medical abbreviation

[anatomica]

I am an european medical student and I am going to undergo a clerkship in the u.s. Could someone tell me how I should prepare to learn the medical abbreviations, at least how do you prepare for your first clinical rotation.

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[GO_MEDPEDS]

I highly recommend First Aid for the Wards... available at any Barnes & Noble, Borders, Medical Book Store, etc. You will find many of the commonly used abbreviations, but more importantly it is filled with good tips as you start each new rotation (i.e. what to expect on Surgery, Medicine, Pediatrics, OB/GYN, etc.). It is also a good review for some common disease states.

Also, I recommend purchasing a palm pilot (Sony, Handspring, etc.) or... if yo must... a Pocket PC There are several nice programs that have medical abbreviations, and I think you will find it invaluable for looking up medications and other references. Seriously, I would use the book money you were going to use to buy those big reference books (Harrison's, Schwartz's Surgery, etc.) and buy some of the Skyscape programs (5 Minute Clinical Consult, Outlines in Clinical Medicine, Tabers/Stedman's Dictionaries would be especially useful for abbreviations as well).

Well, I hope this helps. Good luck!

Grant

 

[shag]

You pick this stuff quick, usually during the first week of the rotation. If you have questions, ask your resident or a member of the nursing staff for the meaning and write it down. Usually, by the second week of the rotation, you are using rotation specific abbreviations without thinking.