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EMR Unit 1
vocab words
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Advanced emergency medical technician | A person trained in emergency care, with the additional training to allow insertion of IVs, administration of medications, performance of advanced airway procedures, and setting up and assessing of electrocardiograms (ECGs or EKGs) |
| Certification | Credentialing at the local level |
| Direct medical control | A type of medical direction, also called “on-line,” “base-station,” “immediate” or “concurrent medical control”; under this type of medical direction, the physician speaks directly with emergency care providers at the scene of an emergency. |
| Emergency medical responder | A person trained in emergency medical care who may be called on to provide such care as a routine part of the job, paid or volunteer; often the first trained professional to respond to emergencies; formerly called “first responder.” |
| Emergency medical services system | A network of community resources and medical personnel that provides emergency medical care to people who are injured or suddenly fall ill. |
| Emergency medical technician | Someone who has successfully completed a state-approved EMT training program; EMTs take over care from EMRs and work on stabilizing and preparing the patient for transport; formerly referred to as EMT-Basic. |
| Indirect medical control | A type of medical direction, also called “off-line,” “retrospective” or “prospective” medical control; this type of medical direction includes education, protocol review and quality improvement for emergency care providers. |
| Licensure | Required acknowledgment that the bearer has permission to practice in the licensing state; offers the highest level of public protection; may be revoked at the state level should the bearer no longer meet the required standards. |
| Local credentialing | Local requirements EMRs must meet in order to maintain employment or obtain certain protocols so that they may practice. |
| Medical direction | The monitoring of care provided by out-of-hospital providers to injured or ill persons, usually by a medical director. |
| Medical director | A physician who assumes responsibility for the care of injured or ill persons provided in out-of-hospital settings. |
| Paramedic | Someone with more in-depth training than AEMTs and who can perform all of the former’s duties plus has additional knowledge of performing physical exams |
| Prehospital care | Emergency medical care provided before a patient arrives at a hospital or medical facility. |
| Protocols | Standardized procedures to be followed when providing care to injured or ill persons. |
| Scope of practice | The range of duties and skills that are allowed and expected to be performed when necessary, according to the professional’s level of training, while using reasonable care and skill. |
| Standing orders | Protocols issued by the medical director allowing specific skills to be performed or specific medications to be administered in certain situations. |
| Acute | Having a rapid and severe onset, then quickly subsiding. |
| Adaptive immunity | The type of protection from disease that the body develops throughout a lifetime as a person is exposed to diseases or immunized against them. |
| AIDS | A disease of the immune system caused by infection with HIV. |
| Antibodies | A type of protein found in blood or other bodily fluids; used by the immune system to identify and neutralize pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses. |
| Bacteria | One-celled organisms that can cause infection; a common type of pathogen. |
| Biohazard | A biological agent that presents a hazard to the health or well-being of those exposed. |
| Bloodborne | Used to describe a substance carried in the blood (e.g., bloodborne pathogens are pathogens carried through the blood). |
| Bloodborne pathogens | Germs that may be present in human blood or other body fluids that can cause disease in humans. |
| Body substance isolation precautions | Protective measures to prevent exposure to communicable diseases; defines all body fluids and substances as infectious. |
| Chronic | Persistent over a long period of time. |
| Critical incident stress | Stress triggered by involvement in a serious or traumatic incident. |
| Debriefing | A method of helping people cope with exposure to serious or traumatic incidents by discussing the emotional impact of the event. |
| Defusing | Similar to a debriefing but shorter and less formal; a method of discussing a serious or traumatic event soon afterward; done to help people cope. |
| Direct contact | Mode of transmission of pathogens that occurs through directly touching infected blood or body fluid, or other agents such as chemicals, drugs or toxins. |
| Disease-causing agent | A pathogen or germ that can cause disease or illness (e.g., a bacterium or virus). |
| Droplet transmission | Mode of transmission of pathogens that occurs when a person inhales droplets from an infected person’s cough or sneeze; also known as respiratory droplet transmission. |
| Engineering controls | Control measures that eliminate, isolate or remove a hazard from the workplace; things used in the workplace to help reduce the risk of an exposure. |
| Exposure | An instance in which someone is exposed to a pathogen or has contact with blood or body fluids or objects in the environment that contain disease-causing agents. |
| Exposure control plan | Plan in the workplace that outlines the employer’s protective measures to eliminate or minimize employee exposure incidents. |
| Hepatitis | An inflammation of the liver most commonly caused by viral infection; there are several types including hepatitis A, B, C, D and E. |
| HIV | A virus that weakens the body’s immune system, leading to life-threatening infections; causes AIDS. |
| Homeostasis | A constant state of balance or well-being of the body’s internal systems that is continually and automatically adjusted. |
| Immune system | The body’s complex group of body systems that is responsible for fighting disease. |
| Indirect contact | Mode of transmission of a disease caused by touching a contaminated object. |
| Infection | A condition caused by disease-producing microorganisms, called pathogens or germs, in the body. |
| Infectious disease | Disease caused by the invasion of the body by a pathogen, such as a bacterium, virus, fungus or parasite. |
| Innate immunity | The type of protection from disease with which humans are born. |
| Lividity | Purplish color in the lowest-lying parts of a recently dead body, caused by pooling of blood. |
| Meningitis | An inflammation of the meninges, the thin, protective coverings over the brain and spinal cord; caused by virus or bacteria. |
| Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus | A Staph bacterium that can cause infection; difficult to treat because of its resistance to many antibiotics. |
| Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis | A type of tuberculosis (TB) that is resistant to some of the most effective anti-TB drugs. |
| Needlestick | A penetrating wound from a needle or other sharp object; may result in exposure to pathogens through contact with blood or other body fluids. |
| Occupational Safety and Health Administration | Federal agency whose role is to promote the safety and health of American workers by setting and enforcing standards |
| Opportunistic infections | Infections that strike people whose immune systems are weakened. |
| Pandemic influenza | A respiratory illness caused by virulent human influenza A virus; spreads easily and sustainably and can cause global outbreaks of serious illness in humans. |
| Passive immunity | The type of immunity gained from external sources such as from a mother’s breast milk to an infant. |
| Pathogen | A term used to describe a germ; a disease-causing agent (e.g., bacterium or virus). |
| Personal protective equipment | All specialized clothing, equipment and supplies that keep the user from directly contacting infected materials; includes gloves, gowns, masks, shields and protective eyewear. |
| Severe acute respiratory syndrome | A viral respiratory illness caused by the SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). |
| Standard precautions | Safety measures, including BSI and universal precautions, taken to prevent occupational-risk exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials; assumes that all body fluids, secretions and excretions (except sweat) are potentially infective. |
| Stress | The body’s normal response to any situation that changes a person’s existing mental, physical or emotional balance. |
| Sudden death | An unexpected, natural death; usually used to describe a death from a sudden cardiac event. |
| Tuberculosis | A bacterial infection that usually attacks the lungs. |
| Universal precautions | A set of precautions designed to prevent transmission of HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and other bloodborne pathogens when providing care; considers blood and certain body fluids of all patients potentially infectious. |
| Vector-borne transmission | Transmission of a pathogen that occurs when an infectious source, such as an animal or insect bite or sting, penetrates the body’s skin. |
| Virus | A common type of pathogen that depends on other organisms to live and reproduce; can be difficult to kill. |
| Work practice controls | Control measures that reduce the likelihood of exposure by changing the way a task is carried out. |
| Abandonment | Ending the care of an injured or ill person without obtaining that patient’s consent or without ensuring that someone with equal or greater training will continue care. |
| Advance directive | A written instruction, signed by the patient and a physician, which documents a patient’s wishes if the patient is unable to communicate his or her wishes. |
| Applied ethics | The use of ethics in decision making; applying ethical values. |
| Assault | A crime that occurs when a person tries to physically harm another in a way that makes the person under attack feel immediately threatened. |
| Battery | A crime that occurs when there is unlawful touching of a person without the person’s consent. |
| Competence | The patient’s ability to understand the emergency medical responder’s (EMR’s) questions and the implications of decisions made. |
| Confidentiality | Protection of a patient’s privacy by not revealing any personal patient information except to law enforcement personnel or emergency medical services (EMS) personnel caring for the patient. |
| Consent | Permission to provide care; given by an injured or ill person to a responder. |
| Do no harm | The principle that people who intervene to help others must do their best to ensure their actions will do no harm to the patient. |
| Do not resuscitate order | A type of advance directive that protects a patient’s right to refuse efforts for resuscitation; also known as a do not attempt resuscitation (DNAR) order. |
| Durable power of attorney for health care | A legal document that expresses a patient’s specific wishes regarding his or her health care |
| Duty to act | A legal responsibility of some individuals to provide a reasonable standard of emergency care. |
| Ethics | A branch of philosophy concerned with the set of moral principles a person holds about what is right and wrong. |
| Expressed consent | Permission to receive emergency care granted by a competent adult verbally, nonverbally or through gestures. |
| Good Samaritan laws | Laws that apply in some circumstances to protect people who provide emergency care without accepting anything in return. |
| Health care proxy | A person named in a health-care directive, or durable power of attorney for health care, who can make medical decisions on someone else’s behalf. |
| Implied consent | Legal concepts that assume a patient would consent to receive emergency care if he or she were physically able or old enough to do so. |
| In good faith | Acting in such a way that the goal is only to help the patient and that all actions are for that purpose. |
| Legal obligation | Obligation to act in a particular way in accordance with the law. |
| Living will | A type of advance directive that outlines the patient’s wishes about certain kinds of medical treatments and procedures that prolong life. |
| Malpractice | A situation in which a professional fails to provide a reasonable quality of care, resulting in harm to a patient. |
| Medical futility | A situation in which a patient has a medical or traumatic condition that is scientifically accepted to be futile should resuscitation be attempted and, therefore, the patient should be considered dead on arrival. |
| Moral obligation | Obligation to act in a particular way in accordance with what is considered morally right. |
| Morals | Principles relating to issues of right and wrong and how individual people should behave. |
| Negligence | The failure to provide the level of care a person of similar training would provide, thereby causing injury or damage to another. |
| Next of kin | The closest relatives, as defined by state law, of a deceased person; usually the spouse and nearest blood relatives. |
| Patient’s best interest | A fundamental ethical principle that refers to the provision of competent care, with compassion and respect for human dignity. |
| Refusal of care | The declining of care by a competent patient; a patient has the right to refuse the care of anyone who responds to an emergency scene. |
| Standard of care | The criterion established for the extent and quality of an EMR’s care. |
| Surrogate decision maker | A third party with the legal right to make decisions for another person regarding medical and health issues through a durable power of attorney for health care. |
| Anatomy | The study of structures, including gross anatomy (structures that can be seen with the naked eye) and microscopic anatomy (structures seen under the microscope). |
| Body system | A group of organs and other structures that works together to carry out specific functions. |
| Cells | The basic units that combine to form all living tissue. |
| Circulatory system | A group of organs and other structures that carries oxygen-rich blood and other nutrients throughout the body and removes waste. |
| Digestive system | A group of organs and other structures that digests food and eliminates wastes. |
| Endocrine system | A group of organs and other structures that regulates and coordinates the activities of other systems by producing chemicals (hormones) that influence tissue activity. |
| Genitourinary system | A group of organs and other structures that eliminates waste and enables reproduction. |
| Integumentary system | A group of organs and other structures that protects the body, retains fluids and helps to prevent infection. |
| Musculoskeletal system | A group of tissues and other structures that supports the body, protects internal organs, allows movement, stores minerals, manufactures blood cells and creates heat. |
| Nervous system | A group of organs and other structures that regulates all body functions. |
| Organ | A structure of similar tissues acting together to perform specific body functions. |
| Physiology | How living organisms function (e.g., movement and reproduction). |
| Respiratory system | A group of organs and other structures that brings air into the body and removes wastes through a process called breathing, or respiration. |
| Tissue | A collection of similar cells acting together to perform specific body functions. |
| Vital organs | Those organs whose functions are essential to life, including the brain, heart and lungs. |
| Ankle drag | A method of moving a patient by grasping the patient’s ankles; also known as the foot drag. |
| Backboard | A piece of equipment used to immobilize a patient’s head, neck and spine during transport. |
| Blanket drag | A method of moving a patient, using a blanket, in an emergency situation where equipment is limited and the patient is suspected of having a head, neck or spinal injury. |
| Body mechanics | The field of physiology that studies muscular actions and the function of the muscles in maintaining posture. |
| Clothes drag | A type of emergency move that uses the patient’s clothing; used for a patient suspected of having a head, neck or spinal injury. |
| Direct carry | A method of moving a patient from a bed to a stretcher or vice-versa; performed by two responders. |
| Direct ground lift | A non-emergency method of lifting a patient directly from the ground; performed by several responders. |
| Draw sheet | A method of moving a patient from a bed to a stretcher or vice-versa by using the stretcher’s bottom sheet. |
| Extremity lift | A two-responder, non-emergency lift in which one responder supports the patient’s arms and the other the patient’s legs. |
| Firefighter’s carry | A type of carry during which the patient is supported over the responder’s shoulders. |
| Firefighter’s drag | A method of moving a patient in which the patient is bound to the responder’s neck and held underneath the responder; the responder moves the patient by crawling. |
| Log roll | A method of moving a patient while keeping the patient’s body aligned because of a suspected head, neck or spinal injury. |
| Pack-strap carry | A type of carry in which the patient is supported upright, across the responder’s back. |
| Position of comfort | The position a patient naturally assumes when feeling ill or in pain; the position depends on the mechanism of the injury or nature of the illness. |
| Power grip | A hand position for lifting that requires the full surface of the palms and fingers to come in contact with the object being lifted. |
| Power lift | A lift technique that provides a stable move for the patient and protects the person lifting from serious injury. |
| Reasonable force | The minimal force necessary to keep a patient from harming him- or herself or others. |
| Recovery position | A posture used to help maintain a clear airway in an unresponsive, breathing patient. |
| Restraint | A method of limiting a patient’s movements, usually by physical means such as a padded cloth strap; may also be achieved by chemical means, such as medication. |
| Shoulder drag | A type of emergency move that is a variation of the clothes drag. |
| Squat lift | A lift technique that is useful when one of the lifter’s legs or ankles is weaker than the other. |
| Stair chair | Equipment used for patient transport in a sitting position. |
| Stretcher | Equipment used for patient transport in a supine position. |
| Supine | The body position of lying flat on the back; used when the patient has suspected head, neck or spinal injuries. |
| Two-person seat carry | A non-emergency method of carrying a patient by creating a “seat” with the arms of two responders. |
| Walking assist | A method of assisting a patient to walk by supporting one of the patient’s arms over the responder’s shoulder (or each of the patient’s arms over the shoulder of one responder on each side). |
Created by:
mkliewer
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