Chapter: 4.9 Common Terms

Telehealth - the use of telecommunication technologies to provide health care services and access to medical and surgical information for training and educating health care professional and consumers to increase awareness and educate the public about health related issues and to facilitate medical research across distances.

Therapeutic equivalent - a drug that has essentially the same effect in the treatment of a disease or condition as one or more other drugs.

Thermoregulation, ineffective - a NANDA accepted nursing diagnosis defined as the state in which an individual's temperature fluctuates between hypothermia and hyperthermia. The critical defining characteristics is the fluctuation in body termperature above or below the normal range.

Thrombolysis - the dissolution of thrombus.

Thrombolytic therapy - administration of a thrombolytic agent such as tissue plasminogen activator, urokinase or streptokinase to dissolve an arterial clot, such as a clot in a coronary artery in a patient with an acute myocardial infarction . TT is also used to dissolve clots [ thrombus] in venous access devices.

TORCH - acronym for toxoplasmosis, other, rubella virus, cytomegalovirus, and herpes simplex viruses, a group of agents that can infect the fetus or the now born, causing a constellation of morbid effects called the TORCH syndrome.

Tumor - a swelling or enlargement occurring in inflammatory conditions; a new growth of tissue characterized by progressive, uncontrolled proliferation of cells. The tumor may be localized or invasive, benign or malignant. A tumor may be named for its location, for its cellular makeup, or for the person who first identified it.

Uterus - the hollow pear shaped internal female organ of reproduction in which the fertilized ovum is implanted and the fetus develops and from which the deciduas of menses flows.

Venous blood gas - the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the venous blood. Venous blood gas is measured by various methods to assess the adequacy of oxygen action and ventilation and to determine the acid base status. The oxygen tension of venous blood normally averages 40 mm Hg. The dissolved oxygen content 0.1% by volume; the total oxygen content 15.2%; and the oxygen saturation of venous hemoglobin 75%. The carbon dioxide tension normally averages 46 mm Hg; the dissolved carbon dioxide content 50%. The normal average PH of venous plasma is 7.37.