Category: F

  • Fetal blood sampling

    A procedure performed during a mother’s labour in which a blood sample is taken from a vein in the scalp of the fetus. This enables tests to be performed that indicate whether the fetus is, for example, suffering from a shortage of oxygen (HYPOXIA). If so, the obstetrician will usually accelerate the baby’s birth.  

  • Feedback mechanism

    Many glands which produce hormones are influenced by other hormones, particularly those secreted by the hypothalamus (a controlling centre in the brain) and the pituitary gland. If the amount of hormone produced by a gland rises, negative feedback mechanisms operate by instructing the pituitary gland, via the hypothalamus, to produce less of the stimulating hormones. This…

  • Fat necrosis

    Following injury to, or inflammation of, the pancreas, the fat-splitting enzyme in it may escape into the abdominal cavity, causing death of fat-containing cells. Destruction or dissolution of fatty tissues, as seen, for example, in patients with severe cases of pancreatitis. Necrosis occurring in the adipose tissues surrounding the pancreas, resulting from acute destructive pancreatic…

  • Fansidar

    A combination of pyrimethamine and sulfadoxine used in conjunction with other antimalarial drugs to treat Falciparum malaria.  

  • Fuzzy logic

    Mathematical principles that take vague information and from it obtain reasonably precise decisions, using neurocomputers. The logic is based on the concept that rather than the universe being “binary” (black or white, yes or no, i.e., the logic of the Western world), everything is a matter of degree (shades of gray, “sometimes”, “maybe”, i.e., the…

  • Fund

    To set aside an asset for a specific purpose, e.g., to “fund depreciation” means to set aside money at a rate determined by estimating the time before a given piece of equipment will have to be replaced so that, at the end of that time, there will be enough money to replace it.  

  • Freedom-of-choice waiver

    A waiver which excuses the purchaser of care from permitting freedom of choice to the beneficiaries. Freedom of choice is a normal requirement for Medicaid; a state, for example, wishing to carry out its Medicaid plan via managed care would need such a waiver.  

  • Fraud and abuse law

    The federal body of law applying to Medicare and Medicaid providers which prohibits three things: (1) the filing of false claims, (2) paying or receiving bribes or kickbacks for referrals, and (3) self-referral schemes. The practical effect of this legislation is greater con¬ centration in the health care delivery system because it encourages physicians to…

  • Framingham Heart Study

    An ongoing study instituted in Framingham, Massachusetts in 1948. Framingham is a community thought to have a reasonably stable population which could be studied over a long time. Its design was to enroll a large number of persons, give them thorough physical, laboratory, and x-ray examinations every two years, as well as record their medical…

  • Foundation for medical care

    A nonprofit organization, usually of physicians, that provides medical services review or utilization review of a specific population under a prepayment contract for health care.