Information for patients

Abbreviations in medical documentation

Use of abbreviations in medical documentation in General Teaching Hospital

The use of abbreviations in the medical documentation of the General Teaching Hospital is kept to a minimum, as the reports must be comprehensible to healthcare professionals and other disciplines. The sections of the reports containing instructions to the patient (recommendations for further action, regimen and dietary measures) must also be comprehensible to the patient and his / her relatives. Therefore, no abbreviations can be used here except for the abbreviations generally known and non-medical public (such as X-ray, ECG).

The following can be used without limitation in the VFN documentation:

• the international designation of the SI unit system;
• abbreviations of chemical elements and compounds, hormones and similar substances;
• commonly known designations of diagnostic methods (X-ray, CT, MR, ECG, EEG, etc.);
• abbreviated anatomical nomenclature (a., n., m., dx., sin., etc.);
• abbreviations of generally known institutions (VZP, ZZS);
• internationally introduced abbreviations specifying medical technology (pacemaker regimens DDD, DDDR, AAI, AAIR, VVI, VVIR, BiV, etc.);
• shortcuts automatically generated by medical technology, transmitted directly to the message;

Other approved abbreviations and their meanings are listed here:

• abbreviations used in VFN
• administrative abbreviations used in VFN