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Martin J. Rosenfeld, MD
Santa Ana, Calif

JAMA. 1985;253(14):2043.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

As chairman of the medical records committee of the medical staff of a large children's hospital, the committee members and I have been struggling with the problem created by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH) in its guidelines for medical abbreviations. The guidelines state that only approved abbreviations may be used in medical records, that no abbreviation may have more than one meaning, and that uppercase and lowercase letters are to be considered equivalent. We anticipate that it will be a major if not impossible task to get the medical staff to abide by these rules and to use abbreviations from our "approved" list only.

The following examples represent commonly used abbreviations with two or more meanings. "GTT" may mean glucose tolerance test or gastrostomy tube. "PT" may mean either patient or physical therapy. "IT" is used both for intrathecal and for inhalation therapy. . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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