Common Medical Terms

Advance directives: A document that patients complete to direct their medical care when they are unable to communicate their own wishes due to a medical condition.

AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is an incurable, usually fatal disease caused by a virus hat destroys the body’s ability to fight off illness. AIDS causes recurrent infections or secondary diseases affecting multiple body systems.

Ambulatory Care: Care delivered on an outpatient basis, including primary care, same-day surgery and outpatient diagnostic services.

Ancillary: A term used to describe additional services performed related to care, such as lab work, X-ray and anesthesia.

CT or CAT Scan: Computerized axial tomography. An advanced, noninvasive method of radiological diagnosis that creates “images” of the body in a computerized display.

Hospice: A facility or program that is licensed, certified or otherwise authorized by law, that provides supportive care of the terminally ill.

Colonoscopy: Examination of the entire colon with an optic fiber tube inserted through the anus and rectum.

Community Care: Medical care for those who cannot afford it.

Coronary artery disease: Disease caused by the narrowing and hardening of the coronary arteries, which provide the blood supply to the heart. It may produce angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, or death.

Dementia: Loss of mental capacity. Demented people may have hallucinations and may not remember recent events or familiar people.

Endoscope: Long, flexible, fiber-optic tube used for examination of the upper or lower gastrointestinal tract.

Endoscopy: Examination of upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract, including the esophagus, stomach and duodenal portion of the small intestine.

General practitioner (GP): doctor who works in a local surgery or health centre, providing medical advice and treatment to patients registered on their list.

Homeopathy: Therapy based on the administration of very small amounts of substances to treat a condition or symptoms that would be caused by larger amounts of the same substances.

Hysteroscopy: visual exam of the uterus.

ICU: intensive care unit - where very seriously ill patients are looked after in a hospital.

Infection, Nosocomial: Infection acquired during hospitalization that is neither present nor incubating at the time of hospital admission that may become clinically manifest after discharge from the hospital.

Intermediate Care Facility: A facility providing a level of medical care that is less than the degree of care and treatment that a hospital or skilled nursing facility is designed to provide but greater than the level of room and board.

IV: intravenous - treatment is administered by injection into a vein.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): Using a scanner, this is a high-technology diagnostic procedure used to create cross-sectional images of the body through the use of magnetic fields and radio frequency fields.

Managed Care: A system of health care delivery that influences utilization and cost of services, and often includes a capitated payment structure and a limited choice of health care providers.

Midwife, Certified Nurse: A registered professional nurse with post-graduate education in pre-natal care and the delivery of babies.

Mortality: Death rate.

Morbidity: Incidents of illness and accidents in a defined group of individuals.

Neonatal: An infant’s life from the hour of birth through the first 27 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes.

Nurse Practitioner (NP): A registered professional nurse with graduate level education in a nursing specialty (i.e., family health, pediatrics, gerontology).

Osteopathic: A school of medicine that uses manipulative measures in treating patients in addition to the diagnostic and therapeutic measures of medicine.

Optician/Optometrist: specialist health professionals who test eyes and prescribe lenses to correct sight problems.

OTC: Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are medicines that may be sold directly to a consumer without a prescription from a healthcare professional, as compared to prescription drugs, which may be sold only to consumers possessing a valid prescription.

Pharmacists: specialist health professionals who prepare and sell medicines.

Physician Assistant: A health care professional licensed to practice medicine with the supervision of a licensed physician.

Preventive Care: Comprehensive care emphasizing priorities for prevention, early detection and early treatment of conditions, generally including routine physical examination and immunizations.

Primary Care: Entry-level care which may include diagnostic, therapeutic or preventive services.

Tertiary Care: Medical care of a highly technological and specialized nature provided in a medical center or teaching and research institution for patients with severe, complicated or unusual medical problems.

Triage: The process by which patients are sorted or classified according to the type and urgency of their conditions.

Ultrasound: A high frequency (pitch above human hearing) imaging technique also called sonography.