The understanding of medical abbreviations across different medical departments in a South African hospital setting.

Doctors use medical abbreviations to communicate with colleagues from other medical departments. Medical abbreviations save time, but they can be misinterpreted and lead to treatment errors. This study evaluated the understanding of common medical abbreviations in the Departments of Oncology, Surgery, Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Internal Medicine at an academic hospital in Bloemfontein, South Africa in 2012. In this cross-sectional study, questionnaires consisting of 35 medical abbreviations were distributed to specialists, registrars, medical officers and interns. Doctors' experiences of communication problems due to abbreviations were documented. The total mean score was 61.2%. Oncology abbreviations were least understood (29.1%), while Internal Medicine abbreviations were well known (74.4%). There were significant differences between doctors from different departments, with Oncology scoring the highest (71.6%) and Internal Medicine and Paediatric scoring the lowest (56.0% and 55.4%, respectively). Interns (63.2%) performed significantly better than specialists (57.2%). Non-standard abbreviations were poorly understood (40.2%) compared to standard abbreviations (70.8%). The findings suggest that the understanding of medical abbreviations across medical departments is below standard. Use of abbreviations in this multilingual environment may contribute to poor patient care. Medical terms should be written in full, the use of non-standard medical abbreviations discouraged, and abbreviations only used when they are widely understood and accepted as standard.