Abbreviations
By
Dave Kyrie
Language is about communicating ideas.
Sometimes we can use a small amount of words or letters that communicate larger ideas succinctly. We do this without thinking about it. When I think of “getting ready for work,” my brain knows that this means getting out of bed, brushing my teeth, ensuring that I have food to take with me, preparing coffee for the road, finding my keys and wallet, getting dressed appropriately, and reviewing what my day is going to be like before I leave the house, but I can abbreviate these tasks (and others that I’m not thinking of at the moment) to the short sentence, “getting ready for work.”
When I think of “going to work,” I understand that this does not simply mean moving myself from points A to B; it encompasses all the tasks that are included in the fairly long period that I am at work. This is a more complex abbreviation, because it means a specific set of tasks to me, but when you say it to yourself, you likely have an entirely different set of tasks that you associate with those words.
This variance in understanding brings up the downside to abbreviations. In order for the abbreviation to be effective, it has to mean a similar thing to both the person who says it and the person who is expected to understand it.
Sometimes it is fine for an abbreviation to communicate somewhat different ideas. If I were to bring up the abbreviation of COVID-19, many people do not realize that this means “COronaVIrus Disease discovered in 2019,” but I think it would be difficult to find an adult today who doesn’t know what I am referring to. Conversely, although pretty much all of us have some understanding of what I am referring to when I say COVID-19, it is likely to communicate different things to different people. I am a health care professional who worked persistently through the entire pandemic, so it brings up several concepts in my head that you may not have even considered. It brings to my mind thoughts of isolation, ARDS (another abbreviation, which stands for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome), ventilators, inadequate research, and a whole host of other complicated concepts that I will not write about further here. To many other people, it brings up thoughts of distance-learning. Some people think of misinformation or conspiracies. And because it brings up different concepts to different people, it is a good example of the dangers of abbreviations.
Abbreviations can mean different things to different people. Considering that I have extensive experience in various areas of medical practice, it is unsurprising that there are many abbreviations that mean different things to different people. For instance, in an outpatient clinic, someone may list “PND” as a symptom that is relatively minor. It means “Post-Nasal Drip,” and refers to a patient who has so much thin mucus developing that it is dripping into the throat, causing coughing, discomfort, and likely throat irritation. In the cardiac environment PND means “Paroxysmal Nocturnal Dyspnea,” which means that the patient awakens from sleep very short of breath and this is a serious warning that the patient may be having a serious heart condition. The acronyms are the same despite dramatically different meanings that are separated only by the context of who is using them.
Perhaps another example is appropriate.
My wife will sometimes call me “Stupid Face.” On the surface, this could communicate that she believes my face is stupid; however, it communicates something quite different to me. The literal words are an insult, but they are a reference to one of my favorite works of fiction (Doctor Who, seasons 5–7) and those two words are an abbreviation that tells me that she considers our relationship to be of superlative importance and worthy of dedication, sacrifice, and loss.
You see, abbreviations need a kind of key to unlock the meaning. In order to understand how sweet and loving it is for my wife to call me “Stupid Face,” the audience needs to have not only watched the fictional representation listed above, but they would also need to understand that we have watched it, and they have to make a connection to realize that her words are a reference to that, and they need to have the same understanding that we do of the show. Without this key, the abbreviation means the polar opposite of what is intended to be communicated.
When writing for any purpose, we must make sure that we give the key to our abbreviations before we use them, or they are very likely to be entirely misunderstood. Without a key, an abbreviation becomes meaningless mumbo jumbo that does not effectively communicate anything to the audience. Without the key, the abbreviation is as meaningless as my signature below.
Mr. CPT David Kyrie, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN, PMHNP-BC
Member/Former member of the USAR NC, UAMTF 8, TF Med 374, CSH 801 B, MED DET 420 and author of War on COVID.
KEY:
Mr. Adult who identifies as male
CPT - Captain
ASN - Associate of Science in Nursing
BSN - Bachelor of Science in Nursing
MSN - Master of Science in Nursing
RN - Registered Nurse
PMHNP-BC - Psychiatric Behavioral Health Nurse Practitioner - Board Certified
USAR NC - United States Army Reserve Nurse Corps
UAMTF 8 - Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force 8
TF Med 374 - Task Force Medical 374
CSH 801B - Combat Support Hospital 801B
MED DET - Medical Detachment Unit 420