Category: P

Proficiency in the application of the arts and sciences of healing. Such competence requires communication skills, dedication to serving others, empathy, good judgment, and technical knowledge.  

A multidisciplinary group of individuals who advise health-care agencies facing ethical dilemmas. This committee usually comprises health-care professionals, clergy, legal counsel, and administrative personnel. Also called institutional ethics committee.  

The gray commissure connecting the halves of the spinal cord, lying behind the central canal.  

The commissure just above the midbrain containing fibers that connect the superior colliculi.  

Any of the three colors of light red, green, and violet that can be mixed to produce all the colors perceived by the human eye. Pigments that can be so mixed are red, yellow, and blue. Pure or fundamental colors (red, yellow, and blue) that cannot be created by combining other colors.  

Any group of individuals affected by common diseases, environmental or temporal influences, treatments, or other traits whose progress is assessed in a research study.  

A code of three to five letters to describe pacemaker type and function. The first letter indicates the chamber(s) paced: V for ventricle pacing, A for atrial pacing, and D for dual chamber (i.e., both atrial and ventricular) pacing. The second letter indicates the chamber from which electrical activity is sensed (i.e., A for atrium,…

A clot formed on the proximal side of a ligature.  

A clot formed in the heart or in a blood vessel after death.  

A clot formed from the intima of an artery at the point of ligation.