Observe GP Flashcards
Acute
Condition comes on quickly and often lasts a short time
e.g. heart attack, the flu or an asthma attack.
Autonomy
The right of patients to make decisions about their healthcare.
Benign
Not seriously harmful
e.g. a cyst or tumour which is non-cancerous (doesn’t spread or invade other tissues).
The opposite of this is malignant (cancerous).
Capacity
The ability to use and understand information to make a decision, and communicate any decision made.
Chronic
Persisting for a long time or reoccurring
e.g. high blood pressure, diabetes or arthritis.
Compassion
A strong feeling of sympathy for people who are suffering and a desire to help them.
Demographic
A particular sector of a population
e.g. age, gender, sexual orientation, income.
Deteriorate
Become progressively worse.
Diagnosis
Judgement about what could be causing a patient’s symptoms or signs, usually made after hearing the patient’s story, physical examination and tests.
Empathy
The ability to understand another person’s feelings and experience.
End of life care
Supporting a person in the last months of their life, to live as well as possible, allowing them to die with dignity, planning their care according to their wishes and preferences.
Health literacy
Individuals having enough knowledge, understanding, skills and confidence to use health information. This includes computer and numerical literacy and the ability to interpret graphs. It affects people’s ability to engage with self-care, share medical history, navigate the healthcare system, fill in forms, understand probability and risk and evaluate the quality of information online.
Holistic care
Considering all the physical, psychological and social factors potentially impacting a person’s health.
ICE
A technique used during a consultation to aid a clinician in their approach - identifying the patients Ideas, Concerns and Expectations.
Infection control
Policies and procedures used to minimize the risk of spreading infections.
Long-term condition management
Conditions that cannot, at present, be cured, but can be controlled by medication and other therapies
e.g. asthma, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and epilepsy.
Multiple conditions
The simultaneous occurrence of two or more conditions which may or may not be related.
Multi-disciplinary
Involving several different disciplines or types of professional in approach to patient care
e.g. GPs, nurses, palliative care specialists, psychologists.
Non-maleficence
Doing no harm to the patient: including not inflicting harm and not imposing risks of harm.
Opportunistic healthcare
Taking the opportunity to promote a healthy lifestyle or encourage self-care in patients during a consultation which may be primarily about something else.
Palliative care
The management of pain or other symptoms when a person has an illness which cannot be cured. This can include psychological, social and spiritual support for a person and their family or carers. Patients can receive palliative care while they are still receiving other therapies to treat a condition not just at the end of life.
GP partner
A GP partner effectively “owns” all or part of the practice as a business. Partners take a share in the profits and losses of a practice, as well as a share in the ownership of the decisions which shape the practice’s future. Partners are responsible for all aspects of the contractual liabilities of the practice, including staff and buildings.
Placating
Communicating or acting in a way to make someone less angry.
Person-centred care
Care which focuses on what matters to the patient, what is working and not working for them, their expectations and shared-decision making.
