Alphabet Soup

Today there seems to be an acronym for almost everything. Every industry has their own special language they have developed to “streamline” communication. We are certainly no exception as we commonly see DFWHC Foundation referenced on many of our documents. Foundation is easy to figure out, but many people ask what does DFWHC stand for? DFWHC of course stands for Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council.

Upon a Google search I discovered that it appears nobody else is using that acronym and we are unique. Having a unique acronym is not always common and what can make things even more confusing is that an acronym can mean different things to different industries and organizations. For example CAP can mean Community Acquired Pneumonia, which is commonly used in our data analysis and research. I found over 300 different meanings for CAP. The search revealed the following:

CAP Acronym


Here are just a few of the definitions for CAP:

Cut and Paste
Coop Airlift Plan
Content Aware Processor
Club Auto Passion (French Automobile Club)
Capacity or Capability or Capital

We currently have two research projects that involve AAA. No, we are not working with the American Automobile Association, although it is not out of the question with all the ER (Emergency Room) data we have available. We are working on a research project with the AAA (Area Agency on Aging) and the United Way of Tarrant County, plus we are assisting the Baylor Research Institute with a study on AAA (Abdominal Aortic Aneurisms).

When I am asked about where I work and what I do, I have discovered that the following induces glazed eyes and the inability to speak:

“I work for the DFWHC Foundation and I am the Director of the IQSC (Data Services). We support hospitals in their data submission to THCIC. We place that data in our regional data warehouse where we put BI tools on top of the data and run statistical algorithms such as the AHRQ Indicators and the NYU Algorithm. This allows our hospitals the ability to analyze many different areas that help improve patient care.”

IQSC – Information and Quality Services Center
THCIC – Texas Health Care Information Collection
BI – Business Intelligence
AHRQ – Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
NYU – New York University

It is like I just spoke a different language. Seriously, it can be a bit overwhelming—even for those of us who have been working in this industry for many years. The first time I heard the acronym CABG (pronounced cabbage) in a meeting I knew the meeting attendees could not be talking about a vegetable—but, I was too embarrassed to ask. Later I looked it up and found out it means Coronary Artery Bypass Graft. In order to assist with the overwhelming number of acronyms, we have compiled a small list of the most common acronyms we use when discussing research and data analysis: Alphabet Soup Acronym List

In a world that’s constantly changing and with all the new healthcare reform, this list will continue to be updated. If you have any additional acronyms you would like to add and make available, please send me an email.

Theresa Mendoza
tmendoza@dfwhcfoundation.org