Reviews and Notes: Dictionary of Medical Acronyms & Abbreviations

Dictionary of Medical Acronyms & Abbreviations

Stanley Jablonski; ed. 330 pages. Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus; 1993. $16.95.

SJ (Stanley Jablonski, of course) believes that acronyms and abbreviations are essential in medicine for economy of space and for convenience. Official abbreviations like kg and Hz (for hertz) are unequivocal. The larger group of acronyms, however, may have several meanings; AP may stand for alkaline or acid phosphatase, action potential, angina pectoris, as well as several other things. This text contains abbreviations from A (meaning abnormal, abortions, and a dozen more words, ending with A = year, from the Latin annum) to ZZ (ginger, from the Latin zingibar). The bad news is that this edition contains 2000 more entries than the first, and SJ believes that "despite the efforts of teachers and editors to contain them," new ones are constantly being introduced by clinicians and researchers.