Medical abbreviations you will not expect to see in a progress notes.

Hospital lingo is not easy to understand for a person without a medical background, some are dead serious, hilarious or absolutely insane. Abbreviations and acronyms are everywhere, you can find them in the progress notes, the doctor's notes, or in consultations records, that even some of the nurses or doctors has difficulty understanding them.

Oh sure, we've seen q.i.d, b.i.d, or STAT those are acceptable abbreviations. If you're a new nurse in your unit, you will see some abbreviations that are only understandable to the person who wrote it, not to mention plus their bad handwriting.

Here are some of the abbreviations that you might see in your work:

1. W/C = Wheel chair.

2. D/R = Dining room.

3. WNL = Within normal limits.

4. EOS = End of shift.

5. NOC = Short for nocturnal or night shift.

6. FF = Frequent flyer (A patient who is known to the hospital.)

7. FOS = Full of stools.

8. WDWNF = Well developed well nourished female.

9. ABR = Absolute bed rest.

10. B&B = Bowel and bladder training.

11. OJ = Orange juice.

12. PMC = Post mortem care.

13. C/O = Complaint of.

14. Ung. = Ointment (unguentine). 15. Amb. = Ambulating.

16. Triangle = Change, Triangle + 'd = Changed.

17. Circle with diagonal line in the middle = No.

18. ABT = antibiotic therapy.

19. TA = Tension artérielle (Blood pressure in French).

20. WA = While awake.

Note to nurses: Some are not approved medical abbreviations, when writing progress notes , you should avoid using abbreviations or acronyms if possible and never decode if you don't understand it (it's better to ask than to make a mistake).