NF
Abbreviation with 6 meanings
| Stands for | Non-formulary |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 6 |
| Categories | Medical, Geography & Places |
NF has six meanings. The most common are Non-formulary (pharmacy) and Nursing facility (hospital); it can also stand for National Forest, National Formulary, Newfoundland and Norfolk Island.
Meanings of NF at a glance
| # | NF stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Non-formulary | Medical › Pharmacy |
| 2 | Nursing facility | Medical › Hospital |
| 3 | National Forest | Geography & Places › Geographic Feature |
| 4 | National Formulary | Medical › Pharmacy |
| 5 | Newfoundland | Geography & Places › Canadian Province and Territory |
| 6 | Norfolk Island | Geography & Places › Country Code |
1. Non-formulary
Medical · Pharmacy Abbreviations
Status of a drug that is not on a hospital's or health plan's approved list of medicines. In hospitals, NF drugs may require special approval or a substitution; in insurance plans they may not be covered or cost much more.
Example: Valsartan is NF here; pharmacy will interchange to losartan per P&T protocol.
Hospital formularies are maintained by Pharmacy and Therapeutics committees, which approve automatic therapeutic interchanges for classes such as ARBs and proton pump inhibitors. Patients may bring their own NF medications in some hospitals after pharmacist verification. In long-term care, NF means nursing facility.
2. Nursing facility
Medical · Hospital Abbreviations
US Medicaid term for a nursing home providing long-term nursing and personal care. Many facilities are certified as both a skilled nursing facility for Medicare and a nursing facility for Medicaid.
Example: Resident transitioned from Medicare SNF days to Medicaid NF coverage.
Federal nursing home standards apply to both SNFs and NFs certified by Medicare or Medicaid. The difference mostly concerns who pays and the level of care: SNF stays are short-term skilled, NF care is longer-term. In neurology NF also means neurofibromatosis.
3. National Forest
Geography & Places · Geographic Feature Abbreviations
Federal forest land managed by the US Forest Service for timber, grazing, recreation and conservation, labeled NF on maps, as in Tongass NF in Alaska, the largest at about 17 million acres.
Example: Dispersed camping is allowed in most of the Gifford Pinchot NF.
There are more than 150 national forests. Unlike national parks, they allow logging, grazing, hunting and mining. NF was also the former Canada Post code for Newfoundland.
4. National Formulary
Medical · Pharmacy Abbreviations
Compendium of standards for excipients, botanicals and other pharmaceutical ingredients, published jointly with the United States Pharmacopeia as the USP-NF. "NF" after an ingredient name means it meets that official standard.
Example: Lactose monohydrate NF is the diluent in the capsule formula.
The National Formulary was first published in 1888 by the American Pharmaceutical Association. USP acquired it in 1975, and the two have been issued as a single combined volume since 1980. Today drug substances and products have USP monographs, while inactive ingredients usually have NF monographs.
5. Newfoundland
Geography & Places · Canadian Province and Territory Abbreviations
Former postal symbol for Newfoundland, replaced by NL after the province was renamed Newfoundland and Labrador in 2001. Old address databases and pre-2001 correspondence still show it.
Example: The 1990s customer list still has Corner Brook, NF, which should be updated to NL.
NF is also the ISO country code for Norfolk Island, an Australian territory, so stale Canadian records can be misread as Australian addresses.
6. Norfolk Island
Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations
Small Australian external territory in the Pacific with Kingston as its administrative center, settled in 1856 by descendants of the Bounty mutineers who moved from Pitcairn Island. It gives its name to the Norfolk Island pine.
Example: Freight to NF arrives by sea only a few times a year.
Many residents speak Norfuk, a creole of English and Tahitian. NF was also the former Canada Post code for Newfoundland. The alpha-3 code is NFK.
Related abbreviations
More pharmacy abbreviations
- NAPLEX – North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination
- NCPDP – National Council for Prescription Drug Programs
- NDA – New Drug Application
- NDC – National Drug Code
- NS – Normal saline
- NSS – Normal saline solution
- ODT – Orally disintegrating tablet
- oint – Ointment
See all 134 pharmacy abbreviations →
More hospital abbreviations
- MBU – Mother-baby unit
- Med-Surg – Medical-surgical
- MET – Medical emergency team
- MICU – Medical intensive care unit
- NICU – Neonatal intensive care unit
- NM – Nurse manager
- NPSG – National Patient Safety Goals
- NSICU – Neuroscience intensive care unit
See all 89 hospital abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.