| Term |
Description / definition |
| ABN |
Advance Beneficiary Notice |
| AC |
Antecubital |
| ACLS |
Advanced Cardiac Life Support |
| AED |
Automated External Defibrillator |
| AEMT |
Advanced Emergency Medical Technician |
| A-Fib |
Atrial Fibrillation |
| AHA |
American Heart Association |
| ALOC |
Altered Level of Consciousness |
| ALS |
Advanced Life Support. An ALS ambulance is a ground ambulance staffed and equipped to provide advanced life support consistent with state laws, policies, procedures, and protocols. Referred to and identified on the radio as "Medic." |
| AMLS |
Advanced Medical Life Support |
| APGAR |
Activity, Pulse, Grimace, Appearance, and Respiration |
| AVL |
Automatic Vehicle Locator. The device that makes use of Global Positioning System (GPS) to allow the ambulances to be remotely tracked. AVL information should be used to dispatch ambulances efficiently. |
| BCFD |
Bolivar City Fire Department |
| BEMS |
Bureau of Emergency Medical Services |
| BiPAP |
Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure |
| BLS |
Basic Life Support. A BLS ambulance is a ground ambulance staffed and equipped to provide basic life support in full compliance with applicable laws, policies, procedures, and protocols. Referred to and identified on the radio as "Squad." |
| BP |
Blood Pressure |
| BSA |
Body Surface Area |
| BSI |
Body Substance Isolation |
| BVM |
Bag Valve Mask |
| CAD |
Coronary Artery Disease or Computer Aided Dispatch |
| CCMH |
Cedar County Memorial Hospital |
| CCR |
Cardio-Cerebral Resuscitation |
| CCSO |
Cedar County Sheriff’s Office |
| CHF |
Congestive Heart Failure |
| CISD |
Critical Incident Stress Debriefing |
| CMH |
Citizens Memorial Hospital |
| CNS |
Central Nervous System |
| CO |
Carbon Monoxide |
| CO2 |
Carbon Dioxide |
| COPD |
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease |
| CPAP |
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure |
| CPR |
Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation |
| CRNA |
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist |
| CSR |
Code of State Regulations |
| CSS |
Cincinnati Stroke Scale |
| CT |
Computed Tomography |
| CVA |
Cerebro-Vascular Accident |
| D5W |
5% Dextrose in Water |
| D10W |
10% Dextrose in Water |
| D25W |
25% Dextrose in Water |
| D50W |
50% Dextrose in Water |
| DBP |
Diastolic Blood Pressure |
| Dispatch Center, Designated EMS |
A dispatch center approved and authorized by CMH Board of Directors to dispatch CMH ambulances or EMH Board of Directors to dispatch EMH ambulances. |
| Dispatch, Primary |
Brief dispatch information given to responding units when they are initally dispatched. |
| Dispatch, Secondary |
Dispatch information given to responding units after they go en route that repeats the location and additional information pertaining to the response. |
| DNR |
Do Not Resuscitate |
| DSI |
Delayed Sequence Intubation |
| ECG |
Electrocardiogram |
| ED |
Emergency Department |
| EKG |
Electrocardiogram |
| EMA |
Emergency Management Agency |
| EMD |
Emergency Medical Dispatch |
| EMH |
Ellett Memorial Hospital |
| EMR |
Emergency Medical Responder |
| EMS |
Emergency Medical Services |
| EMT |
Emergency Medical Technician |
| EOS |
End Of Shift |
| ePCR |
Electronic Patient Care Report |
| ER |
Emergency Room |
| ET |
Endotracheal |
| ETA |
Estimated Time of Arrival. The estimated time emergency medical services resources will arrive at a specific location. |
| EtCO2 |
End Tidal Carbon Dioxide |
| ETOH |
Ethanol |
| FDA |
Food and Drug Administration |
| First Responder Agency |
An agency which responds to medical emergencies as part of the organized EMS system in order to provide Basic Life Support (BLS) procedures prior to the arrival of an ambulance or to assist ambulance personnel in their performance of rendering emergency medical care to a person or persons suffering from an illness or injury. |
| GCS |
Glasgow Comma Scale |
| GI |
Gastrointestinal |
| HF |
Hydrofluoric Acid |
| HFR |
Humansville Fire Rescue |
| HR |
Heart Rate |
| HWFR |
Halfway Fire Rescue |
| IAEMD |
International Academies of Emergency Medical Dispatch |
| ICP |
Intracranial Pressure |
| ICU |
Intensive Care Unit |
| IDLH |
Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health |
| IM |
Intramuscular |
| IN |
Intranasal |
| Incident time - Dispatch |
The time the responding crew is initially alerted to the incident and has received enough information to respond appropriately (i.e. location, chief complaint, priority dispatch code). |
| Incident time - En route |
The time an ambulance has departed from current location in order to respond to a request for an ambulance. |
| Incident time - In service |
Also known as available time. The time an ambulance is available on communications equipment to respond as directed by the Designated EMS Dispatch Center or out of station mobile available for call. |
| Incident time - On scene |
Also known as arrival time. The time at which the responding ambulance is no greater than 200 feet from the location that the ambulance will be parked on scene or arrive at a staging area. The time that an ambulance arrives at an appropriate receiving location or at the rendezvous point with another EMS provider. |
| Incident time - Received |
Also known as time of call. The time the request for the ambulance was made. The time that the callback number, location, and symptom(s)/type of incident has been received at the Designated EMS Dispatch Center so that a proper ambulance dispatch can be determined and made. |
| Incident time - Transporting |
Also known as cleared scene or en-route to hospital time. The time an ambulance departs from the scene en route to an appropriate receiving location or rendezvous point. Cleared scene time may be the same as in service time if no transport is being made and the ambulance is available for another response. |
| IO |
Intraosseous |
| ITLS |
International Trauma Life Support |
| IV |
Intravenous |
| KED |
Kendrick Extrication Device |
| LBBB |
Left Bundle Branch Block |
| LEO |
Law Enforcement Officer |
| LMA |
Laryngeal Mask Airway |
| LOC |
Level of Consciousness |
| LR |
Lactated Ringers |
| LTC |
Long Term Care |
| MAP |
Mean Arterial Pressure |
| MARCHE |
Massive hemorrhaging, Airway, Respiration, Circulation, Hypothermia, Everything Else |
| MCI |
Mass Casualty Incident |
| MCI Plan |
The procedure followed by the EMS Agency in the event that an MCI is declared. |
| Medical Emergency |
A situation in which there is a real or perceived need for immediate action, attention, or decision-making to prevent mortality or serious morbidity. |
| MDI |
Metered-Dose Inhaler |
| MFPD |
Morrisville Fire Protection District |
| MD |
Medical Doctor |
| mEq |
Milliequivalent |
| MI |
Myocardial Infarction |
| MOI |
Mechanism of Injury |
| MOLST |
Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatments |
| MPDS |
Medical Priority Dispatch System |
| MS |
Medical Surgery or Med-Surg Unit |
| NaHCO3 |
Sodium Bicarbonate |
| NCN |
No Care Needed |
| NEB |
Nebulized |
| NFPA |
National Fire Protection Association |
| NIH |
National Institute of Health |
| NIHSS |
National Institute of Health Stroke Screen |
| NOI |
Nature of Illness |
| NPA |
Nasopharyngeal Airway |
| NS |
Normal Saline |
| NSAID |
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug |
| O2 |
Oxygen |
| OB |
Obstetrics |
| OPA |
Oropharyngeal Airway |
| PCCD |
Polk County Central Dispatch |
| PCR |
Patient Care Report |
| PEA |
Pulseless Electrical Activity |
| PHFPD |
Pleasant Hope Fire Protection District |
| PHS |
Pre-Hospital Services |
| PHTLS |
Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support |
| PICC |
Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter |
| PO |
Per Orem - By mouth |
| POLST |
Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment |
| Posting |
The term used to denote the strategic location of an ambulance for the purpose of providing the most reasonable response times to an area. |
| PPE |
Personal Protective Equipment |
| PRC |
Patient Refusal of Care |
| QR |
Quick Response barcode |
| QRS |
Ventricular depolarization |
| QT |
Space between ventricular depolarization and polarization |
| RACE |
Regional Response to Cardiovascular Emergencies |
| RBBB |
Right Bundle Branch Block |
| RN |
Registered Nurse |
| RR |
R-wave to R-wave |
| RSI |
Rapid Sequence Intubation |
| RT |
Respiratory Therapy |
| RTF |
Rescue Task Force |
| SAMPLE |
Signs/Symptoms, Allergies, Medications, Pertinent history, Last oral intake, Events |
| SBP |
Systolic Blood Pressure |
| Size-up |
Also known as windshield report. Upon arrival on scene a report of what is seen by the crew. |
| SL |
Sub Lingual |
| SME |
Subject Matter Expert |
| SMR |
Spinal Motion Restriction |
| SpO2 |
Saturation of Peripheral Oxygen |
| SQ |
Subcutaneous |
| SSRI |
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor |
| Stage |
The term used to denote the strategic movement of an ambulance to a specific area to provide a safe area for standby while the scene is made safe. |
| Standby |
The term used to denote that an EMS vehicle is staged near an activity for which it is presumed there is a high likelihood that a medical emergency will occur. |
| Status [one], [two], etc. |
The terminology to depict how many ambulances are available for response in the geographic response area. For example, "status one" indicates there is only one ALS ambulance available in the county. |
| STEMI |
ST-Segment Elevated Myocardial Infarction |
| TES |
Threat Elimination Specialist |
| TPOPP |
Transportable Physician Orders for Patient Preferences |
| TXA |
Tranexamic Acid |
| VA |
Department of Veterans Affairs |
| VF |
Ventricular Fibrillation |
| V-Fib |
Ventricular Fibrillation |
| VT |
Ventricular Tachycardia |
| V-Tach |
Ventricular Tachycardia |
| WPW |
Wolff Parkinson White |
