Nursing Terminology: A Student's Guide

Nurses and doctors run on their own shorthand. Charting abbreviations, acronyms for imaging and labs, slang traded at shift change: it all moves communication faster once you know it. Here are the terms you will use throughout your career.

General Nursing Terms

• Charge Nurse: Supervises the clinical care of patients within a nursing department. Not the same as a nurse manager, who carries more administrative duties.
• Clinicals: The part of nursing education where students provide patient care in a hospital under staff nurses and clinical instructors.
• Chart: The patient's medical documentation, usually digital, covering history, examination, test and imaging results, diagnosis, medications, and a record of events each shift.
• Charting: Adding information to the chart to accurately record what happens to the patient.
• NCLEX: National Council Licensure Examination. A computer-adaptive test you must pass to earn your state license.
• Heart Rate: How fast the heart beats, recorded in beats per minute.
• Respiratory Rate: The number of breaths a patient takes in one minute.
• Vital Signs: Biophysical indicators of health: body temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, and pain level.
• Pain Scale: Measures a patient's pain level. Adults usually rate one to 10; children may use visual cues. Using the same scale each time shows whether pain is improving or worsening.
• Specimen: A sample taken for testing: blood, urine, sputum, tissue, or stool.
• Code Blue: A medical emergency that requires immediate attention, such as cardiac arrest.
• Pre-op: Care given directly before surgery; sometimes the medication given in preparation for anesthesia.
• Post-op: Care, interventions, and education after surgery to prepare a patient for discharge or return to the unit. For example, a patient may be told to eat only soft food for two days post-op.
• Ad lib: The patient is "at liberty," with no restrictions in a given area of care. A patient who is up ad lib can be out of bed as much as they like.
• Ileus: An intestinal blockage that can follow surgery or accompany certain medications, infections, or conditions. It may resolve on its own or require surgery.
• PRN: Latin for "pro re nata," meaning "as needed." PRN medications are given as needed but are usually capped to a set number of doses within a window. PRN can also describe an as-needed staffing position.
• Preceptor: An experienced, licensed nurse who supervises students during clinical rotations or new graduates in their first job.
• Preceptorship: A structured orientation that helps new graduates build the skills to care for patients. The term also covers a student's final-semester clinical hours and graduate students' clinical experiences.
• Oxygen Saturation: How much hemoglobin is bound to oxygen in the blood, which signals how much oxygen reaches the tissues.

Nursing Acronyms

• WNL (Within Normal Limit): The criteria being evaluated, such as reflexes or pupillary response, fall within the expected range.
• SOP (Standard Operating Procedure): The standard way to perform a procedure, which should produce an expected response.
• OTC (Over the Counter): Medications sold without a prescription.
• PPE (Personal Protective Equipment): Gear that protects nurses from pathogens: gowns, gloves, and masks.
• BP (Blood Pressure): The force of blood against the arterial walls. Readings that are too high or too low can signal an emergency.
• DNR (Do Not Resuscitate): An order made when a patient decides against extraordinary measures during cardiac arrest or other systemic failure.
• EHR (Electronic Health Records): The digital chart recording examinations, test results, diagnosis, medications, and activities.
• CBR (Complete Bed Rest): An order to stay in bed, including for elimination, using a urinal or bedpan.
• NPO (Nothing By Mouth): Nothing to eat or drink, including no toothbrushing.
• OOB (Out of Bed): Often paired with how many times a patient should be up in a chair or ambulating to encourage healing.
• ABC (Airway, Breathing, Circulation): The order of evaluation and intervention in an emergency: open the airway, confirm breathing, check circulation, and start CPR if needed.

Nursing Tools

• Hat: A plastic container that fits into the toilet to collect and measure urine. It looks like an upside-down hat.
• Sharps Container: A red hazardous-materials box for needles and other single-use sharp instruments.
• Banana Bag: An IV drip named for its yellow color, which comes from a mix of B vitamins. It normalizes vitamins and electrolytes, often in patients with alcohol use disorder.
• Stethoscope: Used to hear a heartbeat or take blood pressure. Digital versions can amplify and transmit the audio.
• Tourniquet: A tight band that stops blood flow after injury or a procedure. Phlebotomists use one to engorge a vein when drawing blood.
• Catheter: A flexible hollow tube used to drain urine from the bladder.
• Pulse Oximeter: A small device that clips to a fingertip and uses a cold light source to measure blood oxygen saturation.

Common Medical Tests and Procedures

• Spinal Tap: A thin needle inserted in the lumbar spine to collect cerebrospinal fluid for analysis.
• Ultrasound: Imaging that uses sound waves to picture internal structures. It uses no radiation and is safe during pregnancy.
• BMP (Basic Metabolic Panel): A blood test of chemical balance and metabolism, including glucose, calcium, sodium, potassium, chloride, carbon dioxide, creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN).
• Vaccination: A vaccine given by shot, orally, or nasal spray to stimulate immune protection against a virus.
• Saline Lock: An IV port left in place without a bag or line, used episodically for fluids or medication.
• IV Therapy: Intravenous fluid containing medication, vitamins, or minerals.
• Urinalysis: A urine test that detects urinary tract disorders such as infection, kidney disease, or diabetes.

Patient Descriptions

• Walkie-talkie: A patient near the end of their stay who needs minimal care: uses the bathroom, moves in and out of bed, feeds themselves, and is a low fall risk.
• Total: A patient who needs maximum care, which may include tube feeding, IV lines, a urinary catheter, and a tracheostomy. They need turning every two hours or more and frequent monitoring.
• Frequent Flyer: A patient admitted to the hospital often.
• Alert: Aware of people and responsive to the environment. This does not mean oriented, which is knowing who and where they are plus the time and date.
• Ambulate: To walk.
• Tube Index: The number of tubes in a patient, counting urinary catheter, IV lines, central line, tracheostomy, and chest tube.

Nursing Slang

• Peds: Pediatrics, the care of children.
• STAT: From the Latin "statim," meaning immediately.
• Crash cart: Supplies kept for emergencies, used when a patient "crashes" with a sudden adverse change such as cardiac arrest or overdose.
• Sundowning: Worsening behavior after dark in patients with dementia, including agitation, confusion, and combativeness.
• Code Brown: A bowel movement outside the toilet.
• Coding: A patient in cardiac arrest.
• Tachy: Tachycardia, a rapid heart rate.
• Fluid overload: Too much fluid in the bloodstream, also called hypervolemia. Causes include heart failure, kidney failure, and liver cirrhosis.
• Nurslings: Student nurses.
• DT-ing: Delirium tremens, a rapid onset of confusion triggered by alcohol withdrawal.
• Milk of amnesia: Propofol, a creamy white anesthetic used to induce anesthesia quickly. It can be toxic in young children and older adults.
• Waste: When a nurse witnesses narcotics being discarded per facility policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the seven standards of nursing practice?

1. Thinks critically and analyzes nursing practice
2. Engages in therapeutic and professional relationships
3. Maintains the capability for practice
4. Comprehensively conducts assessments
5. Develops a plan for nursing practice
6. Provides safe, appropriate, and responsive quality nursing practice
7. Evaluates outcomes to inform nursing practice

What are the levels of care?

These describe the intensity of care needed to meet a patient's physical and emotional needs:

1. Acute care
2. Subacute care
3. Skilled
4. Transitional
5. Hospice

What are the five rights of medication administration?

This checklist reduces medication errors by confirming:

1. The right medication
2. The right patient
3. The right time
4. The right dose
5. The right route

How do triage nurses categorize patients?

In the emergency room, triage nurses rank patients by how urgently they need care. The Emergency Severity Index, used in up to 90% of U.S. emergency rooms, sets five levels:

• Level 1: Immediate, life-threatening (cardiac arrest)
• Level 2: Emergency, potentially life-threatening (difficulty breathing, major accident)
• Level 3: Urgent, not life-threatening (abdominal pain)
• Level 4: Semi-urgent, not life-threatening (earache, or a cut needing sutures)
• Level 5: Nonurgent (minor symptoms, prescription renewal)