Hospital Techniques and Physical Therapy Assistant Essentials

Vocabulary flashcards covering infection control, standard precautions, vital signs, anthropometric measurements, and body mechanics for physical therapy assistant students based on lecture notes.

Infection

A disease in a part of the body that is caused by bacteria or a virus.

Bacteria

Microscopic single-cell (unicellular) life forms that exist practically everywhere in the Earth's environment.

Virus

An extremely small piece of organic material that causes disease in humans, animals, and plants.

Health

A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Disease

A disorder of structure or function that produces specific signs or symptoms or affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury.

Sign (Medical)

Any objective evidence of a disease or health problem identified by a healthcare professional through evaluation and physical examination.

Symptom (Medical)

Any subjective evidence of a disease or health problem that indicates the presence of a bodily disorder.

Diagnosis

A statement or conclusion that describes the reason for a disease, illness, or health problem.

Prognosis

The opinion of a doctor or healthcare professional about how a patient will recover from an illness, injury, or specific health problem.

Treatment

The use of an agent, procedure, or regimen in an attempt to cure or mitigate a disease, condition, or injury.

Infectious Agent

An organism that causes disease, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, or prions.

Reservoir (Chain of Infection)

A place where an infectious agent lives and grows, such as the large intestine, blood, or mouth.

Portal of Exit

Any body opening that allows an infectious agent to leave the host, such as the mouth, nose, rectum, or breaks in the skin.

Means of Transmission

The pathway by which an infectious agent travels from an infected person to another person, such as through air or contact.

Portal of Entry

Any body opening that allows an infectious agent to enter a host, such as the nose, mouth, eyes, mucous membranes, or non-intact skin.

Susceptible Host

A non-infected person who is at risk of acquiring an infection.

Endogenous Infection

Self-infection that occurs when organisms that are harmless in one body site cause infection when transferred to another site.

Exogenous Infection

Cross-infection that occurs when pathogenic organisms are transferred to a host from an external source.

Standard Precautions

Safety procedures established by the CDC intended for all patients in all healthcare settings to prevent transmission of infectious diseases regardless of suspected infection.

Transmission-based Precautions

Infection control precautions intended for patients known or suspected to be infected or colonized with highly transmissible infectious agents.

Sputum

Matter expectorated from the respiratory system, especially the lungs, composed of mucus that may contain pus, blood, fibrin, or microorganisms in diseased states.

Cerebrospinal Fluid

A colorless liquid comparable to serum secreted into the lateral ventricles of the brain that serves chiefly to maintain uniform pressure within the brain and spinal cord.

Non-intact Skin

Areas of skin that have been opened by cuts, abrasions, dermatitis, or chapped skin.

Hand Hygiene

The process of cleaning hands using handwashing with soap and water, antiseptic hand wash, alcohol-based hand rub, or surgical hand antisepsis.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

A variety of barriers, such as gloves, gowns, masks, goggles, or face shields, used to protect healthcare workers' mucous membranes, airways, skin, and clothing.

Contact Precautions

Transmission-based precautions required for patients with conditions such as stool incontinence, draining wounds, MRSA, or generalized rash.

Droplet Precautions

Transmission-based precautions designed to prevent transmission of pathogens spread through close contact with respiratory secretions and mucus.

Airborne Precautions

Transmission-based precautions used for patients infected with airborne pathogens (e.g., tuberculosis, measles, varicella), requiring a negative pressure isolation room and an N95 respirator.

Respiratory Etiquette

Infection control practices designed to reduce respiratory disease transmission, including covering the mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing and performing immediate hand hygiene.

Disinfection

The process of cleaning an article to remove some or all pathogenic microorganisms (excluding bacterial spores) on hard environmental surfaces.

Sterilization

A process used to destroy or eliminate all forms of microbial life, including bacterial spores, on surfaces, liquids, or instruments.

Antisepsis

The chemical destruction of vegetative pathogens on living tissues.

Sanitization

The reduction of microbial counts on eating and drinking utensils or surfaces to safe public health levels.

Bacteriostatic Agent

A chemical or physical agent that inhibits or stops the growth and reproduction of bacteria without necessarily killing them.

Systolic Pressure

The pressure exerted inside the arterial walls when the heart contracts and pumps blood through the body.

Diastolic Pressure

The pressure inside the arterial walls when the heart muscle is at rest between beats and filling with blood.

Hypertension

A persistent elevation of systolic or diastolic blood pressure recorded on at least 3 consecutive clinical visits.

Orthostatic Hypotension

A sudden drop in blood pressure that occurs when a person moves quickly from a lying or sitting position to standing.

Hypertensive Urgency

A severe blood pressure elevation of $180/120\,\text{mmHg}$ or greater without associated acute organ damage or symptoms.

Hypertensive Emergency

A blood pressure reading of $180/120\,\text{mmHg}$ or greater accompanied by symptoms of target organ damage such as chest pain, shortness of breath, or neurological deficits.

Resting Heart Rate

The rate at which the heart beats when a person is at complete rest, with normal adult values ranging between $60\,\text{bpm}$ and $100\,\text{bpm}$.

Predicted Maximum Heart Rate

An estimated age-based limit of heart rate during maximum physical exertion, calculated using the formula $220 - \text{age}$.

Bradycardia

An abnormally slow heart rate, defined as fewer than $60\,\text{bpm}$ in an adult.

Tachycardia

An abnormally rapid heart rate, defined as greater than $100\,\text{bpm}$ in an adult.

Hypoxemia

An abnormally low concentration of oxygen in the blood, typically defined as an oxygen saturation below $95\%$.

Anthropometry

A branch of anthropology involving the quantitative measurement of the dimensions, proportions, and physical characteristics of the human body.

Static Anthropometric Measurements

Body measurements taken with the subject held in fixed, standard anatomical positions.

Dynamic Anthropometric Measurements

Body measurements taken while the body is performing tasks or placed in various functional working positions.

Orbitomeatal Plane (Frankfort Plane)

An anatomical skull orientation in which the inferior margin of the orbit and the superior margin of the external acoustic meatus lie on a horizontal plane.

Body Mass Index (BMI)

A ratio of weight to height calculated as $\text{BMI} = \frac{\text{weight (kg)}}{\text{height}^2 (\text{m}^2)}$ used to classify body mass status in adults.

Anisomelia

A condition characterized by a noticeable discrepancy in length between paired lower extremities.

True Leg Length Measurement

An anatomical measurement taken from the Anterior Superior Iliac Spine (ASIS) to the medial malleolus with the patient in supine.

Apparent Leg Length Measurement

A functional leg measurement taken from the umbilicus to the medial malleolus to detect functional leg length discrepancies.

Center of Gravity (COG)

A hypothetical point around which the force of gravity appears to act, located approximately anterior to the second sacral vertebra ($S2$) in adults.

Body Mechanics

The utilization of correct muscles to complete a task safely and efficiently without undue strain on any muscle or joint.

Base of Support (BOS)

The perimeter surrounding all contact points between an object or person and the supporting surface; a wider BOS provides greater stability.