title: Use of abbreviations by healthcare professionals: what is the way forward?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the understanding of commonly used abbreviations in the medical records among healthcare professionals.
  
  
  METHODS
  A selection of abbreviations from surgical inpatient admissions (gathered over a 10 day period in October 2008), in the form of a standard questionnaire, was shown to different members of a multidisciplinary team to examine interpretation and knowledge.
  
  
  RESULTS
  209 questionnaires were analysed. The average correct response was 43%. Foundation Year 1 (F1) doctors scored the highest with 57% correct responses, whereas dieticians fared worst (20% correct). Among different abbreviations, NAD (91%) and SCBU (93%) were most often correctly answered, whereas CIC (3%) and STS (0.5%) were the most incorrectly answered. Certain abbreviations which are mostly used by nurses (eg, OTT) achieved a 75% correct response by them compared to only 11% by F1 and 10% by F2 doctors (p<0.001). Similarly, abbreviations such as COBH (p=0.025) and LUTS (p<0.001), although mostly correctly answered by junior doctors, were very poorly answered by nurses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of healthcare professionals have a very poor knowledge of commonly used abbreviations. Use of unambiguous and approved list of abbreviations is suggested in order to ensure good communication in patient care.
authors: Department of Surgery, Torbay Hospital, Torquay TQ2 7AA, UK. sinhasurajit@hotmail.com
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Sinha
authors: F
authors: F
authors: McDermott
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Srinivas
authors: P W J
authors: PW
authors: Houghton
mesh_terms: D000004:Abbreviations as Topic; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008499:Medical Records / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires