Definitions Flashcards
Professionalism
The set of values, behaviours and relationships that underpin the trust the public has in doctors
GMC regulatory role?
To protect, promote and maintain health of the public by ensuring proper standards of care and practice of medicine
Clinical reasoning
Sorting through a cluster of features presented by a patient and accurately assigning a diagnostic label with the development of an appropriate treatment strategy as the end goal
What is patient centred care?
Care that is responsive to the wants, needs and preferences of the patient
Define the sick role
It states the rights and responsibilities for patient and doctors when they have a consultation
What is evidence?
A body of facts/information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid
Define economics
Economics is about how people allocate scarce resources amongst competing activities
Define opportunity cost
The loss of other alternatives for which alternative is chosen
What are meta-ethics?
The study of moral concepts e.g. right or wrong
What is normative ethics? (Moral theory)
Study of the means of deciding what is right and wrong
What is applied ethics?
Application of moral theory
What is consequentialism?
Moral based on the consequence of the action
What is deontology? (Duty based)
Moral based on actions, adherence to the rules regardless of the outcome
What is virtue ethics?
The right action is one a virtuous person would do
What is autonomy?
Respect the patient as an individual to make choices
What is non-maleficence?
Do no harm to patients
What is beneficence?
Acting in a way that positively benefits the patient
What is justice?
Treating people fairly and equally
What is paternalism?
Interference with a persons freedom of action/information
What is coercion?
Persuading a patient to do something by force of threats e.g. forcing to eat
What is misinformation?
Lying to save from distress
What is the Bolam test?
Test of negligence which determines standard of care
What is the bolitho amendment?
Doctors should behave in a logical way
What is epidemiology?
Study of incidence, distribution and control of diseases in populations
What is incidence?
New cases of disease (over) number initially free of disease
What is prevalence?
Number of people with a disease at a particular point in time (over) total population
What is illness behaviour?
The way in which symptoms may be differently perceived, evaluated and acted upon by different kinds of persons
What is health promotion?
The process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health
What is health persuasion?
Includes mass media campaigns e.g. sexual health and healthy eating (5-a-day campaign)
What is legislative action?
Passing a law to promote health e.g. laws that subsidise the price of healthy food, sugar tax
What is personal counselling?
Opportunistic prevention in consultations e.g. working with a dietician on food/diet
What is community development?
Locally based initiatives e.g. communities producing and distributing food themselves
What is health education?
Learning experiences designed to facilitate voluntary actions conductive to health
What is health protection?
Legislation to protect public health e.g. seat belts and not smoking in public
What is a prevention paradox?
A preventative measure which brings much benefit to the population but offers little to each participating individual
What is advocacy for health?
A combination of individual and social actions designed to gain political commitment, policy support, social acceptance and systems support for a particular health goal or programme
What is empowerment for health?
In health promotion, empowerment is a process through which people gain greater control over decisions and actions affecting their health
What is enabling? (health promotion)
In health promotion, enabling means taking action in partnership with individuals or groups to empower them to promote and protect their health
What is health literacy?
Health literacy represents the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health
What is culture?
A system of knowledge, experience, belief, attitudes, meanings, signs and symbols shared by a group of people
What is enculturation?
Process of learning your own groups culture
What is acculturation?
Process of taking on another groups culture
What is a diagnosis?
Determining the nature of a disorder by considering the patients signs and symptoms, medical background and test results
What is prognosis?
Assessment of future course of patients disease and management
What is broad evidence?
Any factor that can and should influence clinical decision making
What is narrow evidence?
Results of rigorous clinical trials and observational studies
What is the hierarchy of evidence?
Lists the types of study design ranked in order of their perceived ability to provide evidence for use in practice
What is consent?
Voluntary agreement given by a competent patient that has been fully informed
What is battery?
If a person touches another person without consent
What is negligence?
The concept of failure to exercise care
What is capacity?
Determined by a physician, refers to an assessment of the individuals ability to understand, appreciate and manipulate information to form rational decisions
What is Gillick competency?
A child (under 16) can consent to medical treatment if deemed competent by a medical professional, without need for parental permission or knowledge
What is a POM?
Prescription only medicine
What is a P drug?
Can be obtained from a pharmacy under the supervision of a pharmacist
What are OTC drugs?
Over the counter
Who are the MHRA?
Medicines and healthcare regulatory authority
What are descriptive statistics?
Data is collected and summarised and described in terms of means, SDs etc.
What is ecological fallacy?
Inferences about nature of individuals are deduced from interference for the group to which they belong
What are inferential statistics?
Using statistical tests to make generalisations about a population
What is nominal data?
Categorical e.g. sex
What is ordinal data?
Categories ordered in value e.g. degree of pain
What is interval data?
Continuous data with equal intervals e.g. height, weight, age
What is a hypothesis?
An idea expressed in such a way that it can be tested and refuted
What is a null hypothesis?
The hypothesis that there is no difference between the two groups
What is a P value?
The probability that the difference between groups would be as big or bigger than that observed if the null hypothesis is true
What is a confidence interval?
Range of values that we think contain the mean
What are confidence limits?
The actual upper and lower boundaries that state the boundaries of the confidence interval
What are measures of location?
Mean: - average of all observations
Median: - midpoint of the data set
Mode: - most frequent observation
What are measures of dispersion?
- standard deviation
- interquartile range
- range
