Medical Glossary Flashcards
Activities of daily living
The basic elements of personal care such as eating, washing and showering, grooming, walking, standing up from a chair and using the toilet.
Activity
The execution of a task or action by an individual. Activity limitations are difficulties an individual may have in executing activities.
Agnostic
The inability to recognise sounds, smells, objects or body parts (other people’s or one’s own) despite having no primary sensory deficits.
Aphraxia
Impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read and write.
Apraxia
Impaired planning and sequencing of movement that is not due to weakness, in coordination or sensory loss.
Apraxia of speech
Inability to produce clear speech due to impaired planning and sequencing of movement in the muscles used for speech.
Atrial fibrillation
Rapid, irregular beating of the heart
Augmentative and alternative communication
Non-verbal communication, eg: through gestures or by using computerised devices.
Central register
Collection of large dataset related to patients’ diagnoses, treatments and outcomes
Cochrane review
A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis published online in Cochrane library, internationally recognised as the highest standard in evidence-based health care resources.
Deep vein thrombosis
Thrombosis (a clot of blood) in the deep veins of the leg, arm, or abdomen.
Disability
A defect in performing a normal activity or action (eg: inability to dress or walk)
Dead
Involvement of both patients and their caregivers
Dysarthria
Impaired ability to procedure clear speech due to the impaired function of the speech muscles.
Dysphasia
Difficulty swallowing
Dysphasia
Reduced ability to communicate using language (spoken, written or gesture).
Emotionalism
An increase in emotional behaviour - usually crying, but sometimes laughing that is outside normal control and may be unpredictable as a result of the stroke.
Endovascular thrombectomy
(Also called mechanical thrombectomy or endovascular clot retrieval): a minimally invasive procedure performed via angiogram, in which a catheter passes up into the brain to remove the clot in the blocked blood vessel.
External tube feeding
Delivery of nutrients directly into the intestine via a tube.
Executive function
Cognitive functions usually associated with the frontal lobes including planning, reasoning, time perception, complex goal-directed behaviour decision making and working memory.
Family support/liaison worker
A person who assists stroke survivors and their families to achieve improved quality of life by providing psychosocial support, information and referrals to other stroke service providers.
Impairment
A problem in the structure of the body (eg: loss of a limb) or the way the body or a body part functions (eg: hemiplegia).
Infarction
Death of cells in an organ (eg: the brain or heart) due to lack of blood supply.
Inpatient stroke care coordinator
A person who works with people with stroke and with their careers to construct care plans and discharge plans and to help coordinate the use of healthcare services during recovery in hospital.
Interdisciplinary team
Group of health care professionals (including doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers, psychologists and other health personnel) working collaboratively for the common good of the patient.
Antiemetic
Anti - nausea, vomiting Drug.
An Antiemetic is a drug that is effective against vomiting and nausea. Antimetics are typically used to treat motions sickness & the side effects of opioid analgesics, general anaesthetics and chemotherapy directed against cancer.
