12/2/2020 W. W.

Norton Flashcards

Term Description

Acute Diseases diseases that have a sudden onset, may be briefly incapacitating, and are either curable or fatal
(394)

Chronic diseases that develop over a longer period of time and may not be detected until later in their
Diseases progression, when symptoms occur (394)

Curative or type of health care that treats the disease or condition once it has manifested (394)
Crisis Medicine

Preventive type of health care that aims to avoid or forestall the onset of disease by taking preventive
Medicine measures, often including lifestyle changes (395)

Palliative Care type of health care that focuses on symptom and pain relief and providing a supportive
environment for critically ill or dying patients (395)

Medicalization the process by which some behaviors or conditions that were once seen as personal problems are
redefined as medical issues (397)

Epidemiology the study of disease patterns to understand the cause of illnesses, how they are spread, and what
interventions to take (398)

Epidemic occurs when the number of cases of a particular disease during a particular time period is
significantly higher than might otherwise be expected (400)

Pandemic occurs when a significantly higher number of cases of a disease also spreads through an especially
large geographical region spanning many countries or even continents (400)

Vector animals like mosquitoes, ticks, and birds that carry and spread pathogens (germs or other
Organisms infectious agents) in a given area (401)

Food Desert a community in which the residents have little or no access to fresh, affordable, healthy foods,
usually located in densely populated urban areas (403)

Deprivation when our individual disease risks (based on our heredity and physiology) are amplified by social
Amplification factors (405)

Cultural the concept of acknowledging and incorporating a patient’s cultural background as part of the
Competence treatment process; the recognition that patients’ beliefs shape their approach to health care (406)

Sick Role the actions and attitudes that society expects from someone who is ill (409)

Rescission the practice by insurance companies of canceling coverage only after a person gets sick (412)

Complementary a group of medical treatments, practices, and products that can be used in conjunction with
Medicine conventional Western medicine (412)

Alternative a group of medical treatments, practices, and products that are used instead of conventional
Medicine Western medicine (412)

Integrative the combination of conventional medicine with complementary practices and treatments that have
Medicine proven to be safe and effective (412)

Bioethics the study of controversial moral or ethical issues related to scientific and medical advancements
(414)

Eugenics an attempt to selectively manipulate the gene pool in order to produce and “improve” human
beings through medical science (414)

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