Chapter: 4.8 Common Terms

Necrosis - localized tissue death that occurs in groups of cells in response to disease or injury. In coagulation necrosis, blood clots block the flow of blood, causing tissue ischemia distal to the clot; in gangrenous necrosis, ischemia combined with bacterial action causes putrefaction to set in.

Pulse Rate - the number of pulse beats per minute. Normally it is the same as the heart rate. The normal pulse rate in an average adult varies from 60 to 80 beats/min, with fluctuations occurring with exercise, injury, illness, and emotional reactions.

Scratch Test - a skin test for identifying an allergen, performed by placing a small quantity of a solution containing a suspected allergen on a lightly scratched area of the skin. A wheat forming within 15 minutes indicates an allergy to the substance.

Sign - an objective finding as perceived by an examiner, such as a fever, a rash, or the whisper heard over the chest in pleural effusion. Many signs accompany symptoms; for example, erythema and a maculopapular rash are often seen with pruritus.

Skin turgor - the resilience of the normal skin when subjected to physical distortion, such as by pinching or pressing. The relative speed with which the skin resumes its normal appearance after stretching or compression is an indicator of skin hydration. Turgor is slower in older people.

Standard of care - a written statement describing the rules, actions or condition that direct patient care. Standards of care guide practice and can be used to evaluate performance.

Standard Precautions - guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reduce the risk of transmission of blood borne and other pathogens in hospitals. The standard precautions synthesize the major features of Universal (Blood and Body Fluid) precautions and Body Substance Isolation (designed to reduce the risk of pathogens from moist body substances) and apply them to all patients receiving care in hospitals, regardless of their diagnosis or presumed infection status. Standard Precautions apply to (a) blood; (b) all body fluids, secretions, and excretions, excluding sweat, regardless of whether they contain blood; (c) nonintact skin; and (d) mucous membrane. The precautions are designed to reduce the risk of transmission of microorganisms from both recognized and unrecognized sources of infection in hospitals.

Standing Orders - a written document containing rules, policies, procedures, regulations and orders for the conduct of patient care in various stipulated clinical situations. Standing orders usually name the condition and prescribe the action to be taken in caring for patient, including the dosage and route of administration for a drug or the schedule for the administration of a therapeutic procedure.

Symptom - a subjective indication of a disease or a change in condition as perceived by the patient . many symptoms are accompanied by objective signs such as pruritus, which is often reported with erythema and a maculopapular eruption on the skin. Some symptoms may be objectively confirmed. Such as numbness of a body part, which may be confirmed by absence of response to a pin prick. Primary symptoms are symptoms that are intrinsically associated with a disease. Secondary symptoms are a consequence of illness and disease.