Dictionary of family medicine

From WikiMD's medical encyclopedia

The Dictionary of Family Medicine provides comprehensive definitions and descriptions of terms and concepts used in the field of family medicine, which focuses on holistic care and the treatment of patients of all ages.

Clinical Procedures

  • Joint injection - A procedure commonly performed by family physicians to deliver steroids directly into a joint, such as the knee, to reduce inflammation and pain.
  • Skin biopsy - A diagnostic procedure where a family doctor removes a small sample of skin tissue for laboratory analysis to diagnose skin conditions or diseases.

Health Education

  • Patient education - A core element of family medicine, focusing on teaching patients about their health, preventive measures, and treatments to encourage self-care and informed decision-making.
  • Health promotion - The process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health, often a fundamental task in family medicine.

Systems and Policies

  • Electronic health record (EHR) - Digital version of a patient's paper chart and broader health history, integral to modern family medicine for comprehensive care coordination.
  • Healthcare system - The organization of people, institutions, and resources that deliver health care services to meet the health needs of target populations, a context in which family medicine operates.

Ethics and Professionalism

  • Confidentiality - The ethical principle that mandates healthcare providers to keep a patient's personal health information private, unless consent to release the information is provided by the patient.
  • Cultural competence - The ability of healthcare providers to effectively deliver health care services that meet the social, cultural, and linguistic needs of patients. A critical skill in family medicine.

Advocacy and Community Health

  • Health advocacy - Activities by an individual or group that aim to influence decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions on behalf of patients, an important role for family physicians.
  • Community health - A field of public health that focuses on the health characteristics of the biological communities. Family physicians often engage with community health by addressing health disparities and working with community resources.

Professional Development

  • Continuing Medical Education (CME) - Educational activities which serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance a family physician uses to provide services for patients, the public, or the profession.
  • Board certification - A certification process by a professional board to acknowledge a physician's exceptional expertise in a particular specialty or subspecialty of medical practice, including family medicine.

A

  • Acute care - Short-term treatment for a new illness or injury, often seen in family practice settings.
  • Adolescent medicine - A subspecialty of family medicine that focuses on the care of teenagers and young adults.

B

  • Biopsychosocial model - An interdisciplinary model that looks at the interconnection between biology, psychology, and socio-environmental factors in health and disease.

C

  • Chronic care management - Ongoing support for individuals with chronic diseases, which is a key component of family medicine practices.
  • Continuity of care - A hallmark of family medicine, emphasizing ongoing patient-provider relationships and comprehensive care across all stages of life.

D

  • Disease prevention - Strategies in family medicine aimed at preventing the occurrence of diseases and health conditions.

E

  • Evidence-based practice - The integration of clinical expertise, patient values, and the best research evidence into the decision-making process for patient care in family medicine.

F

  • Family-centered care - An approach to health care that encourages active collaboration and shared decision-making between families and healthcare providers.

G

  • Geriatric medicine - A branch of family medicine that focuses on health care of the elderly and the treatment of diseases associated with aging.

H

  • Health maintenance - Routine health care that includes screenings, check-ups, and patient counseling to prevent illnesses, diseases, and other health-related problems.

I

  • Integrated care - The coordinated delivery of services to treat both the body and mind, which is often practiced in family medicine.


M

  • Medical ethics - Principles and standards that guide the conduct of professionals in family medicine and patient care.

O

  • Obstetrical care - Care related to pregnancy and childbirth; many family medicine practitioners provide prenatal care and some also offer delivery services.

P

  • Palliative care - Specialized medical care focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness, which is also a component of family medicine.

Q

  • Quality of life - A measure of personal satisfaction with the cultural or intellectual conditions under which an individual lives, as seen from the perspective of family medicine.

R

  • Residency - A stage of graduate medical training wherein a physician works in a hospital or clinic to practice under the supervision of a senior practitioner.

S

  • Screening - The process of looking for diseases before they are symptomatic, which is a preventive service in family medicine.

T

  • Telemedicine - The use of telecommunication technology to provide clinical health care at a distance, increasingly adopted in family medicine.

V

  • Vaccination - Administration of a vaccine to stimulate an individual's immune system to develop adaptive immunity to a pathogen.

W

  • Well-child visit - Regularly scheduled medical appointments for preventive health care, tracking growth and development, and vaccinations in pediatrics, an important aspect of family medicine.
  • Women's health - A specialized field of medicine within family practice that focuses on conditions and diseases affecting women's physical and emotional well-being.

Y

  • Youth health - A domain within family medicine that deals with the complex health needs and diseases of children and adolescents, emphasizing preventive care and education.

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Contributors: Prab R. Tumpati, MD