| AACN | American Association of Colleges of Nursing; American Association of Critical-Care Nurses |
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| AAIN | American Association of Industrial Nurses |
| AANPI | American Association of Nurses Practicing Independently |
| ANA | acetylneuraminic acid; American Narcolepsy Association; American Neurological Association; American ... |
| ANF | alpha-naphthoflavone; American Nurses' Foundation; antineuritic factor; antinuclear factor; atrial n... |
| twin study | A method of detecting genetic causes in human traits and genetic factors in behaviour using sets of twins. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| foetal doppler study | <radiology> Non-stress test (NST), external monitoring for 20 minutes; poor specificity, greater than4 foetal heart accelerations (greater than15 bpm over baseline for 15 seconds) following foetal movement in foetus greater than34 weeks, no heart accelerations in immaturity, sleep, maternal sedation contraction stress test (CST), external monitoring after oxytocin or maternal breast stimulation, greater than 3 uterine contraction in 10 minutes; 50% specificity uterine and umbilical artery waveform, elevated systolic:diastolic ratio = increased vascular resistance foetal aortic flow volume, 185-246 ml/kg/min see also: biophysical profile, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) (12 Dec 1998) |
| follow-up study | Study in which persons exposed to risk or given a designated preventive or therapeutic regimen are observed over a period or at intervals to determine the outcome of the exposure or regimen. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Framingham Heart study | <epidemiology> Ongoing epidemiologic study of a cohort of over 5,000 of the population of Framingham, MA conducted since 1949 under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health and Boston University. (05 Mar 2000) |
| longitudinal study | <epidemiology> A study taking place over time. If individuals are followed, this is a longitudinal cohort study. If individuals are not followed, but classes (usually age classes) are restudied, this is a longitudinal cross-sectional study. The converse of a horizontal study. (05 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) |
| radiologic health | Health concerns associated with the effects of radiation on the environment and on public and personal health. (12 Dec 1998) |