SH
Abbreviation with 3 meanings
| Stands for | Social history |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 3 |
| Categories | Medical, Geography & Places |
SH has three meanings. The most common are Social history (medical documentation) and Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (country code); it can also stand for State Highway.
Meanings of SH at a glance
| # | SH stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Social history | Medical › Medical Documentation |
| 2 | Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha | Geography & Places › Country Code |
| 3 | State Highway | Geography & Places › Address |
1. Social history
Medical · Medical Documentation Abbreviations
Section of the history covering tobacco, alcohol and drug use, occupation, living situation, relationships, sexual history, travel, exercise and other factors that influence health and recovery.
Example: SH: lives alone in 2nd-floor walk-up, retired electrician, quit smoking 2015, ETOH 2 beers/week.
Also written SHx. Social history informs discharge planning, infection risk, occupational exposures and medication safety. Questions about housing, food and transportation, called social determinants of health, are increasingly built into this section. Asking in a nonjudgmental way improves accuracy.
2. Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations
British Overseas Territory of three island groups in the South Atlantic, with Jamestown on Saint Helena as its capital. Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena from 1815 until his death in 1821.
Example: Since 2017 commercial flights have reached SH, ending its reliance on a mail ship.
Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world. Ascension uses the separate reserved code AC for its .ac domain. The alpha-3 code is SHN.
3. State Highway
Geography & Places · Address Abbreviations
State highway designation used in Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and other states, as in SH 130 near Austin, a toll road with an 85 mph limit, the highest posted speed in the US.
Example: Take SH 71 west to reach the airport.
Other states call similar roads State Route or State Road. In New Zealand SH also means State Highway, as in SH1, which runs the length of both main islands.
Related abbreviations
More medical documentation abbreviations
- R/O – Rule out
- ROS – Review of systems
- RTC – Return to clinic
- SBAR – Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation
- SOAP – Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan
- SOAPIE – Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan, Intervention, Evaluation
- SOB – Shortness of breath
- Sx – Symptoms
See all 79 medical documentation abbreviations →
More country code abbreviations
- SCO – Scotland
- SD – Sudan
- SE – Sweden
- SG – Singapore
- SI – Slovenia
- SJ – Svalbard and Jan Mayen
- SK – Slovakia
- SL – Sierra Leone
See all 270 country code abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.