AMPUTATION |
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Amputation - a surgical removal of all or part of a limb. Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventative surgery for such problems. In Islamic countries, amputation of the hands or feet is sometimes used as a form of punishment for criminals.
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BARIATRIC MEDICINE |
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Bariatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity.
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DEMENTIA |
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Dementia (from Latin de- "apart, away," + mens (genitive mentis) "mind") is progressive decline in cognitive function due to damage or disease in the brain beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Particularly affected areas may be memory, attention, language and problem solving, although particularly in the later stages of the condition, affected persons may be disoriented in time (not knowing what day, week, month or year it is), place (not knowing where they are) and person (not knowing who they are). Symptoms of dementia can be classified as either reversible or irreversible depending upon the etiology of the disease. Less than 10% of all dementias are reversible. Dementia is a non-specific term that encompasses many disease processes, just as fever is attributable to many etiologies.
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EMS - Emergency Medical Service |
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The Emergency Medical Service system (known by the acronym "EMS" in the USA and Canada) is responsible for providing pre-hospital (or out-of-hospital) care by paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMT's), and medical first responders (MFRs in US terminology). The goal of EMS is to provide early treatment to those in need of urgent medical care, and ultimately rapid transportation to an Emergency department. Stabilizing patients early (within the golden hour) significantly increases their chances of survival, particularly in the event of a heart attack, diabetic emergency, or severe physical trauma.
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GASTROINTESTINAL |
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Gastroenterology is the study of diseases of the intestinal tract. These diseases include conditions that affect the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, small intestine, and colon.
Gastroenterologists address problems that range from gas to intestinal bleeding to cancer. Like cardiologists, gastroenterologists perform both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and both are subspecialties of internal medicine.
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ORGAN TRANSPLANT |
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An organ transplant is the transplantation of a whole or partial organ from one body to another (or from a donor site on the patient's own body), for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or failing organ with a working one from the donor site. Organ donors can be living, or deceased (previously referred to as cadaveric).
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SLEEP DISORDERS |
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A sleep disorder (somnipathy) is a disorder in the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Some sleep disorders can interfere with mental and emotional function
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STROKE |
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A stroke, also known as cerebrovascular accident (CVA), is an acute neurologic injury whereby the blood supply to a part of the brain is interrupted, either by a clot in the artery or if the artery bursts. The result is that the part of the brain perfused by that artery no longer can receive oxygen carried by the blood and it dies (becomes necrotic) with cessation of function from that part of the brain. In addition to tissue death, hemorrhages also cause damage from physical impingement of blood on the brain tissue. Stroke is a medical emergency and can cause permanent neurologic damage or even death if not promptly diagnosed and treated. It is the third leading cause of death and adult disability in the US and industrialized European nations (Jauch, 2005).
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WOUND CARE |
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In medicine, a wound is a type of physical trauma wherein the skin is torn, cut or punctured (an open wound), or where blunt force trauma causes a contusion (a closed wound). In pathology, it specifically refers to a sharp injury which damages the dermis of the skin.
Before any medical or paramedical evaluation, a wound is considered as minor when:
it is superficial (a "flesh wound");
it is away from natural orifices;
there is only minor bleeding;
it was not caused by a tool or an animal.
Any other wound should be considered as severe.
If there is any doubt, a wound should be considered as severe. "Severe" does not necessarily means that it endangers life, but it must at least be seen by a physician. In the case of severe open wounds, there is a risk of blood loss (which could lead to shock), and an increased chance of infection due to bacteria entering a wound that is exposed to air. Due to the risk of infection, wounds should be kept clean, and closed if possible until professional help is available.
Depending on their severity, closed wounds can be just as dangerous as open wounds. An injury to the brain such as a contusion is an extremely dire closed wound, and requires emergency medical attention.
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WOUND HEALING |
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Wound healing, or wound repair, is the bodys natural process of regenerating dermal and epidermal tissue. When an individual is wounded, a set of events takes place in a predictable fashion to repair the damage. These events overlap in time (Midwood et al., 2004) and must be artificially categorized into separate steps: the inflammatory, proliferative, and maturation phases (Some authors consider healing to take place in four stages, by splitting different parts inflammation or proliferation into separate steps (Quinn, 1998; Dealey, 1999; Iba, 2004).
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