| Biopsy | A small sample of body tissue safely removed for microscopic analysis |
| Bleep | An electronic pager normally carried by hospital staff. This allows anyone in the hospital to be contacted quickly by any member of staff. |
| Capacity | The ability of a patient to make decisions about their healthcare. A patient may have capacity to make one decision but not have capacity to make another. Capacity is formally assessed on admission to hospital |
| Chronic disease | A disease that is not normally curable and so is instead managed over a patient’s life. Common chronic diseases include diabetes, hypertension and rheumatoid arthritis |
| Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) | A chronic progressive lung disease, almost exclusively the result of a long-term history of smoking cigarettes (with exceptions). |
| Closed Question | A question asked by a doctor that normally has a very limited number of responses. An example would be ‘is the pain worse on movement?’. Closed questions are normally used when focusing on the details of a clinical problem. |
| Comorbidities | Diseases that are occurring simultaneously in a patient, that are often chronic but not necessarily related. Elderly patients are more likely to have multiple comorbidities |
| Consultant | A senior doctor whom has completed the training pathway for their chosen specialty. |
| Do-Not-Attempt-Resuscitation (DNAR) | |
| Foundation Training | The first compulsory training pathway for all newly qualified doctors, organised over two years and comprising of three 4-month rotations per year in different specialties. An optional third foundation year is also now available to trainees. |
| General Medical Council (GMC) | The UK regulatory body for doctors and publisher of guidelines outlining recommended medical practice with the aim to protect patients and optimise patient care. All doctors must have GMC registration to lawfully practise medicine in the UK. |
| General Practitioner | |
| History (of Presenting Complaint) | The patient’s account of their presenting problem. The history is normally the patient’s own description of their problem, but is guided by the clerking doctor with a mixture of open and closed questions. |
| Holistic | The concept of treating the ‘whole’ patient. It describes not just managing and treating in terms of their disease, but also the wider impact of the disease on their physical, mental and social well-being, and recognising patients’ own expectations and priorities for healthcare. |
| Hospice | A type of tertiary care specialist facility that focuses on caring for patients with chronic, often terminal, conditions where the focus is of managing symptoms rather than cure. Some patients are inpatients based on a hospice ward, while others only visit during the day for specialist treatments that cannot be carried out by primary care services |
| Mammogram | A radiographical image of the breast tissue |
| Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) | A team of healthcare professionals with a variety of different roles and inputs in the care of the same group of patients. Multidisciplinary management of patients allows specialist input on all aspects of patient care |
| National Health Service (NHS) | The government-funded public health service of the UK. Founded in 1948 by Aneurin Bevan, the NHS was formed on the premise that it would meet the health needs of anyone, would be free at the point of entry, and based on clinical need rather than ability to pay |
| Open Question | A question asked by a doctor that allows a patient to openly describe their presenting problem in their own words, with a near infinite number of possible responses. An example would be ‘can you tell me what has brought you in today?’ Open questions are normally used at the start of a consultation to get the nature of a clinical problem. |
| Outpatients | Specialist-run clinics for the management of patients with needs that cannot be managed in primary care. These patients normally require more specialist assessment, investigations and treatments. These clinics are run by doctors, specialist nurses and other HCPs. Patient’s must be referred by another doctor (e.g. GP or hospital doctor) to access outpatient services |
| Palliative Care | |
| Primary Care | Community-based care for patients making their first approach to health services regarding a health problem. Examples of primary care services include GP surgeries and drop-in clinics (e.g. sexual health) |
| Rapport | The relationship a doctor develops with their patient during a consultation. A good rapport is a doctor developing an understanding and appreciation of a patient’s health concerns and priorities, and in response the patient putting their trust in the doctor. This has many positive sequelae, such as increased adherence to treatment. |
| Reflection | |
| Registrar | A doctor that is training to become a consultant in their field. |
| Secondary Care | The provision of higher-level care in a centre with multiple specialist staff and resources, such as a hospital. Secondary care services cannot normally be accessed without a referral from primary care or via emergency admission. |
| Sign | A clinical abnormality that a doctor recognises in the physical examination of a patient (but that the patient may not notice) |
| Symptom | An abnormality in a patient’s health that the patient describes (e.g. pain) |
| Tertiary Care | Very high-level care provided at a specialist centre often focussing on only one discipline, such as a hospice or a neurorehabilitation centre. |
| Ward Round | Review of each patient on a ward being cared for by a clinical team in a specialist care setting. Each patient is seen and reviewed for aspects such as current and new diagnoses, investigations, treatments and discharge planning. This sets the ‘jobs’ do be done for each patient for the rest of the day. The round is normally led by a consultant and is multidisciplinary. |