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Medicine vocabulary · Treatments and Procedures

Nil by mouth

Meaning in medicine, with examples

phraseAdvanced term

In medicine, nil by mouth means: An instruction that a patient must not eat or drink anything, usually before surgery or some tests, or when swallowing is unsafe.

In Turkish: oral alımı kapalı, ağızdan bir şey verilmemesi, aç bırakma

How it is used

A British phrase, written NBM on charts and on signs above the bed. The US equivalent is NPO, from the Latin 'nil per os'. Doctors decide when a patient is kept nil by mouth and when eating and drinking can restart.

Example sentences

  1. Keep him nil by mouth from midnight; he's first on the theatre list.

  2. She's nil by mouth until the swallow assessment after her stroke.

Common collocations

  • keep nil by mouth
  • nil by mouth from midnight
  • NBM
  • NPO
  • surgeryTreatment in which a doctor cuts into the body to repair, remove or replace something; also the medical specialty that does this.
  • operating theatreA specially equipped, very clean room in a hospital where surgical operations are carried out.
  • intravenousGiven directly into a vein, usually through a thin plastic tube called a cannula, as with fluids, antibiotics or pain relief.
  • strokeSudden damage to part of the brain caused by a blocked blood vessel or by bleeding, which can cause weakness, speech problems or loss of vision.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Treatments and Procedures

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.