Jargon includes words and phrases that can be understood in conversation but are vague, confusing, or depersonalizing are generally inappropriate in formal scientific writing.
| JARGON | PREFERRED FORM |
| 4+ albuminuria | proteinuria (4+) |
| blood sugarcardiac diet | blood glucosediet for a patient with cardiac disease |
| chart | medical record |
| chief complaint | chief concern |
| congenital heart | congenital heart disease; congenital cardiac anomaly |
| emergency room | emergency department |
| exam | examination |
| 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 litigation or litigation of |
| lab | laboratory |
| labs | laboratory test results |
| 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 failure |
| preemie | premature infant |
| prepped | prepared |
| psychiatric floor | psychiatric department, service, unit, ward |
| respiratory infection | respiratory tract infection or infection of the respiratory tract |
| status post | after; following |
| surgeries | operations or surgical procedures |
| symptomatology | symptoms (query author) |
| therapy of (a disease of 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 away, succumbed sacrificed | died killed; humanely killed (query author) |
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, informal articles, etc.
When the administration of drugs is described, intra-articular, intracardiac, intramuscular, intrathecal, intravenous, intravitreal, oral, parenteral, rectal, subconjunctival, subcutaneous, sublingual, topical, and transdermal are acceptable terms wen these are the usual or intended routes of administration. Except for systemic chemotherapy, however, drugs are usually neither systemic nor local but are given for systemic or local focus.
- Some topical corticosteroid ointments produce systemic effects.
- Oral penicillin is often preferred to parenteral penicillin.
- Intravenously injected heroin may be contaminated.
Exceptions: Local anesthetics are a class of drugs. Techniques for delivering anesthesia are general, local, and regional. Certain drugs may be inhaled.
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