OR
Abbreviation with 4 meanings
| Stands for | Operating room |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 4 |
| Categories | Medical, Geography & Places, Sports |
OR has four meanings. The most common are Operating room (hospital) and Oregon (US state); it can also stand for Odds ratio and Olympic record.
Meanings of OR at a glance
| # | OR stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Operating room | Medical › Hospital |
| 2 | Oregon | Geography & Places › US State |
| 3 | Odds ratio | Medical › Medical Research |
| 4 | Olympic record | Sports › Other Sports |
1. Operating room
Medical · Hospital Abbreviations
Sterile room where surgery is performed under anesthesia, staffed by surgeons, anesthesia providers, circulating nurses and scrub technicians. It also refers to the hospital's surgical department as a whole.
Example: Pt to OR at 0745 for laparoscopic appendectomy, consent signed.
Called the operating theatre in British English. Universal Protocol requires a time-out to confirm the patient, procedure and site before incision. Hybrid ORs combine surgical tables with advanced imaging for vascular and cardiac procedures. In general English OR is also the US state code for Oregon.
2. Oregon
Geography & Places · US State Abbreviations
The Beaver State joined the Union on February 14, 1859, as the 33rd state. Salem is the capital and Portland the largest city, and Oregon contains Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States at about 1,950 feet.
Example: The craft brewery ships only to customers in Portland, OR and Seattle.
AP style writes Ore.; the Government Publishing Office uses Oreg., and the Bluebook Or. OR was assigned in 1963. Because OR is also a common word and a logical operator, address fields should be validated rather than guessed, and in hospitals OR means operating room. Portland, OR is specified to distinguish it from Portland, Maine.
3. Odds ratio
Medical · Medical Research Abbreviations · also used in measurement
Ratio of the odds of an outcome in one group to the odds in another, the standard effect measure in case-control studies and logistic regression. An OR of 1 means no association, above 1 increased odds and below 1 decreased odds.
Example: Smoking was associated with lung cancer (OR 9.2, 95% CI 6.1 to 13.8).
When an outcome is rare, the odds ratio approximates the relative risk, but for common outcomes it exaggerates it, a frequent source of misleading headlines. Logistic regression reports adjusted odds ratios that account for confounders. In surgery OR means operating room.
4. Olympic record
Sports · Other Sports Abbreviations
Best performance ever achieved at the Olympic Games in an event, which may be slower than the world record. Results tables mark it OR.
Example: Her time of 3:51 set an OR in the women's 1500 meters.
Olympic records are tracked separately because championship races are often tactical rather than paced for times. A WR set at the Games is also an Olympic record. Outside sports, OR means operating room or Oregon.
Related abbreviations
More hospital abbreviations
- NSICU – Neuroscience intensive care unit
- Obs – Observation status
- OP – Outpatient
- OPD – Outpatient department
- PACU – Post-anesthesia care unit
- PASS – Pull, aim, squeeze, sweep
- PCMH – Patient-centered medical home
- PCU – Progressive care unit
See all 89 hospital abbreviations →
More US state abbreviations
- NV – Nevada
- NY – New York
- OH – Ohio
- OK – Oklahoma
- PA – Pennsylvania
- RI – Rhode Island
- SC – South Carolina
- SD – South Dakota
See all 51 US state abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.