| PCU | pain control unit; primary care unit; patient care unit; pulmonary care unit |
|---|---|
| CCC | care-cure coordination; cathodal closure contraction; chronic calculous cholecystitis; chronic catar... |
| PCC | Pasteur Culture Collection; percutaneous cecostomy; pheochromocytoma; phosphate carrier compound; pl... |
| PCM | patient care manager or management; patient classification system; primary cutaneous melanoma; proce... |
| ADC | adult day care [facility]; affective disorders clinic; Aid to [Families with] Dependent Children; AI... |
| AIDS-related virus | An obsolete term for human immunodeficiency virus. (05 Mar 2000) |
|---|---|
| aids serodiagnosis | Immunologic tests for identification of HIV (HTLV-III/lav) antibodies. They include assays for HIV seropositivity and HIV seronegativity (elisa, immunofluorescence, immunoblot, etc.) that have been developed for screening persons carrying the viral antibody from patients with overt symptoms of aids or aids-related complex. (12 Dec 1998) |
| AIDS test | <investigation> A test which is performed on a standard venipuncture blood specimen which detects the presence of antibodies to HIV (virus). This test may not be positive for 3 to 6 months after infection with HIV. (27 Sep 1997) |
| aids vaccines | Vaccines or candidate vaccines containing inactivated HIV or some of its component antigens and designed to prevent aids. Some vaccines containing antigens are recombinantly produced. (12 Dec 1998) |
| audiovisual aids | Auditory and visual instructional materials. (12 Dec 1998) |
| communication aids for disabled | Equipment that provides mentally or physically disabled persons, who cannot speak effectively, with a means of communication. The aids include display boards, typewriters, cathode ray tubes, computers, and speech synthesisers. The output of such aids includes written words, artificial speech, language signs, morse code, and pictures. (12 Dec 1998) |
| hearing aids | Devices which amplify sound to help persons with hearing loss. (12 Dec 1998) |
| lymphoma, aids-related | B-cell lymphoid tumours that occur in association with aids. Patients often present with an advanced stage of disease and highly malignant subtypes including burkitt lymphoma, immunoblastic large-cell lymphoma, small non-cleaved-cell lymphoma and diffuse large-cell lymphoma. The tumours are often disseminated in unusual extranodal sites and chromosomal abnormalities are frequently present. It is likely that polyclonal B-cell lymphoproliferation in aids is a complex result of ebv infection, HIV antigenic stimulation, and T-cell-dependent HIV activation. (12 Dec 1998) |
| analgesia, patient-controlled | Relief of pain, without loss of consciousness, through an analgesic agent administered by the patient. It has been used successfully to control postoperative pain, during labour, after burns, and in terminal care. The choice of agent, dose, and lockout interval greatly influence effectiveness. The potential for overdose can be minimised by combining small bolus doses with a mandatory interval between successive doses (lockout interval). (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient | 1. A person who is receiving medical treatment, especially in a hospital. 2. A person who is registered with a doctor, dentist, etc and is treated by him when necessary. (18 Nov 1997) |
| patient admission | The process of accepting patients. The concept includes patients accepted for medical and nursing care in a hospital or other health care institution. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient advocacy | Promotion and protection of the rights of patients, frequently through a legal process. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient compliance | Voluntary cooperation of the patient in following a prescribed regimen. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient controlled analgesia | <anaesthetics, procedure> Self-administration of analgesics by a patient instructed in doing so, usually refers to self-dosing with intravenous opioid (for example, morphine) administered by means of a programmable pump. (16 Dec 1997) |
| patient credit and collection | Accounting procedures for determining credit status and methods of obtaining payment. (12 Dec 1998) |