Tips for remembering abbreviations for "Times of drug admin."

Chttynurs · Jul 8, 2003

I remember a lot of them because I took spanish, and some of the abbreviations happen to coincide with spanish words!! LOL (ex. NPO=nada por oral=nothing by mouth!) I remember hs as Hour of Sleep, for some reason I always had a hard time with that one in school. LOL Good luck! :)

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Jul 8, 2003

Originally posted by Chttynurs
I remember a lot of them because I took spanish, and some of the abbreviations happen to coincide with spanish words!! LOL (ex. NPO=nada por oral=nothing by mouth!) I remember hs as Hour of Sleep, for some reason I always had a hard time with that one in school. LOL Good luck! :)

Good point !

Latin (MINIMUM of 2 years) was MANDATORY where I went to school. However, if one speaks more than one language, and preferably three or more, you will soon find the many similarities in these languages. Latin and Greek remain the root of most vocabulary, with the exception of Chinese, Japanese, etc. And of course the Arabic, Hebrew, etc., too...

So no, there's no COINCIDENCE about it ! It is where nearly all later language evolved from. Amazing how similar Spanish and French are in many respects... and Spanish and Italien... very interesting, if one appreciates languages ! :)

In Europe, it's unheard of for doctors and nurses to not have studied Latin... as a prerequisite to their even beginning their medical field studies. Actually, it is still a mandatory requirement in most schools (High School).

Just food for thought...

lucke · Jul 8, 2003

h.s. is actually hora somni but can make sense if you consider it as hour of sleep which is what it means.

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Jul 8, 2003

Originally posted by lucke
h.s. is actually hora somni but can make sense if you consider it as hour of sleep which is what it means.

Exactly... think "sominex"..again somni is Latin for sleep.

Flynurse · Jul 9, 2003

Originally posted by altomga
hey colleen....
do you really have to know the exact term for each initial??? That is ludicrous....

Just like colleen, I never quiet grasped the concept until I truly understood the meaning of what those little letters really meant. That doesn't mean I blurt out...hora somni when I see H.S. It just means more to me knowing its not just some letters but actually stands for something in latin that can be translated into english.

This site is interesting to use. Be sure when you enter the abbreviation you look for the meaning that has the latin translation. For example: QHS = Quaque Hora Somni (Latin: Every Bedtime)

http://www.acronymfinder.com/

The site tends to give you ALL meanings of an abbreviation that don't quiet pertain to the medical field. Have Fun!

Chttynurs · Jul 9, 2003

Right Jnette! Knowing more than one language really does help in these things! My first language was actually Portuguese, which made learning Spanish VERY easy! And Italian is also very close to those two languages. I really wish Latin was required for health professionals. I signed up for it when I was in high school, knowing it would help in my career in health care (thought I wanted to be a doctor at the time!), but the class was dropped because no one signed up! Too bad, it really could help in so many areas! :)

Flynurse · Jul 9, 2003

Call me a geek, but I wish I had taken at least one year of Latin in college. Some things would make more sense.

When did they stop making it a requirement in USA high schools? I know my mom had to take it when she was in grammar school (Catholic - what else?).

PennyLane, RN · Jul 9, 2003

Originally posted by jnette
In Europe, it's unheard of for doctors and nurses to not have studied Latin... as a prerequisite to their even beginning their medical field studies. Actually, it is still a mandatory requirement in most schools (High School).

My school required us to take a year of Latin in 8th grade. It helped TREMENDOUSLY when we did our year of vocab in 10th grade in preparation for the PSAT and SAT. Also helped me a lot in French, which is, of course, a Romance language. Even though I wasn't thrilled to be taking Latin at the time, I'm very glad I did. I can't remember much now, but it helped in school!

BunnyBunnyBSNRN, ASN, BSN · Jul 9, 2003

I don't think I have any info to help you...except try using flash cards.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a funny story w/you. (One of thos "Don't do what I did" things.)

On my drug calc test, QOD was right under OD (right eye), so instead of writing "Every other day" for QOD, I wrote "Every other eye".:roll

Hope this makes you smile.

ggfifirn05 · Jul 9, 2003

I kept wishing I had taken Latin in high school while I was taking A & P I & II last year...now I know I should have taken it! Of course, that was 30 years ago, and at the time, everyone was saying Latin was a "dead language".

As long as no one asks me to pronounce the Latin correctly, I think I'll be okay!

PlanetCaroline · Jul 10, 2003

Don't know why I took so much Latin in junior high & high school, but it finally is paying off! But people (even instructors) butcher pronunciation. For example-- ae is pronounced "eye" and i is pronounced "ee." Only one prof ever prounced the word stimuli (pron stimu-lee) correctly-- he was so old he probably lived during Roman times.

Even though I took Latin I begged my little sis to take a real language like Spanish. Kind of feel bad about it now. For a dead language, Latin certainly can save a lot of lives.

Good luck learning your abbreviations.

----

Caroline

ulianka · Jul 11, 2003

Originally posted by colleen10
Hi everybody,

I am taking a summer "Drug Calc." class and I have to memorize the abbreviations for the "times of drug admin." like a.c. = before meal; q.o.d. = every other day and I was wondering if anyone had any tips on making them easier to remember.

I guess it would be easier if I knew what the abbreviations stood for. For example, I assumed that p.c. = "post consumption" = after meal. Don't know if that's right or not but it works for me. But I have no idea what the "b.i.d." stands for to equal "twice a day". What do the b and i stand for?

If you have any tips or know of a good website that helps, please let me know.

Thanks,
Col

I am not a nursing student YET (starting in september), but I would remember a B.I.D. as Bi (twice) In Day