Taiwan Registered Nurse Licensing Examination key terms

A rapid, ordered first assessment of a critically ill or injured patient that checks Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability (neurologic status), and Exposure, so that immediately life-threatening problems are found and treated before a detailed examination.

A 3-to-15 point scoring system that grades eye opening, verbal response, and motor response to quantify level of consciousness; lower scores indicate more severe neurologic impairment and a score of 8 or less signals need for airway protection.

The process of sorting patients by urgency so that those with life-threatening conditions receive care first when resources are limited; used in emergency departments and mass-casualty incidents.

Practices that prevent microorganisms from entering a susceptible site. Medical asepsis reduces pathogen spread through hand hygiene and clean technique, while surgical asepsis uses sterile technique to keep objects and areas free of all microorganisms.

Infection-control measures applied to every patient regardless of diagnosis, including hand hygiene, gloves, gowns, masks, eye protection when splash is likely, and safe handling of sharps and body fluids.

An infection acquired in a health care facility that was not present or incubating at the time of admission; often linked to invasive devices such as urinary catheters, central lines, and ventilators.

The community of microorganisms that habitually lives on or in body surfaces such as skin and gut without causing disease; it can become pathogenic when host defenses fail or when flora is displaced to a sterile site.

An infection caused by an organism that rarely harms healthy people but produces disease when immunity is weakened, for example in patients receiving chemotherapy, transplant immunosuppressants, or with advanced HIV infection.

A protective vascular and cellular response to injury or infection, classically marked by redness, heat, swelling, pain, and loss of function, that brings immune cells and plasma proteins to the damaged tissue.

Fluid that leaks from blood vessels into tissue during inflammation; it may be serous (clear), fibrinous, purulent (pus-filled), or hemorrhagic, and its character helps identify infection or worsening tissue damage.

The classification of wound closure: primary intention for clean surgical edges closed directly, secondary intention for open wounds left to fill with granulation tissue, and tertiary intention for wounds deliberately left open then closed later.

The daily comparison of all fluid taken in by mouth, tube, or vein with fluid lost through urine, stool, vomit, drainage, and insensible loss from skin and lungs; imbalance signals dehydration or overload.

The shift of fluid from the vascular space into a nonfunctional compartment such as the peritoneal cavity or bowel lumen, producing edema and low urine output while body weight rises.

The concentration of dissolved particles per kilogram of fluid; plasma osmolality guides fluid shifts between compartments, and its measurement helps evaluate hydration, electrolyte disorders, and diabetes insipidus.

A structured way to describe pain by exploring Provoking factors, Quality, Region and Radiation, Severity, and Timing; it turns a subjective complaint into information that guides safe analgesic and nursing decisions.

A model proposing that painful and nonpainful signals compete at a gate in the spinal cord, so that touch, heat, massage, or distraction can reduce the transmission of pain signals to the brain.

A classification of localized skin and tissue damage over bony prominences from stage 1 (nonblanchable redness) through stage 4 (full-thickness loss reaching muscle or bone), plus unstageable and deep tissue injury categories.

A scored risk assessment for pressure injury based on sensory perception, moisture, activity, mobility, nutrition, and friction/shear; lower total scores indicate higher risk and trigger preventive interventions.

A set of nursing measures to reduce patient falls, such as orienting the patient, keeping call bells and personal items within reach, locking bed wheels, lowering the bed, using non-skid footwear, and applying alarms or restraints only when justified.

The safety checks performed before giving any drug: right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, right time, and right documentation, often extended to right reason and right to refuse.

Measuring blood levels of drugs with a narrow therapeutic range, such as digoxin, vancomycin, and aminoglycosides, to keep concentrations effective while avoiding toxicity.

An abnormally high serum potassium level, typically above 5.0 to 5.5 mEq/L, that can cause peaked T waves, muscle weakness, and lethal ventricular arrhythmias; treatment includes calcium, insulin with glucose, and dialysis.

A sudden decline in kidney function over hours to days, shown by rising creatinine and falling urine output, classified as prerenal, intrinsic, or postrenal, and often requiring careful fluid and electrolyte management.

A syndrome in which the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body's needs, producing congestion (dyspnea, edema, crackles) or poor perfusion; management includes diuretics, afterload reduction, and daily weight monitoring.

A noninvasive method that estimates arterial oxygen saturation by measuring light absorption through a fingertip or earlobe; readings are unreliable with poor perfusion, nail polish, or motion.

Administration of exogenous insulin to lower blood glucose, with types classified by onset and duration (rapid, short, intermediate, long acting); the nurse monitors for hypoglycemia and rotates injection sites.

A blood glucose level low enough to cause symptoms such as sweating, tremor, confusion, and seizures, usually below 70 mg/dL; conscious patients receive fast-acting oral carbohydrate and unresponsive patients receive glucagon or intravenous dextrose.

New high blood pressure arising after 20 weeks of pregnancy; preeclampsia adds proteinuria or organ dysfunction and can progress to seizures (eclampsia), requiring close monitoring and magnesium sulfate therapy.

Adverse effects of magnesium sulfate given for seizure prophylaxis, including loss of deep tendon reflexes, respiratory depression, and oliguria; calcium gluconate is the antidote.

Recording the fetal heart rate with its baseline, variability, accelerations, and decelerations to judge fetal oxygenation; categories guide whether the fetus is reassuring or needs intervention such as repositioning or delivery.

A 0-to-10 rating done at 1 and 5 minutes after birth that scores heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, reflex irritability, and color to summarize how well the newborn is adapting to extrauterine life.

Yellow discoloration of skin and sclera from elevated bilirubin; physiologic jaundice appears after 24 hours, while jaundice in the first day, rapid rise, or high levels suggests pathologic causes needing phototherapy or exchange transfusion.

Expected ages at which children achieve motor, language, social, and cognitive skills, such as head control, sitting, walking, and first words; delays prompt developmental screening and early referral.

Purposeful use of verbal and nonverbal techniques, such as open-ended questions, reflection, silence, and clarification, to help a patient express feelings and to build a trusting nurse-client relationship.

Systematic inquiry about suicidal thoughts, plans, means, intent, and prior attempts, along with protective factors, so that the level of observation and safety precautions can be matched to the patient's risk.

Physical or chemical limitation of a patient's movement, used only when less restrictive measures fail and a threat exists; it requires a prescriber's order, time limits, monitoring of circulation and safety, and frequent reassessment.

A model of disease causation describing the interaction of an agent (the cause), a host (the susceptible person), and the environment; breaking any link helps prevent disease.

Sensitivity is the proportion of people with disease who test positive; specificity is the proportion without disease who test negative. Both determine how a screening test is interpreted at the population level.

Activities that keep people healthy before disease occurs, such as immunization, nutrition education, exercise programs, and injury prevention; they differ from screening (secondary prevention) and rehabilitation (tertiary prevention).