VTCSOM Acronyms: List

A

AAMC = American Association of Medical Colleges

ABMS = American Board of Medical Specialties

ACCME = Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education

• Accredits organizations that provide continuing medical education for physicians.

ACE = Accredited Continuing Education

ACGME = Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education

ACGME Competencies:

1. Practice-Based Learning and Improvement (PBLI)
2. Patient Care and Procedural Skills (PCPS)
3. Systems-Based Practice (SBP)
4. Medical Knowledge (MK)
5. Interpersonal and Communication Skills (ICS)
6. Professionalism (PROF)

ACO = Accountable Care Organization

• a group of health care providers that work together to give Medicare patients coordinated care

ACR - American College of Radiation

AI (multiple uses)

= Acting Internship 

= Appreciative Inquiry

= Artificial Intelligence

AMA = American Medical Association

APGO = Association of Professors of Gynecology & Obstetrics 

API = Application Programming Interface

• a mechanism to connect two or more systems

APRT = Appointments, Promotion, Retention, and Tenure (Committee)

AR (multiple uses)

= Augmented Reality

= Away Rotations

AY = Academic Year

B

B&B = Boards & Beyond

• 3rd party educational product VTCSOM provides a subscription to medical students to augment and enhance learning outside the classroom

BIC-1 = Block Integration Curriculum 1 

• Prior to the curriculum change in 2024, this was the VTCSOM committee that worked on developing and modifying the curriculum and learning experiences for M1 & M2 preclinical (Phase 1) students.

BIC2 = Block Integration Curriculum 2

• This is the VTCSOM committee that works on developing and modifying the curriculum and learning experiences for M3 & M4 clinical (Phase 2) students.

BFC = Bradley Free Clinic

BOG / BOTG = Boots on the Ground

BOGG = Boots on the Ground Group(s)

BS = Basic Sciences

• One of the four domains of the VTCSOM 

C

CAPS = Clinical Advancement and Patient Safety 

CARE = Clinical Awareness and Reflection Experience

• C³ARE:

Clinician interviews
Community
Clinical half-day

CAS = Customized Assessment Services

• NBME exam format that will be used in IFS course as part of curriculum starting in summer 2024

CBHDS = Center for Biostatistics and Health Data Science

• Research support service provided by Virginia Tech

CBME = Competency-Based Medical Education

CBSE = Comprehensive Basic Science Examination

CBSSA = Comprehensive Basic Science Self-Assessment

CC = Clinical Competency

CCI = Community and Clinical Immersions

• One of five new courses starting in 2024 for preclinical section of curriculum that contains LACE and BOG.

CCSE (multiple uses)

= Comprehensive Clinical Science Examination

= Comprehensive Clinical Skills Exam

CCSSA = Comprehensive Clinical Science Self-Assessment 

CCT = Course Continuity Team

• Oversees IFS course

CD = (multiple uses)

= Clerkship Director

= Competency Domain

1. Patient Care (PC)
2. Medical Knowledge (MK)
3. Systems-Based Practice (SLP)
4. Problem-Based Learning and Improvement (PBLI)
5. Professionalism (PROF)
6. Interpersonal and Communication Skills (ICS)

CK = Clinical Knowledge

CLE = Community Learning Exchange

CM = Concept Maps

CME = Continuing Medical Education

CNH = Children's National Hospital

CNRIC = Children's National Research & Innovation Campus (Washington, DC)

COI = Conflict of Interest

COW = Case of the Week

CQI = Continuous Quality Improvement

CR = Curriculum Representative

• Starting with the Class of 2028, each class will have a student representative who will serve as liaison to connect student feedback, comments, questions, concerns forward to curriculum faculty and provide faculty feedback about the curriculum to the class.  

CRC = Corporate Research Center (Blacksburg, VA)

CRCH = Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital

CRMH = Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital

CRQ = Constructed Response Question(s)

CS = Clinical Science(s)

• One of the four domains of the VTCSOM 

CSE = Clinical Simulation Exam

CSRPS = Center for Simulation Research and Patient Safety

CST = Core Strategy Team

CY = Calendar Year

D

DCI = Data Collection Instrument

DEI = Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

DoIT = Division of IT (Virginia Tech)

E

EBE = End of Block Evaluations

ECE = Early Clinical Experience  

• Former title for VTCSOM's longitudinal immersion course that contains LACE and BOG. Will not be officially used going forward in the curriculum post-2024, but acronym exists in some draft materials and pre-2024 curriculum documents.

eFAST = Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma

• non-invasive ultrasound exam that helps doctors evaluate patients with chest or abdominal trauma

EGS = Emergency General Surgery

EHR = Electronic Health Record

EM = Emergency Medicine

EMR = Electronic Medical Record(s)

EMS = Emergency Medical Services

EMQ = Extended Matching Question (exam question type)

• Question type typically used in exams to test applied knowledge and diagnostic reasoning skills.

EOB = End of Block

EoS = End of Semester

EPA = Entrustable Professional Activities 

EPO = Educational Program Objectives

ERAS = Electronic Residency Application System

ERM = Error Reflection Method

• Method/worksheet to use the information from quiz/test results to focus on the "why" a response was incorrect in order to address the underlying cause of the error.

F

F = Fail (grading)

F&A = Facilities & Administrative (costs)

• Typically referred to in grants as the indirect costs associated with conducting research

F.A.C.E.T = acronym used during All-Hands meetings for periodic updates from specific groups:

• Facilities and New Building Updates
• Accreditation Process
• Curriculum
• Enrollment Growth & Program Development
• Transition Monitoring Team (TMT)

FBRI = Fralin Biomedical Research Institute

FERPA = Family Education Rights and Privacy Act

FREIDA = Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database

FSMB = Federation of State Medical Boards

FTE = Full Time Equivalent 

FY = Fiscal Year

G

GME = Graduate Medical Education

GI = Gastrointestinal

GQ = Graduate Questionaire 

GR = Grand Rounds

GU = Genitourinary

 

H

H = Honors (grading)

HART = Health Analytics Research Team

• Research support service provided by Carilion Clinic

HCE = Health Care Ethics

HCP = Healthcare Professional

HEENOT = Head, Ears, Eyes, Nose, Oral, Throat

HEENT = Head, Ears, Eyes, Nose, Throat

HERS = Health Professions Education Research Series

• 18 month cohort program offered by TEACH

HIPPA = Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

HM = Harmonized Milestone

HMA = Harmonized Milestone Assessment

HP = High Pass (grading)

HPI = History of Present Illness

HSIS = Health Systems & Implementation Science

• Department within the VTCSOM

HS&T = Health Sciences & Technology (campus)

HSS = Health Systems Science

• Includes the study of how healthcare delivery systems provide high quality, high value care to the patients and populations they serve and the teams of healthcare professionals from a variety of disciplines who work together to deliver this care.

HSSIP = Health Systems Science and Interprofessional Practice

• One of the four domains of the VTCSOM 
• One of five new courses starting in 2024 for the preclinical curriculum 

HST = Health Sciences and Technology

Hx = History

I

I2I = Inquiry to Impact

ICE = Integrated Case-based Essay

ICS  (multiple uses)

= Interpersonal and Communication Skills

= Interprofessional Collaborative Skills

IDR = Interdisciplinary Rounds

IDT = Interdisciplinary Teams

IEO = (Office of) Inclusive Excellence & Opportunity

IFS = Integrated Foundational Sciences. 

• One of five new courses starting in 2024 for preclinical section of curriculum that contains BS and CS.

ILP = Individual Learning Plan

IP (multiple uses)

= Intellectual Property

= Internet Protocol (IP address)

= Interprofessional Practice 

• Refers to teams of healthcare professionals from a variety of disciplines working together to deliver high quality healthcare

IRB = Institutional Review Board

• University entity that approves all human-subject research prior to any human-subject research taking place

IS = Illness Scripts

ISA = Independent Student Analysis

ISP = (multiple uses)

= Individual/Individualized Study Plan

= Intensive Study Period

ISR = Interdepartmental Service Request

• Process used to transfer funds between departments in the university

iTHRIV = integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia

J

K

KPI = Key Performance Indicators

L

LACE = Longitudinal Ambulatory Care Experience

LASSI = Learning and Study Strategies Inventory

LCME = Liaison Committee on Medical Education

• National organization responsible for accrediting medical education programs

LCME DCI = Data Collection Instrument 

LCME ISA = Independent Student Analysis

LEAC = Learning Environment Advocacy Committee

LETs-C = Library and Educational Technologies Committee

LLM = Large Language Modeling

• Often used for AI computational applications, seeing an increase of this type of technology being used in medical settings (e.g. medical records)

LO / LOS = Learning Outcome(s)

LOD = Letters of Distinction

• Historical context, last used in Phase 1 curriculum for the Class of 2027

M

M1 = 1st year medical student

M2 = 2nd year medical student

M3 = 3rd year medical student

M4 = 4th year medical student

MALL = Master Adaptive Learner Log

MCC = Medical Curriculum Committee 

MCQ = Multiple Choice Question(s)

MD = Physican (Medical Doctor)

MDT = Module Delivery Template

MELT = Medical Education Leadership Team

MEQ = Modified Essay Question(s)

MeSH = Medical Subject Headings

• Form of controlled vocabulary most ofren used when searching PubMed or Medline

MK = Medical Knowledge

MMI (multiple uses)

= Maximum Medical Improvement

= Multiple Mini Interview

• Series of short assessments used to evaluate "soft" skills such as communication, teamwork, cultural sensitivity, and collegiality

MOA = Memorandum of Agreement

MOU = Memorandum of Understanding

MSAC = Medical Student Admissions Committee

MSK = Musculoskeletal 

MSPCC = Medical Student Performance and Promotion Committee 

• This VTCSOM committee has the ultimate responsibility for overseeing the student professionalism system.
• They have the delegated the responsibility for overseeing all processes by which students are promoted, evaluated, or removed from their academic program.

MSPE = Medical Student Performance Evaluation

• A written transcript of the student's performance in medical school and a required component of the residency application.

N

NBME = National Board of Medical Examiners

NBME CAS = NBME Customized Assessment Services

NCAT = National Clinical Assessment Tool

NCAT-EM = National Clinical Assessment Tool in the Emergency Department

NG = Nasogastric (tube)

NLP = Natural Language Processing

NM = Nurse-Midwife/Midwives

NP = Nurse-Practitioner(s)

NRMP = National Resident Matching Program

O

OEA = Office for Equity and Accessibility

• Coordinates and supports civil rights compliance and offers resources to address workplace conflicts for the university.

OME = Office of Medical Education

OR&I = Office of Research and Innovation

• This group has oversight of all of Virginia Tech's research activities for the university (IRB, IACUC, sponsored programs, compliance, etc.). 

OSCE = Objective Structured Clinical Examination

OSR = Organization of Student Representatives 

OVPRI = Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation 

• Previous name of Virginia Tech's office that oversees all aspects of research for the university (IRB, IACUC, sponsored programs, compliance, etc.). This is a common acronym on several grants and extensions. 

P

P = Pass (grading)

PA = Physician's Assistant

PATH = Pregnancy Access to Health

• Program started in 2025 under the OBGYN SIG (Student Interest Group) that connects pairs of medical students to underserved pregnant patients that may be going through pregnancy alone and/or those who may benefit from added support while navigating the healthcare system.

PBL = Problem-Based Learning

PBLI = Practice-Based Learning and Improvement

PBR = Pioneers in Biomedical Research

• Seminar series

PC (multiple uses)

= Patient Care

= Primary Care

PCPS = Patient Care and Procedural Skills 

PDSA = Plan, Do, Study, Act

• a method for testing changes in healthcare to improve quality

PE (multiple uses)

= Physical Exam/Examination

= Program Evaluation

PENs = Physical Examination Notes

PGY = Post Graduate Year

• PGY-1 is the first year after graduating from medical school and is an intern position
• PGY-2 and higher are considered residency positions

PHS = Population Health Sciences

PI =  (multiple uses)

= Primary Institution

= Primary Investigator

PIC-1 = Phase 1 Integration Committee

• With the start of the new curriculum in 2024, this VTCSOM committee works on developing and modifying the curriculum and learning experiences for all preclinical students

PIC 2/3 = Phase 2 & 3 Integration Committee

• With the start of the new curriculum in 2024, this VTCSOM committee works on developing and modifying the curriculum and learning experiences for all clinical students and is developing the new phases of the curriculum as VTCSOM moves to a 3-phase structure. 

POC = Point of Care

POCUS = Point of Care Ultrasound

POMI = Profession of Medicine Identities 

• One of five new courses starting in 2024 for preclinical curriculum
• 2-week immersion course, incorporates CARE and C³ARE

PROF = Professionalism

PT = Physical Therapy

Q

Qbank = Question Bank (exam prep tools)

QR (code) = Quick Response (code)

R

R&I = Research & Inquiry

• One of the four domains of the VTCSOM 

RAP = Running Assessment Performance

RBIA = Roanoke Blacksburg Innovation Alliance 

• an organization focused on growing the region’s technology and biotechnology sectors

RFA = Request for Application

• Often used when applying for grant funding

RGSA = Roanoke Graduate Student Association

RHEC = Roanoke Higher Education Center

RIC = Research & Innovation Campus (Washington, DC)

• Shortened abbreviation sometimes used for the Children's National Research & Innovation Campus (CNRIC)
• Not the same as Virginia Tech's Innovation Campus (which is located in Alexandria, VA)

RIP = Research in Progress

• Seminar series

RISE = Retention, Inclusion, Success, and Empowerment in Medicine (aka RISE in Medicine)

ROS = Review of Systems

RPSS = Research Proposal Step-back Session

S

S = Subcompetency

When used in conjunction with VTCSOM's Competency Domains, for instance:

CD2_S9 =  Medical Knowledge, Basic science foundation
CD3_S16 = Systems-based Practice, Quality improvement
CD5_S32 = Professionalism, Conscientious behaviors

SACS = Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

SADME = Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education

SAQ = Short Answer Question(s)

SBA = Single Best Answer (exam question type)

• Question type typically used in exams to identify gaps in your knowledge. 

SBAR = Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation

• a tool used to share information clearly and concisely, particularly in healthcare settings

SBP = Systems-Based Practice

SCHEV = State Council of Higher Education for Virginia 

SDOH = Social Determinants of Health

SIG = Student Interest Group(s)

SIM = Simulations 

SLOE = Standardized Letter of Evaluation

• a required document for all Emergency Medicine (EM) residency applications.

SOP = Standard Operating Procedures

SOAP (multiple uses)

= Subjective, Objective, Assessment, & Plan

= Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program

SOW = Statement of Work

SSD = Services for Students with Disabilities 

SP = Standardized Patient

SPAL = Special Projects Anatomy Lab

SSO = Single Sign On (for logging into VT resources)

SWOT = Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

T

TBA = To be Announced

TBN = To be Named

TEACH = Teaching Excellence Academy for Collaborative Healthcare

TMT = Transition Monitoring Team

• Starting in Dec 2024, this team will be monitoring the changes and implementations as the VTCSOM begins to explore and incrementally expand its class sizes. 

TTR = Transition to Residency

U

UME = Undergraduate Medical Education

URiM or URIM = Underrepresented in Medicine

URM = Underrepresented Minority

US = Ultrasound

USMLE = United States Medical Licensing Examination

• The exam administered by NBME and is comprised of three separate exams (steps)

Step 1 assesses the basic sciences skills and concepts taught during pre-clerkship curriculum. 

Step 2 CK assesses clinical knowledge and skills that can be applied to patient care under supervision.

Step 3 assesses in-depth clinical knowledge and decision-making to be able to care for patients independently. 

V

VAMC = Veterans Affairs Medical Center

VIAL = Virginia Intercollegiate Anatomy Lab

VITAL = Virginia Innovations and Technology Advancements in Life Sciences

• 2025 project that plans to establish new research cores, expand workforce development programs, and create a collaborative network connecting Virginia Tech and other academic institutions with industry partners across the commonwealth’s biotechnology corridor (partnership between VTCSOM, FBRI, Carilion, and RBIA.

VR = Virtual Reality

VSLO = Visiting Student Learning Opportunities

VT = Virginia Tech

VTCSOM = Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine

VTF = Virginia Tech Foundation

 

W

WAC = Wellness Advocacy Committee

WBA = Work-based Assessment

X

Y

Y2Q = Year 2 Questionnaire

• Administered by the AAMC, this online questionnaire asks second-year medical students to share their thoughts on a variety of topics.

Z

#s (Acronyms that start with numbers)

2FA = Two-Factor Authentication

• Authentication step required to log into all VT-associated accounts - Canvas, Library resources, etc.