Category: S

In a health care institution, those personnel and components that work in direct contact with patients.  

A condition seen in pellagra (nicotinic acid deficiency) in which openings of sebaceous glands become plugged with a dry yellowish material.  

A model of nursing management in which the staff nurse shares responsibility and accountability for patient care with the clinical agency management. Shared governance assumes a participatory style of management and aims to achieve a high quality of patient care and professional nursing practice. Shared governance differs both from self-governance and from the traditional bureaucratic…

Any negotiated agreement between a patient, her family, and health care professionals. Successful shared decision-making is dependent on the good will, rationality and competence of all parties.  

A diarrheal illness caused by Pseudomonas species, associated with high fever, a rose-colored  spotted rash that resembles typhoid, and headache. The infection is usually contracted in the tropics.  

Treatment that has no known therapeutic effect. Such treatment may be employed by clinical researchers who are trying to determine whether another intervention will be more effective than doing nothing. Sham therapies are also sometimes used by people engaging in health care fraud.  

Religion of certain peoples of northern Asia who believe good and evil spirits pervade the world and can be influenced only by shamans acting as mediums.  

A passive large-amplitude vibratory movement used in massage.  

A quick test to estimate fetal lung maturity. A sample of amniotic fluid is diluted with normal saline, mixed with 95% ethyl alcohol, and shaken for 30 sec. The continued presence of small foamy bubbles in the solution after 15 min confirms the presence of pulmonary surfactant.  

Shivering caused by a chill, especially in intermittent fever.