os – left eye – oculus sinister
po – by mouth – per os
pc – after meals – post cibum
pil – pill – pilula
prn – as needed – pro re nata
q2h – every 2 hours – quaque 2 hora
qd – every day – quaque die
qh – every hour – quaque hora
qid – 4 times a day – quater in die
tab – tablet – tabella
tid – 3 times a day – ter in die
Emergency Room Terms – Slang
alk phos / alk P-tase – alkaline phosphatase (enzyme in the body, high alkaline phosphatase can signal liver issues or bone disorder)
ambo – transporting ambulance
Ambu – mbu bag, manual resuscitative device
appy – appendectomy
bagging – artificial respiration performed with a respirator bag
bag / banana bag – bag of IV fluids given to alcoholics or patients with nutritional deficiencies or chemical imbalances; named because of its yellow color, it contains multivitamins, folate, thiamine, and sugar
bicarb – bicarbonate
bili – bilirubin (orange/yellow pigment in red blood cells, high and low levels have significance)
Binky test – ability of an infant to evidence basic stability and an interest in “the important things in life” by happily sucking on a binky
bleed – hemorrhage
chem dep – chemical dependency
crit – hematocrit (measures how much of your blood is made up of red blood cells)
eos – eosinophils (type of disease fighting white blood cell, high count can denote infection)
epi – epinephrine
epis – epithelial cells
four H’s – hypoxemia, hypoglycemia, hypovolemia, and high bladder
gorked – lethargic or not alert, either acutely or chronically
HOD – heroin overdose
hypo – hypodermic injection
lac – laceration
leuks – leukocytes
lido – lidocaine (type of anesthetic)
lytes – electrolytes (essential minerals—like sodium, calcium, and potassium—that are vital to many key functions in the body)
mag – magnesium
monos – monocytes (type of white blood cell that fights germs)
neuts – neutrophils (type of white blood cell that fights infection)
perfed appy – ruptured appendix
rule of 9’s – for assessing percentage of body surface burned
satting / sat – oxygen saturation
sed rate – sedimentation rate
serum / urine ozm(s) – serum /urine osmolality / osmolalities (lab) (performed to measure the concentration of particles in urine, highter than normal results can indicate Addison disease, congestive heart failure or shock)
stat- immediately, from the Latin statim
stepdown unit – a monitored medical setting, less intense than any type of ICU
sux / sucks – succinylcholine (muscle relaxer used with anesthesia to make it easier to intubate or help in mechanical respiration or surgery)
Tee-3 / TN-3 / Ty-3 – Tylenol No. 3 (Tylenol with codeine)
tox – toxicology (looks for traces of drugs in blood, sweat, hair or urine)
traked – endotracheally intubated
triple A – abdominal aortic aneurysm
TWEAK score – scale for assessing alcoholism dependence ((Tolerance – how man drinks a day, Worried – is anyone worried about your drinking, Eye-opener – do you drink in the morning when you wakeup, Amnesia – have you blacked out drinking, K-Cut Down – do you think you need to cut back)
I hope this helps you out. Until the next round at FightWrite, get blood on your pages…STAT!
Here’s a little video which will help you know which TV shows are good references for medical stuff and which aren’t so much.
