RBSE SS Voc Health Care flashcards

80 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Homeostasis

The maintenance of a stable internal environment within the body despite external changes. It relies mainly on negative feedback loops that reverse deviations in temperature, pH, glucose, and fluid balance.

Anatomical position

Standing erect, facing forward, arms at the sides with palms facing anteriorly and feet together. All directional terms such as medial, lateral, proximal, and distal are defined relative to this stance.

Six rights of medication

Right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, right time, and right documentation. Checking each right before administration prevents most avoidable medication errors.

First-pass metabolism

The breakdown of an oral drug in the liver before it reaches general circulation, reducing bioavailability. Drugs such as nitroglycerin are therefore given sublingually to bypass this effect.

Chain of infection

Six linked elements: infectious agent, reservoir, portal of exit, mode of transmission, portal of entry, and susceptible host. Breaking any single link prevents transmission of infection.

Standard precautions

Infection control measures applied to every patient regardless of diagnosis, including hand hygiene, gloves, gown, and eye protection when body fluid exposure is likely.

SBAR handover

A structured communication tool standing for Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation. It gives a concise, organised report that reduces omissions during transfer of care.

Incidence versus prevalence

Incidence counts new cases arising in a period and reflects disease risk. Prevalence counts all existing cases at a point in time and reflects the total burden of disease.

Herd immunity

Indirect protection of unvaccinated people when a sufficient proportion of the population is immune, interrupting transmission chains. The threshold rises with how contagious the disease is.

Primary prevention

Action taken before disease occurs to reduce its incidence, such as immunisation, health education, and safe water supply. It differs from screening, which is secondary prevention.

Apgar score

A newborn assessment scored at one and five minutes after birth. It rates appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration, each from zero to two.

Exclusive breastfeeding

Feeding an infant only breast milk, with no other food or water, for the first six months. Complementary foods are then added while breastfeeding continues.

Preeclampsia

New hypertension after 20 weeks of pregnancy with proteinuria or organ dysfunction. It can progress to seizures, called eclampsia, and requires urgent medical management.

Informed consent

Voluntary agreement to treatment after receiving adequate information about its nature, risks, benefits, and alternatives. It requires that the patient has decision-making capacity.

Four ethical principles

Autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice. Together they guide clinical decisions about respecting choice, doing good, avoiding harm, and fair allocation.

Negligence elements

A successful negligence claim needs a duty of care owed, a breach of that duty, causation linking the breach to harm, and actual damage suffered by the patient.

Scope of practice

The range of tasks a health worker is trained, competent, and legally authorised to perform. Working beyond it creates risk of harm and legal liability.

Adult CPR ratio

For adult basic life support, give 30 chest compressions followed by 2 rescue breaths. Compress at 100 to 120 per minute to a depth of 5 to 6 centimetres.

Recovery position

A side-lying position for an unconscious casualty who is breathing. It keeps the airway open and lets vomit or fluid drain from the mouth.

Anaphylaxis treatment

Give intramuscular adrenaline into the outer thigh, 0.5 mg of 1:1000 solution for adults, and call emergency services. Repeat after five minutes if there is no improvement.

RICE for sprains

Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. It reduces swelling and pain in soft tissue injury during the first 24 to 48 hours after the event.

Pressure injury prevention

Reposition an immobile patient at least every two hours, inspect skin each shift, keep skin clean and dry, and use pressure-relieving devices over bony prominences.

Normal adult vital signs

Pulse 60 to 100 per minute, respirations 12 to 20 per minute, oral temperature 36.5 to 37.5 Celsius, and blood pressure below 120/80 mmHg.

Nursing process steps

Assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation, remembered as ADPIE. It provides a systematic framework for delivering and reviewing individualised patient care.

BMI formula

Body mass index equals weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Adult values of 18.5 to 24.9 are normal, 25 to 29.9 overweight, and 30 or above obese.

Macronutrient energy values

Carbohydrate and protein each supply about 4 kilocalories per gram, fat supplies about 9, and alcohol about 7. These values are used in diet planning and calculation.

DASH diet

A dietary pattern rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy, with reduced sodium and saturated fat. It is used to lower blood pressure.

Glycaemic index

A ranking of carbohydrate foods by how quickly they raise blood glucose. Low-index foods are digested slowly and produce a gentler rise after meals.

Cold chain

The temperature-controlled system keeping vaccines effective from manufacture to use. Most vaccines need 2 to 8 Celsius, and freeze-sensitive vaccines must never be frozen.

Sensitivity and specificity

Sensitivity is the proportion of true cases a test correctly identifies. Specificity is the proportion of non-cases correctly identified as negative.

Medical asepsis

Practices that reduce the number and spread of microorganisms, such as hand hygiene and cleaning. Surgical asepsis instead aims to destroy all microorganisms from objects and the field.

SOAP note format

A documentation structure using Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan. It organises patient information logically so other clinicians can follow the reasoning.

Braden scale

A risk assessment tool scoring six factors including mobility, moisture, and nutrition to predict pressure injury risk. Lower total scores indicate higher risk and trigger preventive care.

Mandatory reporting

A legal duty to notify authorities of specified events such as suspected child abuse, certain communicable diseases, or sharps injuries, as defined by local law.

Autonomy

The ethical principle that competent patients have the right to make their own health care decisions, including refusing treatment, after receiving adequate information.

Medical terminology suffix -itis

A suffix meaning inflammation. It appears in terms such as gastritis, hepatitis, dermatitis, and arthritis, indicating inflammation of the organ named by the root.

Term: tachycardia

A heart rate faster than 100 beats per minute in an adult at rest. It may result from fever, pain, dehydration, anxiety, or cardiac arrhythmia.

Nutritional deficiency diseases

Scurvy results from vitamin C deficiency, rickets from vitamin D deficiency, goitre from iodine deficiency, and iron deficiency causes microcytic anaemia.

Rehabilitation

Tertiary prevention that aims to limit disability and restore function after disease or injury through therapy, aids, and support, rather than preventing the disease itself.

Alcohol-based hand rub

A hand hygiene product used on visibly clean hands, rubbed for 20 to 30 seconds until dry. It is not effective against spores and is avoided for C. difficile.

Fire response RACE

Rescue anyone in danger, Alarm the emergency response, Contain the fire by closing doors, and Extinguish or Evacuate. It structures the immediate response to a fire.

Sharps injury first action

Wash the wound with soap and running water without scrubbing or squeezing, report immediately, and follow the post-exposure prophylaxis protocol for blood-borne viruses.

Enteral versus parenteral nutrition

Enteral nutrition delivers nutrients into the gut through a tube. Parenteral nutrition delivers nutrients intravenously, bypassing digestion, and requires strict aseptic technique.

Growth faltering

A flattening or falling weight curve on a growth chart, indicating inadequate weight gain. It prompts assessment of feeding, illness, and social factors.

Postpartum haemorrhage

Excessive bleeding after childbirth, commonly defined as more than 500 mL after vaginal birth. It is a leading cause of maternal death and needs urgent management.

Drug half-life

The time taken for the plasma concentration of a drug to fall by half. It guides dosing intervals and the time needed to reach steady state.

Ventrogluteal site

A safe intramuscular injection site in the upper outer buttock, chosen for adults because it avoids major nerves and blood vessels. Volume should generally not exceed 3 mL.

Objective versus subjective data

Objective data are measurable findings such as temperature or blood pressure. Subjective data are the patient's own reported experiences, such as pain or nausea.

Therapeutic communication

Communication that supports the patient through active listening, open questions, paraphrasing, and empathy, while avoiding false reassurance, judgement, and advice-giving.

Confidentiality

The ethical and legal duty to keep patient information private and share it only on a need-to-know basis, unless disclosure is required by law.

Vicarious liability

Legal responsibility of an employer for the acts or omissions of employees performed in the course of their employment, such as a hospital for a nurse's negligence.

Project objectives

Specific, measurable statements of what a vocational project intends to achieve. Each result in the report should map back to a stated objective.

Reflective practice

Reviewing an experience by describing what happened, what was felt, what was learned, and what will change. It develops clinical judgement and professional growth.

Pilot study

A small trial run of a project's methods and tools before full data collection. It tests feasibility and helps refine the questionnaire or procedure.

Bradford Hill criteria

Guidelines for judging whether an association is causal, including temporality, strength, consistency, biological plausibility, and dose-response relationship. They support epidemiological reasoning.

Case fatality rate

The number of deaths from a specified disease divided by the number of diagnosed cases of that disease, multiplied by 100. It measures severity rather than overall risk.

Outbreak investigation steps

Verify the diagnosis, define and find cases, describe them by time, place, and person, form and test a hypothesis, then control the source and prevent further spread.

Active versus passive immunity

Active immunity develops after infection or vaccination and is long lasting. Passive immunity is transferred through antibodies, such as breast milk, and is short lived.

Kangaroo mother care

Skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her low birth weight infant, combined with exclusive breastfeeding and close follow-up. It improves warmth, feeding, and survival.

Oral rehydration solution

A mixture of water, salts, and glucose used to treat dehydration from diarrhoea. Glucose enhances sodium and water absorption in the intestine.

Controlled drugs storage

Kept in a double-locked cupboard with a register recording receipt, administration, and witnessed disposal. These legal controls prevent diversion and misuse.

Look-alike sound-alike drugs

Medication names that are easily confused, such as similar spellings or pronunciations. Tall-man lettering and independent double checks reduce selection errors.

Health belief model

A behaviour change model explaining that action depends on perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and cues to action. It guides health education planning.

Ottawa Charter actions

Five health promotion actions: build healthy public policy, create supportive environments, strengthen community action, develop personal skills, and reorient health services.

Primary health care principles

Equity, community participation, appropriate technology, intersectoral collaboration, and a focus on prevention, as set out in the Alma-Ata declaration.

Danger signs in pregnancy

Bleeding, severe headache with blurred vision, convulsions, high fever, reduced fetal movement, and leaking fluid. Each requires urgent referral to a higher facility.

Apnoea versus dyspnoea

Apnoea is the temporary absence of breathing. Dyspnoea is difficulty or shortness of breath, often described by the patient as air hunger.

Term: haematemesis

Vomiting of blood, which may appear fresh and red or dark like coffee grounds. It indicates bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract and needs urgent assessment.

Term: dysuria

Pain or burning sensation during urination. It is a common symptom of urinary tract infection and may be accompanied by frequency and urgency.

Term: -ectomy versus -otomy

The suffix -ectomy means surgical removal of an organ or structure, as in appendectomy. The suffix -otomy means a surgical incision into a structure, as in laparotomy.

Restraint monitoring

A patient in restraints requires a valid order, the least restrictive device, and regular checks of circulation, skin, and toileting, generally every 15 to 30 minutes.

Safe patient handling

Use mechanical lifts and team assistance, keep the load close to the body, bend the knees rather than the waist, and avoid twisting while moving a patient.

Pressure injury stage one

Intact skin with non-blanchable erythema over a bony prominence. It signals early tissue damage and requires immediate pressure relief and skin care.

Intake-output recording

Recording all fluids taken in and all output such as urine, vomit, and drain fluid. Adult urine output below about 30 mL per hour may indicate poor perfusion.

Beneficence and non-maleficence

Beneficence is the duty to act for the patient's benefit. Non-maleficence is the duty to avoid causing harm, and the two must be balanced when treatments carry risk.

Assault versus battery

Assault is the threat of harmful or offensive contact. Battery is actual unauthorised contact, such as treatment given without valid consent.

Documentation error correction

Draw a single line through the error, write the correction, and add initials, date, and time. The original entry must stay legible and correction fluid is never used.

Food danger zone

The temperature range of about 5 to 60 Celsius in which bacteria multiply rapidly. Hot foods are kept above 60 and cold foods below 5 Celsius.

Stunting versus wasting

Stunting is low height for age reflecting chronic undernutrition. Wasting is low weight for height reflecting acute undernutrition and carries higher immediate risk.

Refeeding syndrome

A dangerous shift of electrolytes, especially phosphate, potassium, and magnesium, after feeding a malnourished patient. Feeding must start slowly with close monitoring.