Category: P

The highest point. Highest value of a measurement or recording, as the top temperature of a patient’s fever period or the sharp elevation during an electrocardiographic tracing.  

A set of procedures for the study or production of conditioned reflexes.  

A glass tube used to remove the contents of the bowel after an opening has been made between the intestine and the abdominal wall [Described 1891. After Frank Thomas Paul (1851-1941), British surgeon.]  

A blood test to see if someone has glandular fever, where the person’s blood is tested against a solution containing glandular fever bacilli [Described 1932. After John Rodman Paul (b. 1893), US physician; Walls Willard Bunnell (1902-66), US physician.]  

A code of letters and numbers attached to the patient’s medical records by which all information concerning the patient can be tracked, e.g. cause of death.  

A system of assigning each patient to a particular nurse for all their care needs.    

A series of linked neurones along which nerve impulses travel. A path or a course; e.g., a pathway formed by neurons (cell bodies and their processes) over which impulses pass from their point of origin to their destination. A component of Snyder’s hope model that refers to the ability to envision one or more routes…

The study of unusual or diseased organs. The study of changes in body function caused by disease. Pathophysiology is concerned with changes in how organs function, rather than with disease-related changes in body structures. The study of how normal physiological processes are altered by disease.  

A report on tests carried out to find the cause of a disease.  

The dislocation of a diseased joint. A dislocation resulting from paralysis or disease of the joint or supporting tissues.