Chapter 15: Medical Overview

Vocabulary terms and definitions from Chapter 15: Medical Overview, covering types of medical emergencies, patient assessment concepts, and specific infectious diseases.

Trauma emergencies

Involve injuries resulting from physical forces applied to the body.

Medical emergencies

Involve illnesses or conditions caused by disease.

Respiratory emergencies

Occur when patients have trouble breathing or the amount of oxygen supplied to the tissues is inadequate; include asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.

Cardiovascular emergencies

Caused by conditions affecting the circulatory system, including heart attack and congestive heart failure.

Neurologic emergencies

Involve the brain and may be caused by a seizure, stroke, or fainting (syncope).

Endocrine emergencies

Most commonly caused by complications of diabetes mellitus.

Hematologic emergencies

May be the result of sickle cell disease or blood-clotting disorders.

Immunologic emergencies

Involve the body’s response to foreign substances, such as allergic reactions.

Toxicologic emergencies

Include poisoning and substance abuse.

Nature of illness (NOI)

The general type of illness a patient is experiencing, which along with symptoms and chief complaint, is a focus of the medical patient assessment.

Index of suspicion

Your awareness and concern for potentially serious underlying and unseen injuries or illness.

Tunnel vision

Occurs when you become focused on one aspect of the patient’s condition and exclude all others, which may cause you to miss an important injury or illness.

Epidemic

Occurs when new cases of a disease in a human population substantially exceed what is expected.

Pandemic

A disease outbreak that occurs on a global scale.

Herpes Simplex

A common virus strain carried by humans; symptomatic infections cause vesicles that appear on the lips or genitals.

Hepatitis

Inflammation (and often infection) of the liver; can be caused by viruses and toxins.

Hepatitis A

Infectious hepatitis transmitted via the fecal-oral route, infected food, or drink; the incubation period is $2$-$6$ weeks and a chronic condition does not exist.

Hepatitis B

Transmitted via blood, sexual contact, saliva, urine, or breast milk; chronic infection affects up to $10\%$ of patients.

Hepatitis C

Transmitted via blood or sexual contact; results in cirrhosis of the liver in $50\%$ of patients with chronic infection.

Hepatitis D

Transmitted via blood or sexual contact; occurs only in patients with active hepatitis B infection.

Meningitis

Inflammation of the meningeal coverings of the brain and spinal cord, often presenting with fever, headache, stiff neck, red blotches on the skin, and altered mental status.

Tuberculosis

A chronic mycobacterial disease that usually strikes the lungs; providers require an N95 or HEPA mask to stop droplet nuclei.

Pertussis

Also called whooping cough; a disease mostly affecting children younger than $6$ years that causes fever and a "whoop" sound during inhalation after coughing.

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

A bacterium that causes infections and is resistant to many antibiotics; often transmitted in health care settings by unwashed hands.

COVID-19

A virus originating in Wuhan, China, with symptoms including fever, cough, and shortness of breath appearing $2$–$14$ days after exposure.

MERS-CoV

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus; first human case discovered in 2012 in Saudi Arabia; currently has no cure or vaccines.

Ebola

A virus with an incubation period of $6$ to $12$ days; the fatality rate can be as high as $70\%$ if treatment in an ICU is not initiated promptly.

Virulence

The strength or ability of a pathogen to produce disease.