AHS 110 Exam 2: Health Disparities, Workforce, & Preventative Health

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering health disparities, social determinants, clinical workforce roles, care models, and preventative health levels from Chapters 11 and 4.

Health Disparity

A preventable difference in health outcomes, disease burden, or access to care that affects some groups more than others.

Health Equity

A fair opportunity for everyone to reach their best possible health, which may require different levels or types of support.

Vulnerable Populations

Groups more likely to experience barriers to health or health care because of social, economic, geographic, age-related, disability-related, or other systemic circumstances.

Social Determinants of Health

Conditions in which people are born, grow, live, learn, work, and age, including income, education, housing, transportation, food access, and neighborhood safety.

Health Literacy

The ability to find, understand, and use information and services to make health-related decisions.

Cultural Humility

Ongoing self-reflection and willingness to learn from patients rather than assuming one already understands their experiences or culture.

Chronic Illnesses

Long-lasting conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease, that often require ongoing monitoring, treatment, medication, or behavior changes.

Teach-Back

A communication method where the clinician asks the patient to explain the care plan in their own words to verify understanding and clarity.

Respiratory Therapist

A health professional who helps assess and treat breathing and cardiopulmonary problems, including providing oxygen therapy and ventilatory support.

Occupational Therapist (OT)

A practitioner who helps people participate in daily activities, such as dressing, bathing, work, and school tasks, often by adapting tasks or environments.

Physical Therapist (PT)

A practitioner who helps improve movement, strength, balance, function, and recovery after an injury or illness.

Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)

A health professional who assesses and treats communication and swallowing difficulties.

Diagnostic Medical Sonographer

A health professional who operates ultrasound equipment to create images that help clinicians evaluate internal structures of the body.

Public Health Professionals

Specialists who work to prevent disease and promote health across communities and populations through surveillance, education, policy, research, and programs.

Multidisciplinary Team

A collaborative group bringing together professionals with different clinical training and perspectives to coordinate care around a patient's needs.

Non-Physician Practitioners (NPPs)

A broad category of health professionals who provide clinical services but are not physicians, such as nurse practitioners and physician associates/assistants.

Geographic Maldistribution

A workforce imbalance where certain regions, particularly rural or underserved areas, have fewer clinicians than they need.

Team-Based Care

A care delivery model where professionals coordinate their collective expertise rather than working in isolated silos.

Patient-Centered Care

A health care approach in which care reflects and aligns with the patient's specific needs, values, preferences, and goals.

Value-Based Care

A care and payment model emphasizing quality and outcomes relative to cost, rather than simply reimbursing the volume of services delivered.

Medical Homes

Primary-care-centered models that organize accessible, continuous, and comprehensive care while coordinating referrals and follow-up.

Health Risk Factor

A behavior, exposure, condition, or circumstance associated with a higher probability of developing an illness or injury.

Modifiable Risk Factor

A health risk factor that can be altered or controlled through behavior or intervention, such as tobacco use or physical inactivity.

Nonmodifiable Risk Factor

A health risk factor that cannot be changed by the individual, such as age or inherited genetic traits.

Food Desert

An area where residents have limited convenient access to affordable, nutritious food, often due to a lack of nearby full-service grocery stores.

Food Apartheid

A term used instead of 'food desert' to emphasize the systemic, structural, and policy causes underlying inequities in food access.

Standard American Diet (SAD)

A common dietary pattern high in processed foods, refined grains, added sugars, sodium, and saturated fats, while lacking sufficient fiber, fruits, and vegetables.

Primary Prevention

A level of prevention focused on stopping an illness, injury, or condition before it occurs, such as through vaccinations or health education.

Secondary Prevention

A level of prevention aimed at identifying disease or risk early, often before symptoms appear, to enable prompt action (e.g., blood pressure screenings).

Tertiary Prevention

A level of prevention designed to limit complications, disability, or disease progression after a diagnosis has been established (e.g., cardiac rehabilitation).

Individual-Level Health Intervention

An intervention that directly addresses a single person's specific knowledge, skills, health behaviors, or individualized care plan.

Community-Level Health Intervention

An intervention designed to alter local programs, services, or community environments, such as forming walking groups or upgrading park access.

Population-Wide Health Intervention

An intervention implemented through public policies, broad systems, or laws to influence health on a large scale (e.g., smoke-free public laws).