Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Medical Definitions
Gadsden Jobcorps Medical Definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Providers | People or organizations that provide health care, including doctors, nurses, clinics, and agencies. |
| Facilities | In medicine, places where health care is delivered and administered, including hospitals, long-term care facilities, and treatment centers. |
| Payers | People or organizations paying for health care services. |
| Long-term Care (LTC) | Care given in long-term care facilities (LTCF) for people who need 24 hour skilled care. |
| Skilled care | Medically necessary care given by a skilled nurse or therapist; is available 24 hours a day. |
| Length of stay | the number of days a person stays in a health care facility. |
| Terminal illness | A disease or condition that will eventually cause death. |
| Chronic illness | A disease or condition that is long-term or long-lasting and requires management of symptoms. |
| Home health care | Care that takes place in a persons home. |
| Diagnosis | Physicians' determinations of an illness. |
| Assisted living | Residents for people who do not need skilled, 24 hour care, but do require some health with daily care. |
| Dementia | The serious loss of mental abilities, such as thinking, remembering, reasoning, and communicating. |
| Adult day services | Care for people who need some assistance or supervision during certain hours, but who do not live in the facilities where care is given. |
| Acute care | 24-hour skilled care for short-term illnesses or injuries; generally given in hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. |
| Subacute care | Care given in a hospital or in a long-term care facility for people who need less care for than for an acute illness, but more care than for a chronic illness. |
| Outpatient care | care given for less than 24 hours for people who have had treatments or surgery and need short-term skilled care. |
| Rehabilitation | care given in facilities or homes by a specialist to restore or improve function after an illness or injury. |
| Hospice care | holistic, compassionate care given to dying people and their families |
| Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) | a method of health insurance in which a person has to use a particular doctor or group of doctors except in case of emergency. |
| Preferred provider information (PPOs) | a network of providers that contract to provide health services to a group of people. |
| Managed care | a system or strategy of managing health care in a way that controls costs |
| Activities of daily living (ADLs) | daily personal care tasks, such as bathing; caring for skin, nails, hair, and teeth; dressing; toileting; eating and drinking; walking; and transferring. |
| Catheter | thin tubes inserted into the body to drain or inject fluids. |
| Policy | a course of action that should be taken every time a certain situation occurs. |
| Procedure | a method, or way, of doing something |
| Cite | in a long-term care facility, to find a problem through a survey. |
| Joint commision | an independent, not-for-profit organization that evaluates and accredits healthcare organizations. |
| Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): | a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that is responsible for Medicare and Medicaid, among many other responsibilities |
| Medicare | a federal health insurance program for people who are 65 or older, are disabled, or are ill and cannot work. |
| Medicaid | a medical assistance program for low-income people. |
| culture change | a term given to the process of transforming services for elders so that they are based on the values and practices of the person receiving care; core values include choice, dignity, respect, blank-determination, and purposeful living. |
| person-directed care | a type of care that places the emphasis on the person needing care and his or her individuality and capabilities. |
| assistive or adaptive devices: | special equipment that helps a person who is ill or disabled to perform activities of daily living. |
| charting | writing down important information and observations about residents |
| professional: | having to do with work or a job. |
| personal | relating to life outside one's job, such as family, friends, and home life |
| professionalism | how a person behaves when on the job; it includes how a person dresses, he words he uses, and the things he talks about. |
| compassionate | being caring, concerned, considerate, empathetic, and understanding |
| empathy: | entering into the feelings of others |
| sympathy | sharing in the feelings and difficulties of others |
| tactful | showing sensitivity and having a sense of what is appropriate when dealing with others. |
| conscientious | guided by a sense of right and wrong; having principles. |
| chain of command | the line of authority within a facility or agency. |
| liability | a legal term that means someone can be held responsible for harming someone else. |
| scope of practice | defines the things that healthcare providers are legally allowed to do and how to do them correctly |
| delegation | transferring responsibility to a person for a specific task. |
| ethics | the knowledge of right and wrong |
| laws: | rules set by the government to help people live peacefully together and to ensure order and safety. |
| Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA): | law passed by the federal government that includes minimum standards for nursing assistant training, staffing requirements, resident assessment instructions, and information on rights for residents. |
| Minimum Data Set (MDS): | a detailed form with guidelines for assessing residents in long-term care facilities; also details what to do if resident problems are identified. |
| Residents' Rights: | numerous rights identified in the OBRA law that relate to how residents must be treated while living in a facility; they provide an ethical code of conduct for healthcare workers |
| informed consent: | the process in which a person, with the help of a doctor, makes informed decisions about his or her health care |
| abuse: | purposeful mistreatment that causes physical, mental, or emotional pain or injury to someone |
| neglect | harming a person physically, mentally, or emotionally by failing to provide needed care. |
| malpractice | injury to a person due to professional misconduct through negligence, carelessness, or lack of skill. |
| physical abuse | any treatment, intentional or not, that causes harm to a person's body. |
| psychological abuse | emotional harm caused by threatening, scaring, humiliating, intimidating, isolating, or insulting a person, or by treating him as a child; also includes verbal abuse |
| verbal abuse | the use of spoken or written words, pictures, or gestures that threaten, embarrass, or insult a person. |
| sexual abuse | the forcing of a person to perform or participate in sexual acts against his or her will; includes unwanted touching, exposing oneblank, and the sharing of pornographic material |
| financial abuse: | the act of stealing, taking advantage of, or improperly using the money, property, or other assets of another person |
| assault | the act of threatening to touch a person without his or her permission. |
| battery | the intentional touching of a person without his or her consent |
| domestic violence | physical, sexual, or emotional abuse by spouses, intimate partners, or family members. |
| workplace violence | verbal, physical, or sexual abuse of staff by residents or other staff members. |
| false imprisonment | the unlawful restraint of someone which affects the person's freedom of movement; includes both the threat of being physically restrained and actually being physically restrained |
| involuntary seclusion | the separation of a person from others against the person's will |
| sexual harassment | any unwelcome sexual advance or behavior that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment; includes requests for sexual favors, unwanted touching, and other acts of a sexual nature. |
| substance abuse | the use of legal or illegal drugs, cigarettes, or alcohol in a way that is harmful to the abuser or to others. |
| active neglect | the purposeful failure to provide needed care, resulting in harm to a person. |
| active neglect | the unintentional failure to provide needed care, resulting in physical, mental, or emotional harm to a person. |
| negligence | actions, or the failure to act or provide the proper care, that result in unintended injury to a person. |
| malpractice | injury to a person due to professional misconduct through negligence, carelessness, or lack of skill |
| mandated reporters | people who are legally required to report suspected or observed abuse or neglect because they have regular contact with vulnerable populations, such as the elderly in care facilities |
| ombudsman | the legal advocate for residents; person or persons who help resolve disputes and settle conflicts. |
| confidentiality | the legal and ethical principle of keeping information private. |
| protected health information (PHI): | a person's private health information, which includes name, address, telephone number, social security number, e-mail address, and medical record number. |
| advance directives | legal documents that allow people to choose what medical care they wish to have if they are unable to make those decisions themselves |
| living will: | a document that outlines the medical care a person wants, or does not want, in case he or she becomes unable to make those decisions |
| durable power of attorney for health care | a signed, dated, and witnessed legal document that appoints someone else to make the medical decisions for a person in the event he or she becomes unable to do so. |
| do-not-resuscitate (DNR): | a type of advance directive that instructs medical professionals not to perform CPR if a person's heartbeat or breathing stops |
| communication | the process of exchanging information with others. |
| verbal communication | communicating using words or sounds, spoken or written |
| nonverbal communication | communicating without using words. |
| cultural diversity | the variety of people with varied backgrounds and experiences who live and work together in the world |
| bias | prejudice. |
| culture | a system of learned behaviors, practiced by a group of people, that are considered to be the tradition of that people and are passed on from one generation to the next. |
| clichés | phrases that are used over and over again and do not really mean anything |
| objective information | information based on what a person sees, hears, touches, or smells. |
| subjective information | information that a person cannot or did not observe, but is based on something reported to the person that may or may not be true. |
| incontinence | the inability to control the bladder or bowels |
| cyanotic | skin that is pale, blue, or gray. |
| incident | an accident or unexpected event during the course of care that is not part of the normal routine in a healthcare facility. |
| sentinel event | an accident or incident that results in grave physical or psychological injury or death. |
| impairment | a loss of function or ability. |
| farsightedness | the ability to see objects in the distance better than objects nearby. |
| nearsightedness | the ability to see things near but not far. |
| cerebrovascular accident (CVA): | a condition that occurs when blood supply to a part of the brain is blocked or a blood vessel leaks or ruptures within the brain; also called a stroke. |
| hemiplegia | paralysis on one side of the body. |
| hemiparesis | weakness on one side of the body. |
| expressive aphasia | slurred speech or an inability to speak. |
| receptive aphasia | inability to understand spoken or written words |
| emotional lability | laughing or crying without any reason, or when it is inappropriate. |
| dysphagia | difficulty swallowing. |
| combative | violent or hostile. |
| infection prevention | |
| microorganism (MO): | |
| infections | |
| pathogens | |
| localized infection | |
| systemic infection | |
| healthcare-associated infection (HAI): |
Created by:
AlexisFields
Popular Nursing sets