Unit 1 Health, Wellness, and Stress Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering health, wellness, illness, care models, and stress responses from Unit 1 (Chapters 4 & 5).

Hereditary Condition

A health condition or trait passed down genetically from parents to offspring.

Secondary Illness

An illness that results from or develops as a consequence of a primary illness.

Remission

A period during a chronic illness when symptoms disappear or significantly decrease.

Acute Illness vs. Chronic Illness

Acute illness is a short-term, severe medical condition, whereas chronic illness is a long-lasting, ongoing condition.

Extended Care

Healthcare and supportive services provided over a prolonged period for individuals requiring long-term care or recovery.

Primary Care

The initial level of healthcare delivery focusing on basic health services, wellness, and preventive care.

Secondary Care

Specialized medical care provided by specialists upon referral from a primary care provider.

Tertiary Care

Highly specialized, advanced consultative healthcare, typically provided in specialized medical centers.

Sensory Manipulation

A technique or strategy used to alter sensory inputs to help manage stress or promote relaxation.

Alternative Thinking Technique

A cognitive coping strategy used to modify thought patterns and manage stress responses.

Holism

A basic health concept that views an individual as a complete system made up of interconnected physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual components.

Morbidity

The rate or incidence of disease and illness within a specific population.

Mortality

The rate or incidence of death within a given population over a specific period.

Continuity of Care

The uninterrupted, coordinated delivery of healthcare services across different settings and providers over time.

Primary Prevention vs. Secondary Prevention

Primary prevention focuses on preventing disease before it occurs, whereas secondary prevention focuses on early detection and prompt intervention.

Sympathetic vs. Parasympathetic

The sympathetic system triggers stress-induced fight-or-flight responses, whereas the parasympathetic system restores calm and physiological homeostasis.

Repression

An unconscious defense mechanism that pushes painful or stressful thoughts out of conscious awareness.

Regression

A defense mechanism involving a return to an earlier developmental behavior pattern when coping with stress.

Denial

A defense mechanism in which an individual refuses to acknowledge or accept a stressful reality.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

A foundational model categorizing human needs from basic physiological needs to self-actualization.

Primary Nursing

A nursing care delivery model where one nurse assumes total 24-hour responsibility for planning and coordinating a patient's care.

Functional Nursing

A nursing care delivery model focused on task distribution, where individual nurses perform specific assigned tasks for multiple patients.

Nurse-managed Care

A healthcare delivery model in which care services are directed, coordinated, and overseen by nurses.

World Health Organization Definition of Health

The standard defining health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease.

American Views of Health

The 3 distinct perspectives or belief systems through which Americans view and define health.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

A model describing the body's physiological stress response across 3 stages: Alarm Stage, Stage of Resistance, and Stage of Exhaustion.

Alarm Stage

The 1st stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), during which the body mobilizes its fight-or-flight response to a stressor.

Stage of Exhaustion

The 3rd stage of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), occurring when physical energy and stress resources are depleted.

Non-therapeutic Stress Coping Techniques

Maladaptive or unhelpful behaviors and strategies used to cope with stress, such as catastrophizing.

Subcortex vs. Cortex

The subcortex processes lower-level autonomic and emotional functions, while the cortex manages higher-level cognitive appraisal and thought.

Main Systems for Homeostasis

The three primary body systems that enable adaptation and maintain physiological equilibrium.

Types of Stressors

Categories of stress-inducing factors, classified as physiological, psychologic, social, or spiritual.

Norepinephrine

A neurotransmitter and hormone involved in activating the body's sympathetic stress response.

Brainstem

The lower anatomical part of the brain made up of specific structures vital for homeostatic regulation.

Stress Effect on Blood Sugar

The physiological response where high stress levels cause a patient's blood sugar level to go UP.

Master Gland of the Endocrine System

The primary gland in the endocrine system that controls and coordinates hormonal output during stress and homeostatic regulation.

Beliefs

Individual or cultural convictions and concepts that shape how a person views health, wellness, and illness.

Capitation

A payment system in healthcare where providers receive a fixed fee per patient over a defined period regardless of services used.

Case Method

A care delivery system where a single nurse provides total care to one patient during a specific shift.

Congenital Disorders

Structural or functional health conditions present in an individual at birth.

Exacerbation

A period during a chronic condition when symptoms become more severe or flare up.

Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)

Managed care organizations providing comprehensive health services to enrolled members for a prepaid fee.

Idiopathic Illness

An illness or medical condition that arises spontaneously without a known or identifiable cause.

Illness

A subjective state of suffering or impaired well-being resulting from physical, emotional, or social imbalance.

Medicaid

A jointly funded state and federal health insurance program for eligible low-income individuals and families.

Medicare

A federal health insurance program primarily serving individuals aged 65 and older or those with specific qualifying disabilities.

Primary Illness

An original or initial health condition that develops independently of any other disease.

Terminal Illness

An advanced, irreversible illness expected to lead to death within a short timeframe.

Adaptation

The process of adjusting physically, mentally, or socially to cope with stress and environmental changes.

Catastrophize

A cognitive non-therapeutic stress reaction involving irrational anticipation of the worst possible outcome.

Cortisol

A primary glucocorticoid hormone secreted by the adrenal gland during stress.

Endocrine System

The system of glands that produces hormones regulating metabolic, growth, and stress responses.

Endorphins

Naturally produced chemicals in the brain that act as natural painkillers and mood enhancers during stress.

Fight-or-Flight Response

An automatic sympathetic nervous system response mobilizing the body to confront or escape danger.

Homeostasis

The state of relative constancy and balance maintained within the internal physiological environment.

Neurotransmitters

Chemical messengers released by nerve cells to transmit impulses across synapses throughout the nervous system.

Stress

A physiological or psychological condition produced by internal or external demands requiring bodily adaptation.