Aspirus Wausau Hospital

Glossary of Common Medical Terms

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Advance directives: A document that patients complete to direct their medical care when they are unable to communicate their own wishes due to a medical condition.

AIDS: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is an incurable, usually fatal dieseace caused by a virus hat destroys the body’s ability to fight off illness. AIDS causes recurrent infections or secondary diseases affecting multiple body systems.

Ambulatory Care: Care delivered on an outpatient basis, including primary care,
same-day surgery and outpatient diagnostic services.

Ancillary: A term used to describe additional services performed related to care, such as lab work, X-ray and anesthesia.

CT or CAT Scan: Computerized axial tomography. An advanced, noninvasive
method of radiological diagnosis that creates “images” of the body in a computerized display.

Health Maintenance Organization (HMO): An entity that offers prepaid, comprehensive health coverage for both hospital and physician services with specific health care providers using a fixed fee structure or capitated rates.

Hospice: A facility or program that is licensed, certified or otherwise authorized by law, that provides supportive care of the terminally ill.

Colonoscopy: Examination of the entire colon with an optic fiber tube inserted through the anus and rectum.

Community Care: Medical care for those who cannot afford it.

Coronary artery disease: Disease caused by the narrowing and hardening of the coronary arteries, which provide the blood supply to the heart. It may produce angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, or death.

Dementia: Loss of mental capacity. Demented people may have hallucinations and may not remember recent events or familiar people.

Endoscope: Long, flexible, fiber-optic tube used for examination of the upper or lower gastrointestinal tract.

Endoscopy: Examination of upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract, including the esophagus, stomach and duodenal portion of the small intestine.

Homeopathy: Therapy based on the administration of very small amounts of substances to treat a condition or symptoms that would be caused by larger amounts of the same substances.

Hysteroscopy: visual exam of the uterus.

Infection, Nosocomial: Infection acquired during hospitalization that is neither present nor incubating at the time of hospital admission that may become clinically manifest after discharge from the hospital.

Intermediate Care Facility: A facility providing a level of medical care that is less than the degree of care and treatment that a hospital or skilled nursing facility is designed to provide but greater than the level of room and board.

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO): Founded in 1951, JCAHO evaluates and accredits health care organizations in the U.S., including hospitals, health plans, and other care organizations that provide home care, mental health care, laboratory, ambulatory care and long-term services. 

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): Using a scanner, this is a high-technology diagnostic procedure used to create cross-sectional images of the body through the use of magnetic fields and radio frequency fields.

Managed Care: A system of health care delivery that influences utilization and cost of services, and often includes a capitated payment structure and a limited choice of health care providers.

Midwife, Certified Nurse:  A registered professional nurse with post-graduate education in pre-natal care and the delivery of babies.

Mortality: Death rate.

Morbidity: Incidents of illness and accidents in a defined group of individuals.

Neonatal: An infant’s life from the hour of birth through the first 27 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes.

Nurse Practitioner (NP): A registered professional nurse with graduate level  education in a nursing specialty (i.e., family health, pediatrics, gerontology).

Osteopathic: A school of medicine that uses manipulative measures in treating patients in addition to the diagnostic and therapeutic measures of medicine.

Physician Assistant: A health care professional licensed to practice medicine with the supervision of a licensed physician.

Preventive Care: Comprehensive care emphasizing priorities for prevention, early detection and early treatment of conditions, generally including routine physical examination and immunizations.

Primary Care: Entry-level care which may include diagnostic, therapeutic or preventive services.

Tertiary Care: Medical care of a highly technological and specialized nature provided in a medical center or teaching and research institution for patients with severe, complicated or unusual medical problems.

Triage: The process by which patients are sorted or classified according to the type and urgency of their conditions.

Ultrasound: A high frequency (pitch above human hearing) imaging technique also called sonography.

Acronyms