| LACN | local area communications network |
|---|---|
| NDC | National Data Communications; National Drug Code; Naval Dental Clinic; nondifferentiated cell |
| ACMI | American College of Medical Informatics |
| AMIA | American Medical Informatics Association |
| IMIA | International Medical Informatics Association |
| AHRQ | Agency for Health Care Research and Quality |
|---|---|
| ADAMHA | Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration |
| CSHA | Canadian Study of Health and Aging |
| CDRH | Center for Devices and Radiological Health |
| CATCH | Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health |
| environment and public health | Natural and man-made environments and their impact on public health. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| united states agency for health care policy and research | An agency of the public health service established in 1990 to "provide indexing, abstracting, translating, publishing, and other services leading to a more effective and timely dissemination of information on research, demonstration projects, and evaluations with respect to health care to public and private entities and individuals engaged in the improvement of health care delivery.." it supersedes the national centre for health services research. (12 Dec 1998) |
| united states dept. Of health and human services | A department of the united states government concerned with administering those agencies and offices having programs pertaining to health and human services. (12 Dec 1998) |
| united states health resources and services administration | A component of the public health service that provides leadership related to the delivery of health services and the requirements for and distribution of health resources, including manpower training. (12 Dec 1998) |
| united states occupational safety and health administration | An office in the department of labour responsible for developing and establishing occupational safety and health standards. (12 Dec 1998) |
| united states substance abuse and mental health services administration | An agency of the public health service concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to substance abuse and mental health. It is commonly referred to by the acronym samhsa. On 1 october 1992, the united states alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health administration (adamha) became samhsa. (telephone communication with samhsa 7 april 1992) (12 Dec 1998) |
| adolescent health services | Organised services to provide health care to adolescents, ages ranging from 13 through 18 years. (12 Dec 1998) |
| allied health occupations | Occupations of medical personnel who are not physicians, and are qualified by special training and, frequently, by licensure to work in supporting roles in the health care field. These occupations include, but are not limited to, medical technology, physical therapy, physician assistant, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| allied health personnel | Health care workers specially trained and licensed to assist and support the work of health professionals. Often used synonymously with paramedical personnel, the term generally refers to all health care workers who perform tasks which must otherwise be performed by a physician or other health professional. (12 Dec 1998) |
| allied health professional | An individual trained to perform services in the care of patients other than a physician or registered nurse; includes a variety of therapy technicians (e.g., pulmonary), radiology technicians, physical therapists, etc. (05 Mar 2000) |
| area health education centres | Education centres authorised by the comprehensive health manpower training act, 1971, for the training of health personnel in areas where health needs are the greatest. May be used for centres other than those established by the united states act. (12 Dec 1998) |
| attitude of health personnel | Attitudes of personnel toward their patients, other professionals, toward the medical care system, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| attitude to health | Public attitudes toward health, disease, and the medical care system. (12 Dec 1998) |
| behavioural health | An interdisciplinary field dedicated to promoting a philosophy of health that stresses individual responsibility in the application of behavioural and biomedical science knowledge and techniques to the maintenance of health and prevention of illness and dysfunction by a variety of self-initiated individual and shared activities. (05 Mar 2000) |
| care proxy, health | A health care proxy is one form of advance medical directive. Advance medical directives preserve the person's right to accept or reject a course of medical treatment even after that person becomes mentally or physically incapacitated to the point of being unable to communicate those wishes. There are two basic forms of advance directives: 1. A living will, in which the person outlines specific treatment guidelines that are to be followed by health care providers. 2. A health care proxy (also called a power of attorney for health-care decision-making) in which the person designates a trusted individual to make medical decisions in the event that he or she becomes too incapacitated to make such decisions. Advance directive requirements vary greatly from one jurisdiction to another and should therefore be drawn up in consultation with an attorney who is familiar with the laws of the particular jurisdiction. (This entry is based upon material from the National MS Society). (12 Dec 1998) |