Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

A quarter of an area. For example, the liver is in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen.

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.

The deflections in an electrocardiogram (EKG) tracing that represent the ventricular activity of the heart.

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…

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…

On a prescription, as needed.

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…

Abbreviation for “every hour.” On a prescription or doctor’s hospital orders, q.h. means every hour. Also written qh (without the periods). From the Latin quaque meaning once + h for hour. 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 the frequency with…

On a prescription, every three hours.

On a prescription, every two hours.