| IPA | immunoperoxidase assay; incontinentia pigmenti achromians; independent physician or practice associa... |
|---|---|
| AMA | against medical advice; alkaline membrane assay; American Management Association; American Medical A... |
| ASA | acetylsalicylic acid; active systemic anaphylaxis; Adams-Stokes attack; American Society of Anesthes... |
| AAN | AIDS-associated nephropathy; alpha-amino nitrogen; American Academy of Neurology; American Academy o... |
| DPD | Department of Public Dispensary; depression pure disease; desoxypyridoxine; diffuse pulmonary diseas... |
| plant association | A grouping of plant species, or a plant community, that recurs across the landscape. Plant associations are used as indicators of environmental conditions such as temperature, moisture, light, etc. (05 Dec 1998) |
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| word association tests | Lists of words to which individuals are asked to respond ascertaining the conceptual meaning held by the individual. (12 Dec 1998) |
| New York Heart Association classification | A functional classification to assess cardiovascular disability. Class I: patients with cardiac disease without limitation of physical activity. Ordinary activity does not cause symptoms. Class II: patients with cardiac disease with slight limitation of activity; comfortable at rest. Ordinary physical activity results in fatigue, palpitation, dyspnea or angina. Class III: patients with cardiac disease producing marked limitation of activity: comfortable at rest. Less than ordinary physical activity causes symptoms. Class IV: patients with cardiac disease resulting in inability to carry on any physical activity without discomfort. Symptoms may be present even at rest. (05 Mar 2000) |
| free association | Spontaneous verbalization of whatever comes to mind. (12 Dec 1998) |
| laws of association | Principles formulated by Aristotle to account for the functional relationships between ideas; the law of contiguity (association) proved most useful to experimental psychologists, culminating in modern studies of respondent conditioning. (05 Mar 2000) |
| loosening of association | A manifestation of a severe thought disorder characterised by the lack of an obvious connection between one thought or phrase and the next, or with the response to a question. (05 Mar 2000) |
| 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) |