Unit 3 Vocab (9-12) Flashcards
Administer
To instill a drug into the body of a patient.
Amendments to the Older Americans Act
A 1987 federal act that defines elder abuse, neglect and exploitation but does not deal with enforcement.
Autopsy
A postmortem examination to determine the cause of death or to obtain physiological evidence as in the case of a suspicious death.
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act
A federal law passed in 1974 requiring physicians to report cases of child abuse.
Controlled Substances Act
The federal law giving authority to the DEA to regulate the sale and use of drugs.
Coroner
public official who investigates and holds inquests over those who die from unknown or violent causes. He/she may or may not be a physician depending on state law.
Dispense
To deliver controlled substances in some type or bottle, box or other container to a patient.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
A branch of the US Department of Justice that regulates the sale and use of drugs.
Federalism
The sharing of power among national, state and local governments.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
A federal agency within the Dept. of Health and Human Services that oversee drug quality and standardization and must approve drugs before they are released for public use.
Forensics
A division of medicine that incorporates law and medicine and involves medical issues or medical proof at trials having to do with malpractice, crimes and accidents.
Medical Examiner
A physician who investigates suspicious or unexplained deaths.
National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)
A no-fault federal system of compensation for individuals or families of individuals injured by childhood vaccination.
National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act
A federal law passed in 1986 that created a no-fault compensation program for citizen injured or killed by vaccines as an alternative to suing vaccine manufactures and providers.
Prescribe
To issue a medical prescription for a patient.
Smallpox Emergency Personal Protection Act (SEPPA)
A no fault program to provide benefits and/or compensation to certain individuals, including heath care workers and emergency responders, who are injured as the result of the administration of smallpox countermeasures including the smallpox vaccine.
Unborn Victims of Violence Act
A federal law passed in 2004 that provides for the prosecution of anyone who causes injury to or the death of a fetus in utero.
Vital Statistics
Numbers collected for the population of live births, deaths, fetal deaths, marriages divorces, induced terminations of pregnancy and any change in civil status that occurs during an individual’s lifetime.
Affirmative Action
Programs that use goals and quotas to provide preferential treatment for minority persons determined to have been underutilized in the past.
Chemical Hygiene Plan
The standard for Occupational Exposures to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories, which clarifies the handling of hazardous chemicals in medical laboratories.
Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA)
Federal statute passed in 1988 that established minimum quality for all laboratory testing.
Discrimination
Prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action or treatment.
Employment at Will
A concept of employment whereby either the employer or the employee can end the employment at any time, for any reason.
General Duty Clause
A section of the Hazard Communication Standard stating that any equipment that may pose a health risk must be specified as a hazard.
Hazard Communication Standard (HCS)
An OSHA standard intended to increase health care practitioners’ awareness of risk, improve work practices and appropriate use of personal protective equipment and reduce injuries and illnesses in the workplace.
Just Cause
An employers legal reason for firing an employee.
Medical Waste Tracking Act
The federal law that authorizes OSHA to inspect hazardous medical wastes and to cite offices for unsafe or unhealthy practices regarding these wastes.
Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogen Standards
An OSHA regulation designed to protect health care workers from the risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
Established by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, the organization that is charged with writing and enforcing compulsory standards for health and safety in the workplace.
Public Policy
The common law concept of wrongful discharge when an employee has acted for the “common good”.
Right to Know Laws
State laws that allow employees access to information about toxic or hazardous substances, employer duties, employee rights and other workplace health and safety issues.
Surety Bond
A type of insurance that allows employers if covered to collect up to the specified amount of the bond if an employee embezzles or otherwise absconds with business funds.
United National Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling Chemicals (GHS)
A revision of the Hazard Communications Standard in 2012 in order to transform “right to know” to “right to understand” in line with GHS.
Worker’s Compensation
A form of insurance established by federal and state statutes that provides reimbursement for workers who are injured on the job.
Wrongful Discharge
A concept established by precedent that says an employer risks litigation if he/she does not have just cause for firing an employee.
Amniocentesis
A test whereby the physician withdraws a sample of amniotic fluid from the uterus of a pregnant woman. The fluid is then tested for genetic or other conditions that may lead to abnormal development of the fetus.
Artificial Insemination
The mechanical injection or viable semen into the vagina.
Chromosome
A microscopic structure found within the nucleus of all living cells that carries genes responsible for the organism’s characteristics.
Clone
An organism produced asexually, usually from a single cell of the parent.
Cloning
The process by which organisms are created asexually, usually from a single cell of the parent organism.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)
The combination of proteins called nucleotides, that is arranged to make up an organism’s chromosomes.
Emancipated Minors
Individuals in their mid to late teens who legally live outside parents’ or guardians’ control.
Gene
A tiny segment of DNA found on a chromosome within a cell’s nucleus. Each gene holds the formula for making a specific enzyme or protein.
Gene Therapy
Treating harmful genetic diseases or traits by eliminating or modifying the harmful gene.
Genetic Counselor
An expert in human genetics who is qualified to counsel individuals who may have inherited genes for certain disease or conditions.
Genetic Discrimination
Differential treatment of individuals based on their actual or presumed genetic differences.
Genetic Engineering
Manipulating of DNA within the cells of plants, animals and other organisms through synthesis, alterations or repair to ensure that certain harmful traits will be eliminated in offspring and that desirable traits will appear to be passed on.
Genetics
The science that accounts for natural differences and resemblances among organisms related by descent.
Genome
All the DNA in an organism, including its genes.
Heredity
The process by which organisms pass genetic traits on to their offspring.
Heterologous Artificial Insemination
The process in which donor sperm is mechanically injected into a woman’s vagina to fertilize her eggs.
Homologous Artificial Insemination
The process in which a husband’s sperm is mechanically injected into his wife’s vagina to fertilize her eggs.
Human Genome Project
A scientific project funded by the US government begun in 1990 and successfully completed in 2000 for the purpose of mapping all of that human’s genes.
Infertility
The failure to conceive for a period of 12 months or longer due to a deviation from or interruption of the normal structure or function of any reproductive part, organ or system.
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
Fertilization that takes place outside a woman’s body, literally “in glass” as in a test tube.
Mature Minors
Individuals in their mid to late teens who, for healthcare purposes, are considered mature enough to comprehend a physician’s recommendations and give informed consent.
Multipotent Stem Cells
Stem cells that can become a limited number of types of tissues and cells in the b ody.
Mutation
A permanent change in DNA.
Parens Patriae
A legal doctrine that gives the state the authority to act in a child’s best interest.
Pluripotent Stem Cells
Stem cells that can become almost a types of tissues and cells in the body.
Safe Haven Laws
State laws that allow mothers to abandon newborns to designated safe facilities without penalty.
Stem Cells
Cells that have the potential to become any type of body cells.
Surrogate Mother
A woman who becomes pregnant, usually by artificial insemination or surgical implantation of a fertilized egg and bears a child for another woman.
Xenotransplantation
Transplantation of animal tissues and organs into humans.
Active Euthanasia
A conscious medical act that results in the death of a dying person.
Brain Death
Final cessation of bodily activity, used to determine when death actually occurs, circulatory and respiratory functions have irreversibly ceased and the entire brain including the brain stem has irreversibly ceased to function.
Coma
A condition of deep stupor from which the patient cannot be roused by eternal stimuli.
Curative Care
Treatment directed toward curing a patient’s disease.
Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order
Orders written at the request of patients or their authorized representatives that cardiopulmonary resuscitation not be used to sustain life in a medical crisis.
Durable Power of Attorney
An advance directive that confers upon a designee the authority to make a variety of legal decisions on behalf of the grantor, usually including health care decisions.
Health Care Proxy
A durable power of attorney issued for purposes of health are decisions only.
Hospice
A facility or program (often carried out in a patient’s home) in which teams of health care practitioners and volunteers provide a continuing environment that focuses on the physical, emotional and psychological needs of the dying patient.
Involuntary Euthanasia
The act of ending a terminal patient’s life by medical means without his or her permission.
Living Will
An advance directive that specifies an individuals end of life wishes.
National Organ Transplant Act
A statute passed in 1984 that provides grants to qualified organ procurement organizations and established an organ procurement and transplantation network.
Palliative Care
Treatment of a terminally ill patient’s symptoms to make dying more comfortable, also called comfort care.
Passive Euthanasia
The act of allowing a dying patient to die naturally without medical interference.
Patient Self Determination Act
Federal law passed in 1990 that requires hospitals and other health care providers to provide written information to patients regarding their rights under state law to make medical decisions and execute advance directives.
Persistent Vegetative State
Severe mental impairment characterized by irreversible cessation of the higher function of the brain, most often caused by damage to the cerebral cortex.
Terminally Ill
Referring to patients who are expected to die within 6 months.
Thanatology
The study of death and of the psychological methods of coping with it.
Uniform Anatomical Gift Act
A recommendation of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, that all states accepted, allowing individuals to donate their bodies or body parts after death for use in transplant surgery, tissue banks or medical research and education.
Uniform Determination of Death Act
A proposal that established uniform guidelines for determining when death occurred.
Uniform Rights of the Terminally Ill Act
A 1989 recommendation of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws that all states construct laws to address advance directives.
Voluntary Euthanasia
The act of ending a dying patient’s life by medical means with his or her permission.
