Ad hoc interpreter

using a pt.'s family member, friend or child as interpreter for a limited English proficiency (LEP) patient.

Alopecia

(baldness) hair loss

Amplitude

(or intensity) how loud or soft a sound is imagining that inanimate objects come alive and have human characteristics. circular shape to skin lesion

Animism

Annular

Assessment

the collection of data about an individual's health state.

a brief time period when Korotkoff sounds disappear during auscultation of blood pressure; common with hypertension

Auscultatory gap

Avoidance language

the use of euphemisms to avoid reality or to hide feelings.

the Western European/N. American tradition that views health as the absence of disease.

Biomedical model

Bradycardia

heart rate of less than 50 beats per minute in the adult.

Bruit

blowing, swooshing sound heard through the stethoscope over an area of abnormal blood flow.

Bulla

elevated cavity containing free fluid larger than 1 cm diameter

examiner's response used when the pt.'s word choice is ambiguous or confusing.
questions that ask for specific information; elicit a short, one-word response, a yes/no; or a forced choice.

Clarification

Closed Questions

Complete Database

a complete health history and full physical exam.

Confluent x

skin lesions that run together

response in which examiner gives honest feedback about what he/she has seen or felt after observing a certain pt. action, feeling or statement.

Confrontation

Critical Thinking

simultaneously problem-solving while self-improving one's own thinking ability. thick, dried-out exudate left on the skin when vesicles/pustules burst or dry up
a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system among professionals that enables work in cross-cultural situations

Crust

Cultural and linguistic competence

Cultural Care Nursing

professional health care that is culturally sensitive, appropriate, and competent.

the non-physical attributes of a person - the thoughts, communications, actions, beliefs, values, and institutions of racial, ethnic, religious, or social groups.

Culture

Culture-bound Syndrome

a condition that is culturally defined

Cyanosis

dusky blue color to skin or mucous membranes due to increased amount of unoxygenated hemoglobin
a method of collecting and analyzing clinical information with the following components: initial cues; diagnosis hypothesis; gathering data; evaluating hypothesis w/ data; arriving at a final diagnosis.

Diagnostic Reasoning

Distancing

the use of impersonal speech to put space between self and a threat the length of time a note lingers

Duration

Dysphagia

difficulty in swallowing

Elderspeak

infantilizing and demeaning language used by a health professional when speaking to an older adult.

Electronic health recording

direct computer entry of the pt. health record while in the pt.'s presence

Emergency database

rapid collection of the database, often compiled concurrently with lifesaving measures.
viewing the world from the other person's point of view; recognizing and accepting the other's feelings without criticism. the total of all the conditions and elements that make up the surroundings and influence the development of a person.

Empathy

Environment

Erosion

scooped out, shallow depression in skin

Erythema

intense redness of the skin due to excess blood in dilated superficial capillaries, as in fever or inflammation

Ethnicity

a social group within the social system that claims to possess variable traits such as a common geographic origin, migratory status, and religion.
the tendency to view your own way of life as the most desirable, acceptable, or best and to act in a superior manner to another culture's life ways.

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism

tendency to view your own way of life as the most desirable, acceptable, or best and to act superior to another culture's lifeways
a systematic approach emphasizing the best research evidence, the clinician's experience, patient preferences and values, physical examination and assessment.

Evidence-based practice

Excoriation x

self-inflicted abrasion on skin due to scratching

Explanation

examiner's statements that inform the pt.; examiner shares factual and objective information.

Facilitation

examiner's response that encourages the pt. to say more, to continue with the story. linear crack in skin extending into dermis

Fissure

Focused Database

one used for a limited or shortterm problem; concerns mainly one problem, one cue complex, or one body system.

Folk Healer

lay healer in the person's culture apart from the bio-medical/scientific health care system

Follow-up Database

used in all settings to monitor progress on short-term or chronic health problems. (boil) suppurative inflammatory skin lesion due to infected hair follicle private room or space with only the examiner and pt. present increase in size of thyroid gland that occurs with hyperthyroidism
the balance/imbalance of the person, both within one's being (physical, mental, and or spiritual) and in the outside world (natural, communal, and/or metaphysical)

Furuncle

Geographic privacy

Goiter

Health/illness

Hemangioma

skin lesion due to benign proliferation of blood vessels in the dermis

the degree to which a person's lifestyle reflects his/her traditional heritage, whether it is American Indian, European, Asian, African, or Hispanic

Heritage consistency

Holistic Health

the view that the mind, body, and spirit are interdependent and function as a whole within the environment.
examiner's statement that is not based on direct observation, but is based on examiner's inference or conclusion; it links events, makes associations, or implies cause.

Interpretation

Interview

meeting between examiner and pt. with the goal of gathering a complete health hx.

Iris

target shape of skin lesion using medical vocabulary with pt. in an exclusionary and paternalistic way yellow color to skin, palate, and sclera due to excess bilirubin in the blood hypertrophic scar, elevated beyond the sites of original injury a question that implies one answer would be better than another.

Jargon

Jaundice

Keloid x

Leading Question

Lichenification

tightly packed set of papules that thickens skin, from prolonged intense scratching

Lipoma

benign fatty tumor

Lymphadenopathy

enlargement of the lymph nodes due to infection, allergy, or neoplasm softening of tissue by soaking

Maceration

Macrocephalic

abnormally large head

Macule

flat skin lesion with only a color change

Medical Diagnosis

used to evaluate the cause and etiology of disease; focus is on the function or malfunction of a specific organ system.

Microcephalic

abnormally small head

Nevus

(mole) circumscribed skin lesion due to excess melanocytes elevated skin lesion greater that 1 cm in diameter

Nodule

Nonverbal Communication

message conveyed through body language- posture, gestures, facial expression, eye contact, touch, and even where one places the chairs.

Normocephalic

round symmetric skull that is appropriately related to body size

Nosocomial infection

an infection acquired during hospitalization

used to evaluate the response of the whole person to actual or potential health problems
a method of collecting and analyzing clinical information with the following components: assessment; diagnosis; outcome identification; planning; implementation; and evaluation.

Nursing Diagnosis

Nursing Process

Objective data

what the health professional observes by inspecting, palpating, percussing, and auscultating during the physical examination.

Open-ended question

asks for longer narrative information; unbiased; leaves the pt. free to answer in any way.
an instrument that illuminates the internal eye structures, enabling the examiner to look through the pupil at the fundus. an instrument that illuminates the ear canal, enabling the examiner to look at the ear canal and tympanic membrane.

Ophthalmoscope

Otoscope

Pallor

excessively pale, whitish pink color to lightly pigmented skin

Papule x

palpable skin lesion, less that 1 cm in diameter (or frequency) the number of vibrations (or cycles) per second of a note skin lesion in which papules coalesce or come together
any action directed toward promoting health and preventing the occurrence of disease.

Pitch

Plaque

Prevention

Pruritus

itching

Purpura

red-purple skin lesion due to blood in tissues from breaks in blood vessels elevated cavity containing thick, turbid fluid
(or timbre) a subjective difference in a sound due to the sound's distinctive overtones.

Pustule

Quality

Reflection

examiner response that echoes the pt.'s words; repeats part of what the pt. has just said.
the belief in a divine or superhuman power or powers to be obeyed and worshiped as the creator(s) and ruler(s) of the universe; and a system of beliefs, practices, and ethical values.

Religion

Scale

compact desiccated flakes of skin from shedding of dead skin cells

the process of being raised within a culture and acquiring the characteristics of that group

Socialization

Sphygmomanometer

instrument for measuring arterial blood pressure amount of blood pumped out of the heart with each heartbeat what the person says about himself or herself during the history (hx) taking.

Stroke Volume

Subjective Data

Summary

final review of what examiner understands the pt. has said; condenses facts and presents a survey of how the examiner perceives the health problem or need.

Tachycardia

heart rate of greater than 90 beats per minute in the adult. skin lesion due to permanently enlarged and dilated blood vessels that are visible
speech used by age 3 or 4 in which three or four word sentences use contain only the essential words
a federal law that mandates that when people with limited English proficiency (LEP) seek health care in health care settings... services cannot be denied to them.

Telangiectasia

Telegraphic Speech

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Torticollis

head tilt due to shortening or spasm of one sternomastoid muscle

sloughing of necrotic inflammatory tissue that causes a deep depression in skin, extending into dermis

Ulcer

Values

a desirable or undesirable state of affairs and a universal feature of all cultures messages sent through spoken words, vocalizations, tone of voice.
illusory sensation of either the room or one's own body spinning; it is not the same as dizziness

Verbal Communication

Vertigo

Vesicle

elevated cavity containing free fluid up to 1 cm diameter a dynamic process and view of health; a move toward optimal functioning. raised red skin lesion due to interstitial fluid

Wellness

Wheal x

Zosteriform x

linear shape of skin lesion along a nerve route