Glossary of abriviations

[space_cadet]

I was asked via Private Message (PM) to explain a few abriviations. Please add to this if you have any I have missed.

DX - Diagnoses

RX - Pescription

SHO - Senior House Doctor

GP - General Practitioner

PDOC - Psychiatrist

PCT - Primary Care Trust

HA - Health Authority

LSA - Learning Support Assistant

SP* - Unsure of Spelling

LGBTQ - Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer (altho the Q can sometimes stand for questioning)

SI - Self Injury

SH - Self Harm

SU - Suicide

TRIGGER - May have content that is upsetting

ED - Eating Disorder(s)

[rosemary johnson]

Px or Pt : patient (funny how docotrs never use one's name, innit?)
Sx : symptoms

C+B : Choose and Book (system for being referred to hospital specialist(s) via computer.

RGP : rigid gas permeable (polymer); one of a group of plastics from which hard contact lenses are made these days
PMMA : abbreviation for a long chemical name of a type of plastic, more often known by the brand name Perspex, from which hard contact lenses used to be made.

QDS/TDS/BD : 4/3/2 times a day (on prescriptions, how often to take a medicine
nocte : in the evening (ditto)
RE/LE/BE : right/left/both eyes (ditto, for where to put eye drops)
po/iv/im : by mouth/intravenously/intramuscularly (other places medicines may be administered
HTH : hope this helps
Rosemary

[Lizb]

CL - Contact lenses

LOL - laugh out loud

[Andrew MacLean]

C3R
CXL both denote crosslinking

DALK Deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (a partial thickness graft)
PK Penetrating keratoplasty (full thickness graft)

[Lizb]

KC - keratoconus

[rosemary johnson]

IOP = Intra-ocular pressure (the eyeball equivalent of blood pressure) Normal values are up to about 21; up to 25 can be OK for people with strong healthy eyeballs. It can be put up by steroid eye drops, genetic disposition (runs in the family), age, etc and if too high for too long can result in damage tot he retina.
mmHg = millimetres of mercury - the units the IOP is measured in. (Think of an old-fashioned barometer with the column of mercury going up and down with the weather)
Rosemary