Category: Ph-Pl

A person who is trained in the art of healing. In the UK, a physician is a specialist in internal or general medicine, whereas in the US a physician is any doctor of medicine. The term generally refers to a person who has earned a Doctor of Medicine (MD), Doctor of Osteopathy (DO), or Doctor of Naturopathy (ND) degree…

A branch of rehabilitative health that uses specially designed exercises and equipment to help patients regain or improve their physical abilities. Abbreviated PT. PT is appropriate for many types of patients, from infants born with musculoskeletal birth defects, to adults suffering from sciatica or the after effects of injury or surgery, to elderly poststroke patients.

Next to child neglect, physical abuse is the second most frequently reported form of child abuse, accounting for 25% of all cases of child abuse. Physical child abuse is physical injury inflicted upon the child with cruel and/or malicious intent. Physical abuse can be the result of punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning, shaking, or otherwise harming…

A good trivia or crossword item. An over-consonanted Greek word meaning “a dwindling or wasting away.” Pronounced TIE-sis. Phthisis is an archaic name for tuberculosis. A person afflicted with tuberculosis in the old days was destined to dwindle and waste away like Mimi, the heroine of Puccini’s 1896 opera “La Boheme.” Nephronophthisis is derived from “nephron” + “phthisis.” The…

The Public Health Service, the agency responsible for the public health of the American people. The Public Health Service (PHS) administers a number of critically important health agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Founding: In 1798, Congress established the U. S. Marine Hospital…

Treatment with light. For example, a newborn with jaundice may be put under special lights to help reduce the amount of bilirubin pigment in the skin.

Oversensitivity of skin to light. Photosensitivity can be a side effect of medications or result from diseases, such as lupus. Treatment depends on the severity of the reaction and the cause. Photosensitivity can be prevented by avoiding skin exposure to ultraviolet light.

Obtaining blood from a vein. In the old days, this was done by incising (cutting) a vein and just letting the blood flow into a container. Today phlebotomy is done more neatly by puncturing a vein with a needle. Phlebotomy may be done in order to obtain blood for diagnostic tests or to remove blood for treatment…

Means vein. From the Greek “phleps”, vein, which came from the root “phlein”, to gush or overflow. Appears in phlebitis (inflammation of the veins), phlebotomist (a person who draws blood from veins), and phlebotomy (a venipuncture).

Inflammation of a vein. With phlebitis, there is infiltration of the walls of the vein and, usually, the formation of a clot (thrombus) in the vein (thrombophlebitis). Phlebitis in a leg, for example, causes the leg to swell with fluid (edema). Phlebitis can be superficial and not very serious, or it can be deep and carry the potential…