Page 5 - Mecklenburg_Medicine_November-December-2016

President’s Letter
The Short Way to Paradise
By Stephen J. Ezzo, MD, FAAP, NHmg CPE, MCMS-P
T he medical profession is obsessed with abbreviations and
acronyms. They abound everywhere; indeed, it is hard to
get through a sentence without encountering one. While
it is possible that other trades have as many shortenings
of words and phrases, I have my doubts (although I have on good
authority the U.S. Government will give us a run for our money). After
all, in what other field can you find a sentence similar to this: “OV
for a 57-yo-AAM with HTN, AODM, CHF on ACEI and ASA, who
presents for BP check, CXR, BMP, BNP and PSA?” Or in my world,
“18-month-WF in for WCC, needs MCHAT-R, ASQ/PEDS, catch up
vaccines to include DTaP, IPV, HIB and MMR.”
How has this come about? I believe there are several reasons.
It makes us sound important. To a certain extent this has succeeded.
Think of how STAT (from the Latin word statim) has been co-opted
into the vernacular. Speaking of Latin, we are so cool we have numerous
abbreviations from the ancient language. Is it po BID or TID dosing?
We have our own language that those who sought another career do
not share. Granted, this marks us as somewhat tribal in nature, but I’ll
chalk that up to evolutionary biology.
It allows for quicker documentation. For those of us who never
learned to type or spell correctly, this is a welcome advantage. (In HS, I
considered typing class something for girls to take. It never dawned on
me that if I enrolled, I had a good chance of being the only guy present.
Slow learner.)
It is a clear-cut, obvious sign of our collective genius. The entire world
has followed our lead in the art of condensing via texts and tweets, using
a single letter for words (or should that be “4 words?”), and even to the
point of creating acronyms for acronyms’ sake. I often think organizations
spend more time working on clever acronyms than on their mission.
Then again, maybe this is just a sign that we are lazy and were the
vanguard in the dumbing-down of society.
In any case, abbreviations and acronyms now are
CXR ingrained in our way of life. We even have
reached the point of shortening them lest they
BGL/BL get too long and cumbersome. (Kind of
like putting a Starbucks kiosk inside a
PWECBDCMCSMHAT –PRASQ Starbucks store so you don’t have to go
too far for your latte.) I can imagine the
conversation that led to this:
“Man, all this typing of abbreviations
is killing me!”
“Hey, I got an idea! Let’s shorten them!”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, CAT can be CT, and MRI, MR.”
“Brilliant! What else you got?”
Some abbreviations are so important they have two to their name.
So, when I go into SVT, my FM doc can order an EKG or ECG. If I
become shaky and sweaty during the procedure, he can check a BSL
(BS) or BGL (BG).
Mecklenburg Medicine • November/December 2016 | 5
Others can have their letters rearranged and still mean the same thing.
But whether it is TURP or TUPR, I’d prefer to avoid both. For that
matter, some days I have the same adverse reaction whether it’s called an
EHR or EMR.
There are same-letter abbreviations that mean a world (or body
location) of difference. I often document newborns who take four
ounces of BM per feed, and in the next line detail another type of BM.
BPfrom the lung PE or the more indelicate PE.
Likewise, I am quite sure I want to suffer neither
EKG/ECG
PSATUPBNRwould prefer to hear from the NCMS,
Changing one letter in an abbreviation can
have significant overtones. I think most of us
Pinstead of the NCMB.
Speaking of one-letter (or number) differences,
AODM
DTaPhow could merely going up one number from BSL/BS
TURICD-9 to 10 result in an additional 55,000 codes?
WFWhile the key to abbreviations and acronyms is
When your VNS reads QNS, what does that do
to your ANS?
both content and context, one cannot, at times, resist
the temptation of frivolity as it interacts with the lay world (okay,
maybe you can, but I cannot).
Every time I work on our Antibiotic Stewardship Protocol (ASP),
visions of Cleopatra on her barge flutter through my mind.
Should there be a PAC for people with PAC?
If you champion a certain heart defect, do you qualify as a MVP
for MVP?
If you blow off your PCP’s care plan for you, have you just gone
AMA on a member of the AMA?
I know a lot of folks who’d like nothing more than to d/c all the
people on both sides of the aisle in DC.
Regardless of the telemedicine craze, AOL can be found on your
computer. Diagnosing AOM cannot.
It should be apparent by now that this is how one mind functions
when it experiences FAD (facing a deadline).
One last thought: While it is perfectly appropriate to seek medical
care at a UC when your UC flares, to all my male colleagues out there,
never, ever go to the ED for your ED.
“You can’t take over the world without a good acronym.”
— C. S. Woolley
Trivia question: The popular children’s nursery rhyme, “Ring Around
the Rosy” is associated with what disease? Answer on page 9.