AMA Manual of Style - Stacy L. Christiansen, Cheryl Iverson 2020
Jargon
Correct and Preferred Usage
Many words have found their way into medical vocabularies with unusual meanings that are not recognized even by medical dictionaries. Such writings may be characterized as medical jargon or medical slang. When these words appear in medical manuscripts or in medical conversation, they are unintelligible to other scientists, particularly those of foreign countries; they are not translatable and are the mark of the careless and uncultured person.
Morris Fishbein, MD21
Jargon is . . . a language exquisitely precise, using terms in a highly specific sense. It is highly rational, addressed to the intellect and not the emotions; a technical language, intended for a particular group engaged in a particular activity. . . . Jargon has a specificity and precision of meaning, intelligible to a limited group but more or less baffling to other groups.
Lester S. King, MD22
Words and phrases that can be understood in conversation but are vague, confusing, or depersonalizing are generally inappropriate in formal scientific writing (see 7.7, Diction; 11.1, Correct and Preferred Usage of Common Words and Phrases; and 19.5, Glossary of Statistical Terms).
Jargon |
Preferred form |
4+ albuminuria |
proteinuria (4+) |
blood sugar |
blood glucose |
chart |
medical record |
chief complaint |
chief concern |
cocktail |
mixture |
congenital heart |
congenital heart disease; congenital cardiac anomaly |
emergency room |
emergency department |
exam |
examination |
flu |
influenza |
gastrointestinal infection |
gastrointestinal tract infection or infection of the gastrointestinal tract |
genitourinary infection |
genitourinary tract infection or infection of the genitourinary tract |
heart attack |
myocardial infarction |
hyperglycemia of 250 mg/dL |
hyperglycemia (blood glucose level of 250 mg/dL) |
jugular ligation |
jugular vein ligation or ligation of the jugular vein |
lab |
laboratory |
left heart failure |
left ventricular failure [preferred, but query author]; left-sided heart failure |
normal range |
reference range |
Pap smear |
Papanicolaou test |
the patient failed treatment |
treatment failed |
preemie |
premature infant |
preop/postop |
preoperative/postoperative |
prepped |
prepared |
psychiatric floor |
psychiatric department, service, unit, ward |
randomized patients |
randomly assigned patients |
respiratory infection |
respiratory tract infection or infection of the respiratory tract |
surgeries |
operations or surgical procedures |
symptomatology |
symptoms [query author] |
therapy of [a disease or condition] |
therapy for |
treatment for [a disease or condition] |
treatment of |
urinary infection |
urinary tract infection or infection of the urinary tract |
The following terms and euphemisms should be changed to preferred forms:
Avoid |
Use |
expired, passed, passed away, succumbed |
died |
sacrificed |
killed; humanely killed; euthanized |
Avoid trivializing or dehumanizing disciplines or specialties. For example:
Osteopathic physician and osteopathic medicine, not osteopath and osteopathy
Cardiologic consultant or cardiology consultation, not cardiology [for the person]
Orthopedic surgeon, not orthopod
Colloquialisms, idioms, and vulgarisms should be avoided in formal scientific writing. Exceptions may be made in editorials and informal articles.