QUESTION 1
Abbreviations are commonly used both in general and in clinical settings. They are used to simplify and ease communication and means of saving time, space, and effort when writing in the patient’s records. Generally, due to the evolvement of various specialties fields, each has developed a collection of commonly used abbreviations within its practice that may not be recognizable to those working in different areas.
QUESTION 2
Although it has become a norm to use medical abbreviations in medical records, their overuse has become a concern in the patient’s safety and inhibiting communication. Some abbreviations have been noted to cause an increase in misinterpretation and substantially medical errors continually; according to the institute of safe medication practices, not less than 7,000 deaths are caused by medication error abbreviations is contributing to the highest number. Besides, some abbreviations are too vague or ambiguous such that they result in loss of clarity of the message intended by the other party. Medical ethicist has extensively criticized the use of festive sounding abbreviation such as HOPE, CURE, and many others may result to research subjects overrating the potential benefit of a particular research study while misjudging its potential harm(Awan et al., 2016).
QUESTION 3
Several abbreviations are used in medical settings such as ACL, which means Anterior cruciate ligament, ADHD, which in full names is Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Acquired immune deficiency syndrome abbreviated as AIDS.
References
Awan, S., Abid, S., Tariq, M., Zubairi, A. B. S., Kamal, A., Arshad, S., … & Hamid, S. (2016). Use of medical abbreviations and acronyms: knowledge among medical students and postgraduates. The postgraduate medical journal, 92(1094), 721-725.