What Does THAT Mean? 

BREAKING THE CODE

By Janabeth Fleming Taylor, R.N., R.N.C.

Everyday we are faced with a "code" of some sort, no matter what area of law we work in. It may be a special abbreviation used to denote an expert's credentials, or shorthand for an engineering term. Or even a specialized term we can not find defined in a traditional dictionary. It may be a shortened spelling of a word, an abbreviation. Or, it may be an acronym.

An acronym is a kind of abbreviation. The word comes from Greek, meaning heads of names. Acronyms are usually made from the capitalized initials of the words it represents, for example FBI is an acronym for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Occasionally, for special reasons, the second letter of a word is used, as in XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Sometimes more than one letter is included for a word, to avoid ambiguity or because they form an existing abbreviation, as in SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander, Europe).

Contrary to what some sources say, acronyms do not have to be pronounceable words (for example FBI is spelled out when spoken, whereas NASA is not). Some sources use the word initialism to refer to the spelled acronyms.

The medical and billing records of the client are filled with specialized abbreviations and acronyms that may provide crucial information related to the client's claim. Even data reports referencing chemicals, specialized tests, and laboratory results come in "code".

What is one to do when faced with the challenge of the "code"? There are various resources available on the internet with more arriving daily. I have made an attempt to summarize some of the various resources available.

If you are not able to "crack" the "code", it is advised you ask the entity providing the data where the "code" is found with a key or list of approved codes to enable you to clearly translate the document.

Be aware that some abbreviations are regional, with differing abbreviations actually meaning the same thing. For example in medicine TKO and KVO mean the same thing, to run an IV at a rate that is just fast enough to overcome vascular resistance and keep the vein open (TKO = to keep open, KVO = keep vein open).

Below are various sites available to assist in "breaking the code".

Part One - Medical Abbreviations - Acronyms - General

International Medical Abbreviations:

http://www.wyeth.co.uk/resources/med_main.htm

General Medical Abbreviations Look up:

Use the medical dictionary to look up the meaning of common medical terms, abbreviations, and medical names. This dictionary includes terms from diseases, symptoms, treatments, diagnostic tests, and many other medical terms. http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/lists/dictaz.htm

Medical Malpractice Terminology/Dictionary http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/malpractice/dictionary.htm

List of Medical Acronyms and Abbreviations http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/lists/acronymns.htm

Pathology Abbreviation Look up:

Pathologists use lots of abbreviations and acronyms. An acronym is an abbreviation of a phrase, where each letter of the acronym is added consecutively from the first letter of each of the words of the phrase. An abbreviation is a shortened form of a text-string, and all acronyms are types of abbreviations. The following is a list of over 12,000 abbreviations used in medicine: http://www.euspirit.org/en/upload/984528174.37955/abbtwo.htm

JACHO/ Institute for Safe Medication Practices - Listing of dangerous and prohibited abbreviations

By the end of 2004, JCAHO expected full compliance in all handwritten, print, and electronic media documents related to these dangerous abbreviations. Further details are available on the JCAHO Web site: http://www.jointcommission.org/NewsRoom/NewsReleases/nr_012506.htm

In addition, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has published a list of dangerous abbreviations relating to medication use that it recommends should be explicitly prohibited. It is available on the ISMP Web site: http://www.ismp.org/Tools/errorproneabbreviations.pdf

Acronym Glossary - Medical & Professional Degrees & Credentials

Nursing Credentials/Acronyms

A

AAS: Associate's Degree Applied Science

ACNP: Acute Care Nurse Practitioner

ACLS: Advanced Cardiac Life Support

ACRN: AIDS Certified Registered Nurse

ANP: Adult Nurse Practitioner

AOCN: Advanced Oncology Certified Nurse

APN: Advanced Practice Nurse

ARNP: Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner

ASN: Associate's Degree in Nursing

B

BC: Board Certified

BCLS; BLS: Basic Cardiac Life Support

C

C: C - connotes certification in a specialty area by the American Nurse's Credentialing Center in one of several generalist and specialist practice areas.

C-SPI: Certified Specialist in Poison Information

CANP: Certified Adult Nurse Practitioner

CAPA: Certified Ambulatory Perianesthesia Nurse

CARN: Certified Addictions Registered Nurse

CARN-AP: Certified Addictions Registered Nurse--Advanced Practice

CCCN: Certified Continence Care Nurse

CCM: Certified Case Manager

CCNS: Certified Clinical Nurse Specialist

CCRN: Certified Critical Care Registered Nurse

CDDN: Certified Developmental Disabilities Nurse

CDE: Certified Diabetes Educator

CDMS: Certified Disability Management Specialist

CDN: Certified Dialysis Nurse

CDONA/LTC: Certified Director of Nursing Administration in Long-Term Care

CEN: Certified Emergency Nurse

CFRN: Certified Flight Registered Nurse

CGA: Certified Gastroenterology Associate

CGN: Certified Gastroenterology Nurse

CGRN: Certified Gastroenterology Registered Nurse

CGT: Certified Gastroenterology Technician

CHN: Certified Hemodialysis Nurse

CHPN: Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse

CHRN: Certified Hyperbaric Registered Nurse

CHT: Certified Hemodialysis Technician

CIC: Certified in Infection Control

CLNC: Certified Legal Nurse Consultant

CM: Certified Midwife

CMCN: Certified Managed Care Nurse

CMDSC: Certified MDS Coordinator

CNA: Certified Nursing Assistant

CNA: Certified in Nursing Administration

CNA-A: Certified Nursing Assistant--Advanced

CNAA: Certified in Nursing Administration, Advanced

CNLCP: Certified Nurse Life Care Planner

CNM: Certified Nurse-Midwife

CNN: Certified Nephrology Nurse

CNNP: Certified Neonatal Nurse Practitioner

CNOR: Certified Nurse, Operating Room

CNRN: Certified Neuroscience Registered Nurse

CNS: Clinical Nurse Specialist

CNSN: Certified Nutrition Support Nurse

COCN: Certified Ostomy Care Nurse

COHN: Certified Occupational Health Nurse

COHN-S: Certified Occupational Health Nurse--Specialist

COHN-S/CM: Certified Occupational Health Nurse--Specialist/Case Manager

COHN/CM: Certified Occupational Health Nurse/Case Manager

CORLN: Certified Otorhinolaryngology and Head/Neck Nurse

CPAN: Certified Postanesthesia Nurse

CPDN: Certified Peritoneal Dialysis Nurse

CPHQ: Certified Professional in Health Care Quality

CPN: Certified Pediatric Nurse

CPNA: Certified Pediatric Nurse Associate

CPNL: Certified Practical Nurse--Long-Term Care

CPNP: Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner

CPON: Certified Pediatric Oncology Nurse

CPSN: Certified Plastic Surgical Nurse

CRN: Certified Radiologic Nurse

CRNA: Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist

CRNFA: Certified Registered Nurse, First Assistant

CRNI: Certified Registered Nurse Infusion

CRNL: Certified Registered Nurse--Long-Term Care

CRNO: Certified Registered Nurse in Ophthalmology

CRNP: Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner

CRRN: Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurse

CRRN-A: Certified Rehabilitation Registered Nurse--Advanced

CTN: Certified Transcultural Nurse

CUA: Certified Urologic Associate

CUCNS: Certified Urologic Clinical Nurse Specialist

CUNP: Certified Urologic Nurse Practitioner

CURN: Certified Urologic Registered Nurse

CVN: Certified Vascular Nurse

CWCN: Certified Wound Care Nurse

CWOCN: Certified Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurse

D

DNC: Dermatology Nurse Certified

DNS: Doctorate, Nursing Science

E

ENPC: Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course

ET: Enterostomal Therapist (Now Wound, Ostomy, Continence Nurse)

F

FAAN: Fellow, American Academy of Nursing

FAAPM: Fellow, American Academy of Pain Management

FCCM: Fellow, American College of Critical Care Medicine

FNC: Family Nurse Clinician

FNP: Family Nurse Practitioner

FPNP: Family Planning Nurse Practitioner

FRCNA: Fellow, Royal College of Nursing, Australia

G

GNP: Gerontological Nurse Practitioner

GPN: General Pediatric Nurse

H

HHA: Home Health Aide

I

IBCLC: International Board Certified Lactation Consultant

L

L.Ac.: Licensed Acupuncturist

LCCE: Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator

LNC: Legal Nurse Consultant

LNCC: Legal Nurse Consultant Certified

LPN: Licensed Practical Nurse

LSN: Licensed School Nurse (In Minnesota)

LVN: Licensed Vocational Nurse

M

MICN: Mobile Intensive Care Nurse

MN: Master's Degree in Nursing

MSN: Master's Degree in Nursing

N

NCSN: National Certified School Nurse

NICN: Neonatal Intensive Care Nursing

NNP: Neonatal Nurse Practitioner

NP: Nurse Practitioner

NP-C: Nurse Practitioner, Certified

NPP: Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner

O

OCN: Oncology Certified Nurse

OGNP: Obstetric/Gynecology Nurse Practitioner

ONC: Orthopaedic Nurse Certified

P

PHN: Public Health Nurse

PMHNP: Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner

PNP: Pediatric Nurse Practitioner

R

RN: Registered Nurse

RN,C: Registered Nurse, Certified

RN,CS: Registered Nurse, Certified (Clinical) Specialist

T

TNCC: Trauma Nursing Course Certified

TNS: Trauma Nurse Specialist

W

WHNP: Women's Health Care Nurse Practitioner

WOCN: Wound, Ostomy, Continence Nurse

Dictionary of Initials, Acronyms, and Abbreviations Used by Counselors and Social Workers

Abbreviations - International Federation of Medical Students Association

Stanford School of Medicine - Department of Medicine Resource Guide - Abbreviation Resource

Abbreviations used in documentation for those with diabetes

Medical and Pharmaceutical Spell Checker - Check the spelling of words online, also includes a link to look up medical abbreviations

Abbreviations commonly used in writing prescriptions:

a.c.: before meals (Latin: ante cibum)

b.i.d.: twice daily (Latin: bis in die)

b.i.n.: twice nightly (Latin: bis in noctus )

c: with (Latin: cum)

cap: capsule (Latin: capsula)

d: day (Latin: dies)

daw: Dispense as written, no substitutions

gtt: drop (Latin: gutta)

h.s.: bedtime (Latin: hora somni)

noxt: at night

O.D.: Right eye (Latin: oculus dexter)

O.S.: Left eye (Latin: oculus sinister)

O.U.: Each eye (Latin: oculus uterque)

p.c.: After meals (Latin: post cibum)

pil: Pill (Latin: pilula)

p.o.: By mouth (Latin: per os)

p.r.n.: As needed (Latin: pro re nata)

q.d.: Every day (Latin: quaque die)

q.h.: Every hour (Latin: quaque hora)

q.2h.: Every two hours (Latin: quaque secunda hora)

q.3h.: Every three hours (Latin: quaque tertia hora)

q.4h.: Every four hours (Latin: quaque quarta hora)

q.q.h.: Every four hours (Latin: quaque quarta hora)

q.6h.: Every six hours (Latin: quaque sex hora)

q.8h.: Every eight hours (Latin: quaque octa hora)

q.i.d.: Four times per day (Latin: quater in die)

q.s.: As much as is required (Latin: quantum sufficit)

s.: Without (Latin: sine)

s.o.s.: If necessary (Latin: semis)

ss: Half (Latin: sine)

t.d.s: To be taken three times daily (Latin: ter die sumendum)

t.i.d.: Three times a day (Latin: ter in die)

t.i.n.: Three times a night (Latin: ter in nocte)

ut. dict.: As directed (Latin: ut dictum)

Acronyms Frequently Used in Special/Gifted Education

This list is not comprehensive; it is intended as a quick reference.

Dictionary for Parents of Children with Disabilities - Download from this site:

Acronyms in the Helping Professions

Here is a helpful list of some of the more common abbreviations and acronyms. The designations are broken down into several categories for your convenience. Many professionals will list both a license and a national certification. For example, a professional counselor may place both LPC (for Licensed Professional Counselor) and NCC (for Nationally Certified Counselor) after his/her name and degree.

Physical Therapy Acronyms and Abbreviations

Various Departments of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living - these agencies use a number of acronyms and abbreviations to describe its services and programs. The following list from the Department of Disabilities-Vermont includes some of the more common:

And this listing is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Acronyms in Aging - AARP - This guide, published in 2005, identifies acronyms commonly used in the field of aging and provides brief descriptions of the entities to which they refer. The downloadable guide is found here:

Part Two: Medical Diagnosis/Code- Acronym Look Up

ICD-9 codes (Think of it as "Diagnosis" Code)

The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is the classification used to code and classify mortality data from death certificates.

The International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) is used to code and classify morbidity data from the inpatient and outpatient records, physician offices, and most National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) surveys.

CPT Codes -Current Procedural Terminology (Think of it as "Procedure Code" upon which reimbursement is determined)

CPT Codes describe medical or psychiatric procedures performed by physicians and other health providers. The codes were developed by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to assist in the assignment of reimbursement amounts to providers by Medicare carriers. A growing number of managed care and other insurance companies, however, base their reimbursements on the values established by HCFA.

Since the early 1970s, HCFA has asked the American Medical Association (AMA) to work with physicians of every specialty to determine appropriate definitions for the codes and to try to determine accurate reimbursement amounts for each code. Two committees within AMA work on these issues: the CPT Committee, which updates the definitions of the codes, and the RUC (Relative Value Update Committee), which recommends reimbursement values to HCFA based on data collected by medical societies on the going rate of services described in the codes.

Medicare Unique Physician Identification Numbers (UPIN) - UPIN is a six-position alphanumeric identifier that is assigned to all Medicare physicians, medical groups and non-physician practitioners

UPIN are assigned as follows:

Physicians (Medical Doctors) begin with A - M

Limited License Practitioners, e.g., Chiropractors, Dentist, etc, begin with T - V

Non-Physician Practitioners, e.g., Anesthesia Assistants, Physician Assistants, Clinical Nurse Practitioners, etc, are assigned P -S

Group Entities, e.g., Ambulance, Independent Physiological Lab, etc, are assigned W - Y

See below for the applicable Credential Codes:

AA: Anesthesia Assistant

AMB: Ambulance Service Supplier

ASC: Ambulatory Surgical Center

AU: Audiologist

CH: Chiropractor

CNA: Certified Nurse Anesthetist

CNM: Certified Nurse Midwife

CNS: Certified Clinical Nurse Specialist

CP: Clinical Psychologist

CSW:Clinical Social Worker

DDM: Doctor of Dental Medicine

DDS: Doctor of Dental Surgery

DO: Doctor of Osteopathy

DPM: Podiatrist

FNP: Family Nurse Practitioner

GRP: Group

IDF: Independent Diagnostic Facility

IPL: Independent Physiological Lab

LAB: Laboratory

MD: Medical Doctor

MSC: Mammography Screening Center

NP: Nurse Practitioner

OD: Doctor of Optometry

OT: Occupational Therapist

PA: Physician Assistant

PHS: Public Health Service

PSY: Psychologist

PT: Physical Therapist

PXS: Portable XRay Supplier

RNA: Certified Registered Nurse

Code Modifiers for Alternative Medicine - ABC codes and terminology are maintained and developed annually as consumers, individual practitioners, practitioner associations and other health industry organizations submit code requests that reflect current practices in alternative medicine, nursing and integrative healthcare. This is an attempt to fill in the "gaps" left from other coding, and is done to support research and compile data by practitioner type. These include treatment by massage therapists, acupuncturists, etc. These may not be seen in traditional billing records, but may be referenced in charting or other records obtained from non-traditional medical sources: http://www.alternativelink.com/ali/abc_codes/code_mode.asp

Part Three: General References

General Acronym Look Up

This is a neat tool for when you need to know what a special Acronym means. What is great about this electric dictionary is it returns a list of appropriate matches, BUT lets you further sort by categories such as : Most common (default), information technology, military/government, science/medicine, organizations, slang/chat, etc.

Abbreviationz (from a-z on the net) - Search or browse more than 305,000 abbreviations or acronyms. You can create and maintain your own list of terms.

Acronyma- Database of more than 460,000 acronyms and abbreviations. Results can be displayed alphabetically or according to "importance". Also can search in several languages

The WorldWideWeb Acronym and Abbreviation Server - This site has acronyms and their expansions.

Investigative Resources - Investigative Resources International has maintained this database since 1995 as a service to the investigative and legal communities. They are continually updating and improving the site with selected links to searchable databases and research sites. Open and Public record sources from the US as well as foreign countries are included.

General Reference "Bookshelf"Great source of references to all kinds of information - abbreviations, definitions, standards, codes, travel, media..you name it ..it's here!

Governmental/Military Acronyms

The Federal Government tends to use abbreviations and special terms a great deal in their documentation. This is a listing of some from the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs

Compendium of Environmental Acronyms - Association of Engineering Geologists

Electronic and Engineering Acronyms and Abbreviations

CAS (Chemical Society of America) - Standard Abbreviations and Symbols

Chemical look up by abbreviation or name, with links out to data sheets, MSDS sheets and other information.

National Weather Service - Weather Acronyms

Abbreviations and Acronyms of the U.S. Government

Glossary of Internet Abbreviations: Email and Chat Shorthand:

Part One: http://netforbeginners.about.com/cs/netiquette101/a/abbreviations_p.htm

Part Two: http://netforbeginners.about.com/cs/netiquette101/a/abbreviations_2.htm

Part Three: (emoticons/smilies) http://netforbeginners.about.com/cs/netiquette101/a/bl_emoticons101_2.htm

Remember, there may be more than one definition of the "code" you are trying to "break". You have to consider the context in which it is used, the setting and even the region of the country. These resources are only meant to be a guide, taking into account new resources are added daily as well as others are being discontinued.

Texas Paralegal Journal © Copyright 2006 by the Paralegal Division, State Bar of Texas.

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