Birth Injury Answers

Records glossary and decoder

Type a term or an abbreviation from the chart. It searches as you type.

The short answer

Medical records are written in shorthand. This decodes it.

Type any word or abbreviation from your records. It searches the term, the abbreviation and the explanation, so you will find something even if you are not sure of the spelling.

The numbers, up front

Terms covered
181 terms and abbreviations, across the brain and nerves, breathing, infection, labor, tests, therapy, school, money and legal language 1
Where the definitions come from
They are written for this site from the clinical sources cited on the condition pages, in plain language rather than clinical language 1
What it is not
A dictionary entry is not a diagnosis and it is not an interpretation of your record. Take the actual chart to your doctor 2

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, stored on any server, or seen by anyone including us. There is no analytics on this page. You can check this yourself: turn off your internet connection and the search still works.

Search

If you cannot find it

Try the long form and the short form. Records use both, sometimes on the same page.

Try part of the word. The search looks inside the explanations too.

Ask. Any clinician will explain an abbreviation, and asking is not an imposition. "I found this in the notes and I do not know what it means" is a normal sentence.

If the handwriting is illegible, ask the facility for a typed transcription, or ask which staff member wrote the entry so it can be clarified. 3

If a term is missing from this glossary and you think it should be here, tell us through the corrections page.

The documents these terms come from

Most of the shorthand on this page appears in a small number of documents.

  • The fetal monitoring strip and the labor notes. 4
  • The operative report and the anesthesia record. 5
  • The newborn resuscitation record. 6
  • The NICU daily notes and flow sheets. 7
  • The placental pathology report. 2

See how to read your labor and delivery records, which goes through each document and explains what it says.

Questions parents ask

Are these definitions medical advice?

No. They explain what a term means in general. They cannot tell you what a term means in your child's record, because that depends on the context around it. Take the actual chart to your doctor. 2

Why does the same thing have several names?

Because medicine accumulated its vocabulary over a long time, and because different specialties name the same thing differently. Intrauterine growth restriction and fetal growth restriction are the same. Cephalhematoma and cephalohematoma are the same word spelled two ways. The search covers both.

Is anything I type here recorded?

No. The search runs in your browser against a list already loaded onto your device. There is no server involved and no analytics on this page.

Where these facts come from

  1. U.S. National Library of Medicine. MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. 2025. medlineplus.gov/encyclopedia.html. Link checked September 3, 2026.
  2. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and American Academy of Pediatrics. Neonatal Encephalopathy and Neurologic Outcome, Second Edition. 2014. www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/task-force-report/ar. Link checked September 3, 2026.
  3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. Individuals Right under HIPAA to Access their Health Information, 45 CFR 164.524. 2024. www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/access/. Link checked September 3, 2026.
  4. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Practice Bulletin 106, Intrapartum Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring: Nomenclature, Interpretation, and General Management Principles. 2009. www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-bulletin. Link checked September 3, 2026.
  5. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Practice Bulletin 219, Operative Vaginal Birth. 2020. www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-bulletin. Link checked September 3, 2026.
  6. American Heart Association and American Academy of Pediatrics, Circulation. Neonatal Life Support: 2020 American Heart Association Guidelines for CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. 2020. www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000902. Link checked September 3, 2026.
  7. American Academy of Pediatrics, Pediatrics. Levels of Neonatal Care. 2012. publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/130/3/587. Link checked September 3, 2026.