Medical Record Abbreviations

 

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You may find that there are abbreviations in your medical record.

The NHS has a useful website page to find out what most of the common medical abbreviations mean. 

See what NHS abbreviations you may find in your health records

In addition, we have listed some conditions/phrases that we know can cause unnecessary patient concern and we hope the below both informs and reassures you.

 

Medical Conditions

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

As we get older our Kidneys don’t work as well as they once did.  This is very common and there are usually no symptoms of this in the early stages.  There is no cure for CKD and it is often just part of the aging process. CKD is  only of concern if you are experiencing symptoms like blood in your urine and shortness of breath.

Heart Failure (HF)

this does not mean that your heart has stopped working it means it needs some support to help it work better.  Often this occurs as we get older and whilst there is no cure symptoms can be controlled for many years. 

Qrisk

this is an algorithm which calculates an individual’s 10-year risk of having a heart attack or stroke. It was developed by doctors and academics and is based on routinely collected data from many thousands of General Practices across the country via a database. A low risk score is anything less than 10%, a moderate risk if 10-20% and a high risk is 20% or more. Your score can be lowered through lifestyle changes; being of a healthy weight for your height, being more active, and dietary changes (i.e. reducing salt and alcohol intake). 

 

Abbreviations

  • BCS: Bowel cancer screening
  • BLO: Bowels last opened
  • BT: Blood test
  • CP: Chest Pain
  • dc: Discharge
  • DD: Duty doctor
  • F2F: Face-to-face 
  • FOB: Faecal occult blood 
  • F/U: Follow-up 
  • HR: Heart rate
  • HS: Heart sounds
  • ix: Investigation
  • MH/MHT: Mental Health/Mantal Health team
  • OTC: Over the counter therapy (i.e. can be brought form a local chemist)
  • px: Prescription
  • rx/tx: Treatment
  • SOB: Shortness of breath
  • stat: Immediately 
  • sx: Symptoms
  • tci: To com in (i.e. to be seen)
  • 1w/2w: 1 weeks time/2 weeks time