Key Terms
- chronic disease
- conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, and cancer that individuals live with for a year or more and that require ongoing medical attention, limit the activities of daily living, or both
- demographics
- statistical data relating to particular groups within a population
- electronic health record (EHR)
- electronic version of a client’s medical history that is maintained by the provider over time and may include all key administrative clinical data relevant to that person’s care under a particular provider (e.g., demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, and radiology reports)
- electronic medical record (EMR)
- software that performs specific clinical functions, such as checking for drug interactions and allergies, and handles documentation of client encounters (i.e., the interaction between the client and the health care provider)
- ethnic minorities
- population groups with a shared culture, tradition, religion, language, history, or other factor who live in communities or areas where most people are from a different ethnic group
- health care consumer
- recipient of health services, whether those services are paid for or provided at no cost
- health disparities
- preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations
- health equity
- state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health
- home monitoring
- use of devices such as digitized scales, blood pressure monitoring devices, and glucometers (blood glucose monitor) that are linked to the EHR or EMR in the physician’s office
- mental health
- emotional, psychological, and social well-being; affects how an individual thinks, feels, acts, handles stress, relates to others, and makes choices
- quality of health care
- degree to which health care services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge
- stigma
- shaming attached to an individual’s circumstance, background, personal traits, or associations that can lead to discrimination; often the result of ignorance or fear
- telehealth
- use of digital information and communication technologies to access health care services remotely and manage health care
- underrepresented populations
- subgroups within a population—often identified by race, ethnicity, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status—whose representation in society is disproportionately low relative to their numbers
- vulnerable populations
- groups and communities at a higher risk for poor health as a result of the barriers they experience to social, economic, political, and environmental resources, as well as limitations due to illness or disability