The healthcare network has 1001 acronyms and abbreviations. A real jargon that many patients struggle to understand. Here is a glossary – not exhaustive – to help you.
CH: No, we’re not talking about the CH tattooed on the heart. More like a hospital center. The kind of place you’d rather not end up – unless you work there.
GMF, GMF-U, GMF-A and GMF-R : Groups of family doctors and professionals, such as nurses and social workers (oops, social workers!), who provide care to the population. Your family doctor – if you have one – is probably part of a GMF.
The GMF-U (university) welcomes residents in family medicine as well as students and interns in various disciplines (pharmacy, nursing, etc.). A GMF-A (access) or the GMF-R (network) is a superclinic, open 7 days a week.
CIUSSS and CISSS : Integrated university health and social services centres – count nine words without writing the name of the region! – and integrated health and social services centres. They manage, in their respective territories, hospitals, CLSCs (sorry, see below), CHSLDs (also below) and several other facilities whose acronyms we will spare you.
CLSC : Local community service center, which offers various services: vaccination, sampling, consultation with a nurse or doctor, psychosocial intervention, etc.
CHSLD : Long-term care accommodation centers for people with severe loss of autonomy.
GAP : A well-known clothing brand, but also the front-line access point. Orphan patients or those registered with a GMF must contact the GAP to get an appointment with a professional or doctor. Patience required.
GAMF : Access point to a family doctor. More than 650,000 Quebecers waiting, as of June 15. Patience required.
MSSS : Ministry of Health and Social Services, sometimes renamed (affectionately?) the “mammoth”.
IPS-PL, IPS-SM : Version 2.0 of the IPS acronym: primary care nurse practitioner and mental health nurse practitioner.
TSO : Denounced by nurses. Mandatory overtime.
ME : Not you. The independent workforce. What? Independent workforce? Employees of private personnel placement agencies.
PAB : Beneficiary attendants.
PCI and EPI : Popularized during the pandemic. Infection prevention and control. Personal protective equipment (mask, gloves, gown, etc.).
NSA : It sounds like an American agency and it is one – the National Security Agency. In Quebec, NSA (alternative level of care) patients are those who occupy hospital beds, but who no longer need acute care in a hospital center. They remain in the hospital because they do not have a place in a CHSLD or a rehabilitation center, for example.
CMS : Specialized medical centers. These private clinics perform surgical procedures on behalf of the public health network. The operation is free for the patient.
RAMQ : Quebec Health Insurance Board. Sun card.
RVSQ: Rendez-vous santé Québec. Online platform for making an appointment with a family doctor.
FIRST: Regional medical staffing plans. These are new positions for family doctors and specialist doctors distributed each year between the regions. The number allocated per territory is determined according to the needs of the regions.
AMP : Special medical activities. Family doctors with less than 15 years of practice must do 12 hours of AMP each week. For example, working in the emergency room or in a hospitalization unit, practicing in a CHSLD, providing care in an office, etc. Quebec wants to impose AMP on specialist doctors. Negotiations in progress.
DRMG : Regional department of general medicine. It decides on the AMPs in its territory. It distributes the PREMs in its region into the RLS – well, another acronym, that of local service networks, which designate sectors such as La Petite-Patrie–Villeray in Montreal.
811 : Telephone line. Press 1 to reach an Info-Santé nurse who will give you advice based on your state of health. Press 2 to discuss a psychosocial or mental health problem with an Info-Social worker. Press 3 to reach the GAP.
CRDS: Service Request Distribution Center. A general practitioner must make a request to the CRDS for their patient to have an initial appointment with a specialist doctor, such as a cardiologist, gastroenterologist or dermatologist.
DI-TSA-DP access counter : Gateway to services for people with intellectual disabilities (ID), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or physical disabilities (PD).
GASMA : Adult mental health access point.
RI-RTF : Intermediate and family-type resources. Living environments for seniors, adults or children.
SAD : Home support.
SQ : Santé Québec? Impossible to dethrone the Sûreté du Québec. After checking with the office of Health Minister Christian Dubé, the new agency does not have an acronym. At least, not for the moment…