| patient discharge | The administrative process of discharging the patient, live or dead, from hospitals or other health facilities. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| patient education | The teaching or training of patients concerning their own health needs. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient escort service | A special service provided by volunteers to accompany patients who need help in moving about the health facility. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient identification systems | Organised procedures for establishing patient identity, including use of bracelets, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient isolation | The segregation of patients with communicable or other diseases for a specified time. Isolation may be strict, in which movement and social contacts are limited; modified, where an effort to control specified aspects of care is made in order to prevent cross infection; or reverse, where the patient is secluded in a controlled or germ-free environment in order to protect him or her from cross infection. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient isolators | Equipment used to prevent contamination of and by patients, especially those with bacterial infections. This includes plastic surgical isolators and isolators used to protect immunocompromised patients. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient participation | Patient involvement in the decision-making process in matters pertaining to health. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient readmission | Subsequent admissions of a patient to a hospital or other health care institution for treatment. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient satisfaction | The degree to which the individual regards the health care service or product or the manner in which it is delivered by the provider as useful, effective, or beneficial. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient selection | Criteria and standards used for the determination of the appropriateness of the inclusion of patients with specific conditions in proposed treatment plans and the criteria used for the inclusion of subjects in various clinical trials and other research protocols. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient simulation | The use of persons coached to feign symptoms or conditions of real diseases in a life-like manner in order to teach or evaluate medical personnel. (12 Dec 1998) |
| patient transfer | Interfacility or intrahospital transfer of patients. Intrahospital transfer is usually to obtain a specific kind of care and interfacility transfer is usually for economic reasons as well as type of care provided. (12 Dec 1998) |
| Patient Zero | The individual identified in 1982 by the Centres for Disease Control as responsible for introducing the HIV virus into the U.S. Population. A Canadian citisen, Patient Zero was a homosexual airline steward who claimed to have had as many as 2,500 sexual encounters. CDC epidemiologists located 19 men in Los Angeles, 22 in New York City, and 8 in other cities who had contracted AIDS from contact with Patient Zero, the earliest known cases of the disease in the U.S. Revealed to be Gaetan Dugas, Patient Zero died in 1984 due to AIDS-related illness. (05 Mar 2000) |
| risk patient | Patient who is at risk, because of his/her behaviour or because of the type of person he/she is. (18 Nov 1997) |
| physician-patient relations | The interactions between physician and patient. (12 Dec 1998) |