Medical Test Abbreviations and Acronyms Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. When a doctor is concerned about a patient's "cell count" he usually orders a CBC. What does CBC stand for?

Answer: Complete Blood Count

A CBC has the complete breakdown of all the cells in your blood. Usually, doctors are concerned with the White Blood Count "WBC" (the cells that fight infections) and the Red Blood Count "RBC" (the cells that carry oxygen in the blood and give blood it's red color.) RBCs are further broken down into hemoglobin and hematocrit (H&H or Hgb & Hct) If their levels fall below 9 and 25 respectively, the doctor usually orders a blood transfusion.

2. Sometimes my patients are on a blood thinner called Coumadin (Warfarin) and they have to have a blood test every other day or every day, while in the hospital, to make sure their levels are therapeutic. This test is called what?

Answer: PT/INR

PT/INR is a Prothrombin Time/International Normalized Ratio test. Doctors mainly look at the INR and if it is greater than 3.0, they usually hold that day's dose of Coumadin.

A PTT is a Partial Thromboplastin Time and is usually ran while a patient is on Heparin therapy (They have a "heparin drip" which is continuous IV) A PTT is ordered every 6 hours until 3 consecutive therapeutic levels are reached, then they're ordered every 12 hours.

A CBC is a Complete Blood Count as described in question one (1).

A BMP is a Basic Metabolic Panel, which has the your basic electrolytes levels in your blood.

3. One of my patients complain of "burning while urinating," and I see that their urine is cloudy and it has a foul odor. I report these findings to the doctor and he ordered a U/A C&S. What does that mean?

Answer: Urine Analysis with Culture and Sensitivity

Urine Analysis measures the amount of bacteria, blood, and leukocytes in your urine, as well as other properties. Culture and Sensitivity identifies what bacteria is in your urine as well as what medications it is sensitive or resistant to, thus helping the doctor order the correct antibiotic to fight the infection.

There is a uric acid test as well, but when the doctor orders that test, it usually does not have a C&S.

4. When a doctor admits a patient with a history of Diabetes and he wants to see how her blood sugar has been over the past 2 to 3 months, he'll order a special blood glucose test called a _Glycosylated_Hemoglobin_. What is the common name of this test?

Answer: Hgb A1C

The Glycosylated Hemoglobin test is commonly referred to as a Hgb A1C or "Hemoglobin A1C." The values reflect the average blood sugar levels for the 2-3 month period before the test. This test is intended for long term diabetes control.

FSBS means "Finger Stick Blood Sugar" which is more commonly referred to as an accu-check.

H&H is a hemoglobin and hematocrit, which doctors commonly use to determine the need for a blood transfusion.

Serum Glucose is a blood test that is sent to the lab usually if a FSBS comes back too high or too low on more than one glucometer.

5. When a doctor is concerned about how well a patient's kidneys are working, they usually order a Blood Urea Nitrogen and Creatinine test. What is the common name for those tests?

Answer: BUN & Creatinine

BUN & Creatinine(or sometimes Cr.) is the correct answer. The higher the BUN result, usually indicates the greater necrosis of kidney tissue (Necrosis is dead tissue) and the Creatinine diagnoses impaired renal (kidney) function. It is more sensitive and specific than the BUN but both are usually ordered in a chronic (long-term) renal disease patient to evaluate renal problems because the BUN/Creatinine ratio provides more information for the doctor.

(A Manual of Laboratory & Diagnostic Tests Sixth edition pgs. 390 (BUN) and 394 (Creatinine) paraphrased.) This book was one of the textbooks I used in nursing school.

6. Sometimes a doctor orders radiology tests. When he writes PCXR, what is he ordering?

Answer: Portable Chest X-Ray

Portable chest x-ray is the correct answer. It's an x-ray that is taken in the patient's room and is usually not as clear as one taken in the radiology dept. but it's usually clear enough for the doctor to see what he wants to see. They're commonly ordered after a central line (IV access into the subclavian vein) is placed or if the patient isn't stable enough to go to radiology for the test. Though there are many other reasons for a portable chest x-ray to be ordered, those two are the most common reasons.

7. At one of the hospitals I've worked, there is a policy that whenever you insert a Foley Catheter (F/C), you have to send a urine sample to the lab. Which of the following is that test?

Answer: Baseline Leukocyte Esterase

CBC is a blood test, as is a blood culture. A sputum culture is well, a culture of one's sputum.

The only one left is the Baseline Leukocyte Estrase. This is a test to see what, if any, bacteria is in the patient's urine. If there is no bacteria present, and the patient ends up with a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) then there is a chance the nurse did not use sterile technique to insert the F/C.

8. Sometimes, a patient complains of chest pain. There are several tests that are ordered for chest pain, but one of the first is an EKG. What does EKG stand for?

Answer: Electrocardiogram

This test is also called ECG, but the older term is EKG, based on the German spelling of the test. Also, "cardio-" phonetically has the "K" sound.

9. When I'm taking care of diabetic patients, they usually have FSBS ordered AC/HS. What is a FSBS and what does AC/HS mean?

Answer: Finger Stick Blood Sugars (accu-check) before meals and at bedtime

FSBS is the abbreviation for Finger Stick Blood Sugar or more commonly known as an Accu-check. AC is the abbreviation for the Latin words "ante cibum" which means before meals and HS is the abbreviation for the Latin words "hora somn", which means hour of sleep, otherwise known as bedtime.

10. Sometimes a physician orders a BMP to measure the basic electrolyte levels in your blood. What does the acronym BMP stand for?

Answer: Basic Metabolic Panel

A BMP measures the basic electrolyte level of your blood. Some of the things it measures would be your Potassium (K+), Sodium (Na+), Chloride (Cl-), and Blood Glucose levels.

I hope that this quiz has been educational for you and not too terribly hard. Have a wonderful day and take care of yourself.

Source: Author SnofireRose

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor crisw before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

As a nurse, I come across many different abbreviations and acronyms each day. This quiz is about commonly ordered tests. I hope you enjoy this quiz and learn something you didn't know before. Have fun and good luck.

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