Chapter: 4.5 Common Terms

Dialysis - The process of separating colloids and crystalline substances in a solution by the difference in their rate of diffusion through a semi permeable membrane; a medical procedure for the removal of certain elements from the blood or lymph by virtue of the difference in their rates of diffusion through an external semi permeable membrane or, in the case of peritoneal dialysis, through the peritoneum.

Dystonic - referring to impairments of muscle tone, often excessive increase in tone, when the muscle is in action and to hypotomia when it is at rest, often resulting in postural abnormalities.

Epilepsy - a group of neurologic disorders characterized by recurrent episodes of convulsive seizures, sensory disturbances, abnormal behavior, loss of consciousness, or all of these. Common to all types of epilepsy is an uncontrolled electric discharge from the nerve cells of the cerebral cortex. Most epileptic attacks are brief. The frequency of attacks may range from many times a day to intervals of several years.

Evidence based practice - the practice of health care in which the practitioners systematically finds, appraises, and uses the most current and valid research findings as the basis for clinical decisions. The term is sometimes used to denote evidence based medicine specifically, but can also include other specialties, such as evidence based nursing, pharmacy and dentistry.

Flatus - air or gas in the intestine that is passed through the rectum.

Fluid overload - an excessive accumulation of fluid in the body caused by excessive parental infusion or deficiencies in cardiovascular or renal fluid volume regulation.

Gallbladder - a pear- shaped excretory sac lodged in a fossa on the visceral surface of the right lobe of the liver. It stores and concentrates bile, which it receives from the liver via the hepatic duct. In an adult, it holds about 32mL of bile. During digestion of fats, the gallbladder contracts, ejecting bile through the common bile duct into the duodenum.

Hematuria - abnormal presence of blood in the urine. It is symptomatic of many renal diseases and disorders of the genitourinary system. Microscopic examination of the urine, culture and sensitivity of the urine as well as physical examination of the patient are usually performed.

Hemiplegia - paralysis of one side of the body.

Hemoglobin - a complex protein iron compound in the blood that carries oxygen to the cells from the lungs and carbon dioxide away from the cells to the lungs. Each erythrocyte contains 200 to 300 molecules of hemoglobin, each molecule of hemoglobin contains four groups of heme and each group of heme can carry one molecule of oxygen. The normal concentrations of hemoglobin in the blood are 12 to 16 g/dl in women and 13.5 to 18g/ dl in men. In an atmosphere of high oxygen concentration, such as in the lungs, hemoglobin binds with oxygen to from oxyhemoglobin. In an atmosphere of low oxygen concentration, such as in the peripheral tissues of the body, oxygen is replaced bv carbon dioxide to form carboxyhemoglobin. Hemoglobin releases the carboxyhemoglobin in the lungs for excretion and picks up more oxygen for transport to the cells.

Hemolysis - the breakdown of red blood cells and the release of hemoglobin that occur normally at the end of the life span of a red cell. Hemolysis may occur in antigen antibody reactions, metabolic abnormalities of the red cell that significantly shorten red cell life span, and mechanical trauma such as cardiac prosthesis