Category: Qa-Qz
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Quality of life
The patient’s ability to enjoy normal life activities. Quality of life is an important consideration in medical care. Some medical treatments can seriously impair quality of life without providing appreciable benefit, whereas others greatly enhance quality of life.
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Quadriparesis
Weakness of all four limbs, both arms and both legs, as from muscular dystrophy.
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Quadriceps
Although the term “quadriceps” technically may refer to any four-headed muscle, it usually refers to and is synonymous with the quadriceps muscle of the thigh, the large muscle that comes down the?femur?(the bone of the upper leg), goes over the?patella?(the kneecap) and anchors into the top of the?tibia?(the big bone in the lower leg). The function of…
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Quadrant
A quarter of an area. For example, the liver is in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen.
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Quack
1) A practitioner who suggests the use of substances or devices for the prevention or treatment of disease that are known to be ineffective. 2) A person who pretends to be able to diagnose or heal people, but is unqualified and incompetent.
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QRS complex
The deflections in an electrocardiogram (EKG) tracing that represent the ventricular activity of the heart.
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qd (on prescription)
Seen on a prescription, qd (or, written with periods, q.d.) means one a day (from the Latin quaque die). The abbreviation is sometimes written without a period in capital letters as “QD”. However it is written, it is one of a number of hallowed abbreviations of Latin terms that have been traditionally used in prescriptions to…
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q_h (on prescription)
If a medicine is to be taken every so- many hours, it is written “q_h”; the “q” standing for the Latin word for once “quaque” and the “h” indicating the number of hours. So, for example, “2 caps q4h” means “Take 2 capsules every 4 hours.” However it is written, it is one of a…
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q.s.
On a prescription, as needed.
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q.i.d. (on prescription)
Seen on a prescription, q.i.d. (or qid) means 4 times a day (from the Latin quater in die). The abbreviation q.i.d. is also sometimes written without a period in capital letters as “QID”. However it is written, it is one of a number of hallowed abbreviations of Latin terms that have been traditionally used in prescriptions to specify…