What Does Lat Stand for in Medical Terms
What does the 'x' in Rx, Dx, Tx stand for in the medical field?
I'm a med student myself and I come across these short form words more often than not. I know that the Rx has correlations with the Egyptian mythical Eye of Horus, but it still fails to explain the 'x' that comes after the 'R'. Is there anyone out there with profound wisdom in this matter? :D
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level 1
Rx stands for the Latin Recipe.
Dx is Diagnosis.
Tx is Treatment.
Hx is History.
Sx is Symptoms.
Fx is Family.
Pt is Patient.
So there's not much rhyme or reason to it, except that in most cases x stands for all the letters after the first one, and fortunately all the important words start with different letters. Pt is probably with a t instead of an x so as not to be confused with Rx, and the lower case letter distinguishes all of these abbreviations from any others that might have the same letters.
level 2
A fantastic one I've learned is Abx for antibiotic.
I learned that as an M1 and I think I already saved about 10 hours of writing that word out.
level 2
I think only Rx and Pt are standard abbreviations. You can usually figure out the rest by context, but usage varies person to person. I use fx for fracture and sometimes I use sx for surgery.
level 2
8 years later, i came here to thank you sir.
level 2
I've also seen Bx for biopsy used a lot.
level 2
I've also seen a lot of: Abx is antibiotics Frx is fracture
level 2
I've learned sx as surgery - S&S would be signs and symptoms.
level 1
· 8y MD-PGY3
Sometimes I think it just stands for no one wants to write out the whole word!
level 1
The X stands for I have 4 pages of notes to write up on one person and 30 seconds before I see the next person. :P
level 1
It can be anything; it's just a placeholder. Sometimes you have to rely on context. I won't list them all but I will list some with more than one meaning.
'Sx' can mean
-
'social' as in 'sx hx' [One of the 's's in 'S&S' can also mean symptoms.]
-
'symptom'
-
'surgery'
Fx can mean
-
'family' (as in 'fx hx')
-
'fracture'
Tx can mean
-
'treatment'
-
'transplant'
level 1
· 8y MD-PGY4
Ax.
Can I ax you a question?
level 1
· 8y MD-PGY4
There's also Cx for culture, as in BCx and UCx for blood and urine cultures.
level 2
CXR for chest x-ray. So many acronyms.
level 1
Don't forget Ix for Investigations and Mx for Management.
level 1
this sounds like a recipe for miscommunication and patient deaths :( very comforting indeed !
level 2
· 8y DO-PGY3
Yes, people will easily confuse "Pt was tx with antibiotics" in a chart for an antibiotic transplant...
level 2
It's really not because everyone who is writing and reading these notes knows what all of these abbreviations stand for and like many above have said you can usually figure it out in context. If you really can't figure something out you can ask the person who wrote the note, or ask the patient. It's not that hard.
What Does Lat Stand for in Medical Terms
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/medicalschool/comments/1yr4r5/what_does_the_x_in_rx_dx_tx_stand_for_in_the/