Following are the full names of some commonly used acronyms in the surgical field:

ABS - American Board of Surgery

ABTS - American Board of Thoracic Surgeons

ACGME - Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. ACGME is the oversight council that evaluates and approves specialty training programs. It consists of members of The American College of Surgeons, The American College of Physicians, The American Hospital Association, and The American Association of Medical Colleges.

ABMS - American Board of Medical Specialties®. The ABMS coordinates the activities of the 24 approved medical specialty boards in the United States.

RRC - Residency Review Committee. RRC is an individual specialty committee, i.e. surgery, internal medicine, etc., that consists of a board of nationally recognized members of that specialty. The committee's recommendations are ultimately approved by the ACGME.

ACS - American College of Surgeons

AMA - American Medical Association

FACS - Fellow of The American College of Surgeons

PGY - an acronym for post-graduate year. The term is followed by a hyphen and the student physician's year of post-graduate training. For example, PGY-2 indicates the doctor in training is in his or her second year of post-graduate training.