Medical Terminology

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Although abbreviations are an extremely common thing which are used every single day throughout the medical field, it does not mean that they are always a helpful thing. Health care professionals generally use abbreviations during their work days to try to help them do things a bit more quickly so that they are able to move on to the next patient faster. One of the most common problems with using abbreviations is that it can sometimes be very difficult to decipher another person's handwriting. When a doctor or other medical personnel reads a patient's chart they may or may not always be able to understand exactly what another person has tried to abbreviate, either because of their handwriting or they may have accidentally written the abbreviation down wrong. In other cases the abbreviation may have been confused with another similar abbreviation, and that may end up causing a great deal of problems, not only for the patient but for whoever is in charge of dealing with the patient as well. There are quite a few things that can be done to help reduce the errors that abbreviations can cause such as; completely eliminating medical abbreviations, having written policies for the usage of abbreviations, knowing who should use them and when it would be acceptable, and why someone should use them in the medical field.
When it comes to eliminating the abbreviations in the medical field, this could greatly reduce some of the errors that occur on patient charts and in other types of important paperwork as well. Many of the medical abbreviations are quite similar and can cause a bit of confusion among some of the personnel. A great deal of errors involving abbreviations can occur when medical staff are trying to rush while they are writing d...

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...eat thing when they are used properly, but it is very important that the person using them knows when they should and should not be used. There are things that can be done to try reducing risks that are associated with the misuse of abbreviations. Although Eliminating all medical abbreviations would definitely help get rid of all the problems that follow, it does not have to be the only choice in the matter of reducing the risks. Making sure that all health care personnel follow the written policies that are in place is a very important part of working in the medical field. Accreditation agencies are now starting to compose lists of all the abbreviated terms that should not be used any more. Finally, abbreviations are an important part of any medical professional's life, but when it comes to handwritten documents it is often more of a nuisance rather then a blessing.

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