| A | B |
|---|
| Tachycardia | fast pulse rate greater than 100 beats per minute |
| Systolic Pressure | amount of force it takes to pump blood out of the heart into the arterial circulation (the top number) |
| Arteriosclerosis | loss of elasticity in the walls of the blood vessels |
| Atherosclerosis | accumulation of fat deposits inside of arteries, making them more narrow |
| Transient Ischemic Attack-TIA | An episode of poor circulation to the brain characterized by visual disturbances, dizziness, weakness, numbness, or loss of consciousness. The attack is usually brief. |
| Blood Pressure | The amount of force exerted against the walls of an artery by the blood |
| Bradycardia | slow pulse rate, usually less than 60 beats per minute |
| Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) | the inablility of the heart to pump an adequate quantity of blood |
| Cyanotic | a bluish-gray color of the skin, lips, or nail beds due to lack of oxygen |
| Diastolic Pressure | the pressure in the arteries when the heart is at rest (the bottom number) |
| Hypertension | high blood pressure; persistent BP measurements above the normal systolic or diastolic pressures |
| Hypotension | low blood pressure |
| Orthostatic Hypertension | a sudden drop in blood pressure when the resident moves from a lying to a sitting or standing position; results in fainting; inability of cardiovascular system to respond quickly enough to body position change |
| Slander | to make any oral defamatory false remark about another; spoken words that tend to damage the reputation of another |
| Advance Directive | a document that designates the resident's wishes in the event that he/she is unable to speak for himself/herself |
| Assault | threat or attempt to injure another in an unlawful manner |
| Battery | unlawful applicationof force to the person of another |
| Ethical | relating to a set of moral principles and values |
| Ethics | the discipline that addresses what is good and bad and what is moral duty and obligation |
| Exploitation | illegal or improper use of a person's property or resources to the degree that substantial riskof harm exists |
| Libel | a false and malicious publication in writing about an individual or group to a third party |
| Malpractice | improper or negligent treatment of a resident or patient resulting in damage or injury |
| Neglect | failure of person(s) responsible for an individual to provide necessary services to maintain the physical and mental health of the individual when such failure presents an imminent or probable danger to the individual |
| Negligence | failure to perform in a reasonably prudent manner or by acceptable health care practices |
| Ombudsman | one who speaks on behalf of another; a volunteer individual who helps residents in long-term care facilities. |
| Privileged communication | any personal or private information that is relevant to a resident's care that the resident gave to medical personnel |
| Abduction | away from the center (midline) of the body |
| Anterior | toward the front |
| Eversion | a turning outward |
| Inversion | a turning inward (feet only) |
| Lateral | to the side |
| Pronation | to turn downward |
| Shearing | occurs when the body slides on a surface that moves the skin in one direction and the underlying bones in the opposite direction |
| Supination | to turn upward |
| Assessment | an appraisal of the whole person to establish a baseline and determine the resident's potential and his need for help |
| Competency | the ability to perform a specific task |
| Deficiency | a written notice of inadequate care or sub-standard practice |
| Posterior | toward the back |
| Agitation | vocal or motor behaviors such as shouting, fidgeting, pacing, screaming, or wandering |
| Agnosia | loss of the ability to recognize familiar objects |
| Alzheimer's Disease | a progressive impairment of memory, reasoning, and judgment that is related to cellular changes within the brain and that leads to loss of independence in activities of daily living |
| Aphasia | language difficulty due to brain damage, which can affect listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills; loss of the ability to use or understand language |
| Apraxia | loss of the ability to carry out planned movements at will (e.g., dressing, eating, bathing) |
| Catastrophic Reaction | overreaction to circumstances |
| Cognitive | dealing with the thoughts and emotions |
| Combativeness | physically aggressive behavior; hitting, kicking, scratching, biting |
| Confusion | a mental state characterized by disorientation regarding time, place, or person |
| Delirium | memory and thinking impairment that comes on suddenly and is caused by illness or toxic reaction in the body, usually reversible |
| Dementia | severe impairment of cognitive such as thinking, memory, and personality; comes on slowly and worsens over time; usually irreversible, depending on the cause of the dementia |
| Disorientation | the state of mental confusion or loss of bearings in relation to the sense of person, place, or time |
| Hallucination | sensory perceptions that seem real to the person experiencing them, but are not perceived by others |
| Flushed | reddened color of the skin |
| Pallor | paleness |
| Perpetrator | person who inflicts harm |
| Abandonment | leaving resident unattended |
| Reality Orientation | techniques used to assist a person to become aware of the world in which he/she lives |
| Nosocomical infection | an infection acquired after admission to the facility |
| Ureatha | the small passage from the bladder through which urine leaves the body |
| Urinate (void) | to pass urine |
| Void | to pass urine |
| Incontinent | inability to control the passage of urine |
| Nocturia | the need to urinate at night |
| Retention | inability to empty bladder |
| Validation Therapy | a technique that creates a climate of acceptance by encouraging the resident who is confused to explore personal thoughts; it helps to confirm the emotions being experienced |
| Abrasion | a scraping or rubbing off of the skin |
| Asepsis | the absence of germs |
| Aspiration | to draw fluid or object into the lung when breathing in |
| Cheyne-Stokes | a pattern of breathing in which respirations gradually increase in rate and depth and then become shallow and slow; breathing may stop for 10 to 20 seconds |
| Contusion | an injury that does not break the skin, caused by a blow to the body and characterized by swelling, discoloration, and pain |
| Decubitus Ulcer | an inflammation, sore, or lesion that develops over areas where the skin and tissue underneath are injured due to a lack of blood flow |
| Diaphoresis | excessive sweating |
| Dyspnea | difficulty in breathing |
| Emphysema | respiratory condition in which the elasticity of the alveoli is lost, resulting in difficulty in breathing |
| Expectorate | coughing up matter from respiratory tract and spitting it out |
| Pneumonia | inflammation of the lungs with fluid accumulation in the affected alveoli |
| Hemorrhage | excessive, uncontrolled bleeding |
| Sputum | waste material coughed up from lungs or trachea |
| Acute | developing rapidly with pronounced symptoms and lasting a short time; rapid onset, short term |
| Cannula | a plastic or metal tube |
| Chronic | continuing over a long period of time or recurring frequently, chronic conditions begin insidiously, and symptoms are not as noticeable as in acute conditions; long, drawn out, long term |
| Defecation | passing feces from the body; passing of stool |
| Dysphagia | difficulty swallowing |
| Emesis | vomiting |
| Feces | waste products in the bowel; same as stool or BM |
| Flatus | gas in the bowel |
| Halitosis | bad breath |
| Hyperglycemia | high blood sugar |
| Hypogylcemia | low blood sugar |
| Peristalsis | wavelike movements of the digestive tract that move food through the intestinal tract |
| Ambulation | ability to walk |
| Arthritis | inflammation of a joint |
| Atrophy | wasting away of muscle tissue leading to weakness |
| Contracture | shortening of muscles and tendons, which causes deformity of joint and a decrease in joint motion and muscle wasting |
| Edema | swelling due to an accumulation of watery fluid in the tissue |
| Hemiplegia | loss of sensation or movement in one side of the body |
| Paralyzed | absence of movement or sensation |
| Paraplegia | paralysis of legs |
| Quadraplegia | paralysis of arms & legs |
| Diversionary | to draw attention to something else or to amuse |
| Rehabilitation | restoring of an ill or injured resident so he/she will be able to help himself/herself to live at his/her highest potential |
