Abbreviations

Labor and delivery: the hospital unit where patients give birth, with its own operating room for cesarean births.

An airway tube with a small inflatable mask on its end that sits over the larynx from above, placed through the mouth without a laryngoscope.

A device that makes an intense, narrow beam of light of one wavelength, used in surgery to cut, vaporize or coagulate tissue.

The trained person given the authority to run a facility's laser safety program, from hazard zones and eyewear to training and incident reviews.

The upper left quarter of the abdomen, on the patient's left, when two lines crossing at the navel divide it into four parts.

A short form for sexual and gender minority groups: L lesbian, G gay, B bisexual, T transgender, Q queer or questioning, I intersex, A asexual, + others.

An abbreviation for level of consciousness, or for loss of consciousness.

Poisoning of the brain and heart when too much local anesthetic reaches the bloodstream.

The ring of smooth muscle where the esophagus meets the stomach, which relaxes to let food in and then closes to keep stomach acid out of the esophagus.