Military Nurse Acronyms

Military Nurse Acronyms; Every unique organization has them. Even the military nurse has them. This is by no means a complete list of ALL the acronyms in the military. But, it is a good primer. Every nurse was taught from the day they started nursing school that one of the skills they needed to master was the language spoken by medical professionals. So, we all diligently learned the language, the shortcuts and the slang that doctors, nurses and other medical professionals used to communicate with each other.

Here are some of the military nurse acronyms that nurses might find useful:

AAR - (Ay Ay R) is an acronym for After Action Review. All actions done in the Army must conclude with an AAR to point out lessons that can be used to make improvements for the succeeding operation.

AN - Army Nurse

ANC - Army Nurse Corps - the branch of the army who manages the careers of all the nurses in the army.

APFT - (aye pee ef tee) Army Physical Fitness Test. done twice a year in April and October. Each branch of the military has a PFT.

Blue Team/Red Team - Used to designate friendly vs hostile forces. Blue is friendly and Red is Hostile. Often used on situation maps to indicate the disposition of different military units.

BI - Battle Injury - used to indicate that a wound or injury was the result of hostile or enemy action

EPW -(pronounced "ee pee double u) Enemy Prisoner of War. Yes, military nurses treat EPW's and do so with compassion and dignity.

GSW - Gunshot Wound - nurses usually use this one even when they aren't in the military

IED (eye ee dee) Improvised Explosive Device. A homemade bomb. usually used to refer to bombs and explosive devices made by terrorists and insurgents in Iraq or Afghanistan.

J-OPS (Jay op ss) Joint Operations - nurses see this in hospitals that share air force and army medical staff. it usually indicates that multiple branches of the military are sharing the command and duties of a mission.

MEDEVAC - Military Nurse Acronym for a Medical Evacuation - usually used to indicate a medical air flight but can mean a ground transport such as an ambulance.

NBI - Non-Battle-Injury indicates that a wound or injury was the result of non-hostile or non- enemy action

PT - (pee tee) - Physical Training. Yes, nurses are expected to do physical training in the military

SIR ("sur")- Serious Incident Report - usually reserved for reporting incidents or actions that have a serious impact or are of special interest to your commanders and leaders

SOF (soft without the t) Special Operations Command. Sometimes considered the elite of the military these are special combat troops such as the green berets or Air Force Combat Controllers

Triage - French for sorting - much like the ER department the military nurse and doctor sort patients or prioritize care based on acuity, severity of injury, resources, and if the patient is expected to become deceased regardless of medical intervention.

WAC - Women's Army Corps - prior to 1977 women had their own branch of the U.S. Army

WAVES - Women's Naval Corps - WAVES is said to stand for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service from an emergency act passed by congress during WWII to allow women to serve in the armed forces. It was also liked by the Navy because it referred to ocean waves.

24 Hour Report - A report done by the hospital/clinic/nurses that indicates the number of patients present, deaths, admissions, discharges, medevacs or other items of interest to the hospital chiefs

Some Fun Military Nurse Acronyms:

TANJ - There Ain't No Justice - usually used to indicate life is not fair. Like the time the main group got hot chow and your advance party got cold bologna on dry bread. The cook forgot the mustard.

SNAFU (sss na fu)- Situation Normal All Fracked Up. Usually indicates the nursing floor is having its usual chaotic day.

SSDD - Same Stuff Different Day - a military nurse way of saying the more things change the more they stay the same.

FUBAR (foo bar) Fracked Up Beyond All Recognition - This is exactly the phrase to use when the stuff hits the oscillating device and the medevac flights just brought you 10 emergency patients all at once.

TANSTAFL (tan staff all) - In the military There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (TANSTAFL). This phrase is used a lot when someone is expecting to get something for nothing.

Code Brown - Euphemism for a patient that has soiled the bed.

Some Military Nurse Acronyms that have the same letters but different meanings from Military Acronyms:

UA - Urinalysis   or Unmanned Airplane

OD - Right Eye or Officer of the Day

SD - Sexual Disease or Staff Duty