Chapter 3 Terms/definitions

Front 1

active listening

Back 1

a way of communicating that involves giving a person one's full attention while he is speaking and encouraging him to give information and clarify ideas.

Front 2

barrier

Back 2

a block or an obstacle.

Front 3

body language

Back 3

all of the conscious or unconscious messages a person's body sends as she communicates, such as facial expressions and shrugging her shoulders.

Front 4

care conference

Back 4

a meeting to share and gather information about a resident in order to develop a care plan.

Front 5

care plan

Back 5

a plan for each resident created by the nurse that outlines the tasks that team members must perform to help the resident reach his or her goals of care.

Front 6

charting

Back 6

the act of noting care and observations; documenting.

Front 7

code

Back 7

in health care, an emergent medical situation in which specially-trained responders provide the necessary care.

Front 8

code status

Back 8

formally written status of the type and scope of care that should be provided in the event of a cardiac arrest, other catastrophic organ failure, or terminal illness.

Front 9

critical thinking

Back 9

the process of reasoning and analyzing in order to solve problems; for the nursing assistant, critical thinking means making careful observations and promptly reporting all potential problems.

Front 10

culture

Back 10

a set of learned beliefs, values, traditions, and behaviors shared by a social or ethnic group.

Front 11

edema

Back 11

swelling in body tissues caused by excess fluid.

Front 12

incident

Back 12

an accident, problem, or unexpected event during the course of care.

Front 13

incident report

Back 13

a report documenting an incident and the response to the incident; also known as an occurrence, accident, or event report.

Front 14

medical chart

Back 14

legal record of all medical care a patient, resident, or client recieves.

Front 15

Minimum Data Set (MDS)

Back 15

a detailed form with guidelines for assessing residents in long-term care facilities; also details what to do if resident problems are identified.

Front 16

nonverbal communication

Back 16

communication without using words, such as through gestures and facial expressions.

Front 17

nursing process

Back 17

an organized method used by nurses to determine residents' needs, plan the appropriate care to meet those needs, and evaluate how well the plan of care is working; five steps are assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation.

Front 18

objective information

Back 18

factual information collected using the senses of sight, hearing, smell, and touch; also called signs.

Front 19

orientation

Back 19

a person's awareness of person, place, and time.

Front 20

prefix

Back 20

a word part added to the beginning of a root to creat a new meaning.

Front 21

prioritize

Back 21

to place things in order of inportance.

Front 22

root

Back 22

the main part of a word that gives it meaning.

Front 23

rounds

Back 23

physical movement of staff from room to room to discuss each resident and his or her care plan.

Front 24

sentinel event

Back 24

an unexpected occurrence involving death or serious physical or psychological injury.

Front 25

subjective information

Back 25

information collected from residents, their family members, and their friends; information may or may not be true, but is what the person reported; also called symptoms.

Front 26

suffix

Back 26

a word part added to the end of a root or a prefix to create a new meaning.

Front 27

verbal communication

Back 27

communication involving the use of spoken or written words or sounds.

Front 28

vital signs

Back 28

measurements---temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, pain level---that monitor the functioning of the vital organs of the body.