Abbreviations: the need for legibility and accuracy in documentation.

This article explores the use of abbreviations in health care. It considers the current advice of the Nursing and Midwifery Council against the use of any abbreviations and suggests, in the interests of using time effectively, that it would be wise for directorates within trusts to create a list of approved abbreviations and symbols so that the dangers of misunderstandings are removed. It also considers how the problem of illegibility should be dealt with as a clinical governance issue.