The following abbreviations are used by Austin-Travis County EMS and are provided to our twitter followers so that you may better understand the information contained in our tweets. We pride ourselves on accuracy and timeliness of the information that we provide and our attempts to get as much information out in a single 140 character tweet can be challenging, thus the reason for our use of these abbreviations.
** Please note that ages, locations, and injuries reported in our tweets will be based on approximations and kept general to protect Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Protected Health Information (PHI) of our patients. Injuries reported are a working diagnosis based on field presentation, medical impressions, provider interpretation, and not official until confirmed in an emergency room. These abbreviations may change without notice and we will make every attempt to update these changes on this document should this occur.
Incident Info
~ - approximate or estimated
adult – 18yoa and over
AFD – Austin Fire Department
alt – alternate
ATC – Austin – Travis County
ATCEMS – Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services
APD – Austin Police Department
blk – block
CO – carbon monoxide
CPR – Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation
crit - Critical or life threatening
DOS - Deceased on scene
DPS – Texas Department of Public Safety
ER – emergency room
eval – evaluated or evaluating
Ext - Extrication – can mean utilizing the “Jaws of Life” to remove patient from a vehicle; can also mean removing patient from a wilderness area; Extremity (ies) - ususlly identified as upper or lower
F – female
FD – fire department
frntg – frontage [road]
grnd – ground
H2O - water
Hwy – highway
inj (s) – injury or injuries
LTI – life threatening injuries
M – male
MC – motorcycle
MCC - motorcycle collision
MCI- Mass casualty incident (a high number of patients)
min - minimal or minor (usually referring to injuries)
MTF - more to follow
mult (i) - multiple
MVC - Motor vehicle collision
NLTI – non life-threatening injuries
pckg – packaging; preparing a patient for extrication or transport to an ER
PED - Pedestrian
pedi - Pediatric (child 12yoa and under)
pot. – potential
Pronouncement – pronounced Deceased on scene
pt (s) - Patient or patients
ResQ – rescue. Active search for presumed viable patient.
Rcvry – recovery. Rescue conversion for presumed non-viable patient.
RU (s) – refusal or refusals
SAR – Search and Rescue
semi - 18 wheeler/ tractor trailer
SF - STARflight aeromedical helicopter
SvRd – service road
teen – 13-17yoa
TC – Travis County
TCSO – Travis County Sheriff’s Office
ttl – total
txpt or txpt’d or txpt’ing - transport , transported or to (hospital)
uncon - unconscious
unk – unknown
w/ - with
w/o – without
Direction
E - East
EB - eastbound
N - North
NB - northbound
S - South
SB - southbound
W - West
WB - westbound
Weather
ADVY – Advisory. Weather conditions that are less serious than a warning that may threaten life and/or property.
NWS – National Weather Service
T-storm – thunderstorm
Wrng – warning. Hazardous weather is occurring, imminent, or poses a threat to life or property.
Wtch – watch. Used when the risk of a hazardous weather has increased significantly, but its occurrence, location, and/or timing is still uncertain.
Wx – Weather
HOSPITALS
CPMC – Cedar Park Regional Medical Center
DCMC – Dell Children’s Medical Center (children’s trauma center)
HH – Heart Hospital
LWRMC – Lakeway Regional Medical Center
NAMC – North Austin Medical Center
RRMC - St David’s Round Rock Hospital (trauma center)
SAMC – St David’s South Austin Hospital
SAMMC – San Antonio Military Medical Center
SDCC – St David’s Children’s Center @ North Austin
SHC – Seton Hays County
SNW – Seton Northwest Hospital
SSW – Seton Southwest Hospital
STDH – St David’s Hospital
SWillco – Seton William County (trauma center)
SWRR – Scott and White Round Rock
UMCB - University Medical Center Brackenridge (trauma center)
WMC – Westlake Medical Center