| SHPDA | State Health Planning and Development Agency |
|---|---|
| ACF | accessory clinical findings; acute care facility; anterior cervical fusion; area correction factor; ... |
| ACLF | adult congregate living facility |
| ACRF | ambulatory care research facility |
| ADC | adult day care [facility]; affective disorders clinic; Aid to [Families with] Dependent Children; AI... |
| social planning | Interactional process combining investigation, discussion, and agreement by a number of people in the preparation and carrying out of a program to ameliorate conditions of need or social pathology in the community. It usually involves the action of a formal political, legal, or recognised voluntary body. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| disaster planning | Procedures outlined for the care of casualties and the maintenance of services in disasters. (12 Dec 1998) |
| integrated resource planning | See Least cost planning. (05 Dec 1998) |
| family planning | Programs or services designed to assist the family in controlling reproduction by either improving or diminishing fertility. (12 Dec 1998) |
| family planning policy | A course or method of action selected, usually by a government, to guide and determine present and future decisions on population control by limiting the number of children or controlling fertility, notably through family planning and contraception within the nuclear family. (12 Dec 1998) |
| least cost planning | (integrated resource planning) A method of power planning that recognises load uncertainty, embodies an emphasis on risk management, and reviews all available and reliable resources to meet future loads. It takes into consideration all costs of a resource, including capital, labour, fuel, maintenance, decommissioning, known environmental impacts, and the difficulty in quantifying the consequences of selecting one resource over another. Least cost planning seeks to minimise total energy costs. (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) |