Author: Glossary
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Patient compensation fund
A governmentally administered account used as a treasury from which disbursements are made to those injured as a result of incompetence or malpractice by health care providers.
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Patient circuit
The artificial conduit that relays gases between a mechanical ventilator and a patient.
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Patient care data set
A terminology data set recognized by the American Nurses Association and developed by Dr. Judith Ozbolt primarily for use in the acute care arena. The data set includes terms and codes for patient problems, therapeutic goals, and patient care orders.
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Patient advise and consent encounter
An interactive computer program to assist a patient to understand certain medical and surgical procedures and their risks. The program uses touch-screen technology, animation, and an actor-doctor narrator to communicate with the patient. At the end of each program, the patient may take Em interactive quiz that evaluates understanding of the presentation. A printout of…
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Surrogate patient
A normal, healthy individual who is employed to be examined and perhaps interviewed by health-care students. The purpose is to provide students with the opportunity to examine an individual in a less stressful setting than would be the case if the person being examined were indeed sick. This also prevents persons who are ill from…
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Patient delay
Delay on the part of the patient in seeking medical attention or in taking prescribed medicines or advice.
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Patient autonomy
The right of an informed patient to choose to accept or to refuse therapy.
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Sensory pathway
A pathway over which sensory impulses are conveyed from sense organs or receptors to sensory or reflex centers of the spinal cord or brain.
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Pentose phosphate pathway
The pathway of glucose metabolism in tissues during which five-carbon sugars are formed.
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Pathway of incidence
The path of a penetrating foreign object from the point of entry into the body to the point where it stops (e.g., the path of a bullet from where it enters the body to where it lodges).