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Medical Glossary
The following glossary provides definitions for commonly used medical terms.
Providers:
Broadly speaking any individual or entity delivering healthcare services is considered a "provider". The most common are physicians (doctors), dentists, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, long term care providers (e.g. nursing homes) and ancillary providers (e.g. nutritionists and psychologists). Listed below are brief definitions of terms useful in selecting physicians or hospitals.
Doctors:
Primary Care Physician: a medical practitioner who assumes "primary responsibility" for a patient’s care including regular checkups, preventive care, referral to Specialists and coordination of care.
Specialist: a medical practitioner whose practice is limited to a particular class of patients, diseases or techniques. Usually these physicians have advanced training and are certified by a specialty board.
Internship: A carryover from past years this term refers to the first year of residency training. It is more common to simply refer to the first year as first year residency instead of internship.
Residency Training: Postgraduate training of a physician begins with a residency. After receiving an M.D. degree from a medical school, resident physicians dedicate themselves for three to seven years of full-time experience in a residency program. Usually in hospital settings, they care for patients under direct supervision of experienced teaching physicians. Educational conferences and research are also part of this training. A physician in training is called a resident.
Residency Program: A training program accredited by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) for providing residency training.
Sub-Specialist: A physician undergoing additional training after residency and certified by a Subspecialty Board of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).
Specialty Board: A body that provides formal certification process after completing residency requirements and passing an exam.
Sub-Specialty Board: A body that provides formal certification process after completing post residency training requirements and usually passing an exam.
Board Eligible: A physician who has graduated from medical school, completed residency training, and is eligible to take a qualifying exam given by a medical specialty board. The American Boards have discouraged the use of this term.
Board Certified: A physician who has completed residency training and/or fellowship in a sub-specialty, and passed a qualifying exam given by a medical specialty board. Recertification: Some boards issue certificates for a limited time only. In order to retain certification, physicians must become recertified, usually after seven to ten years. They must obtain additional continuing education in their specialty, resubmit credentials and take further examinations. Some boards do not require mandatory recertification but encourage voluntary recertification with similar requirements.
Boards: Specialty and subspecialty boards certify physicians as having met certain published standards. There are 24 specialty/subspecialty boards recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and the American Medical Association (AMA). A sub specialist must be trained and certified as a specialist first.
Physician: Used interchangeably with doctor this term refers to a person who is trained in the art and science of healing. A doctor is usually licensed by a state medical board. Surgeon: A doctor specializing in performing surgery.
Osteopath: A person specializing in osteopathy, a branch of medicine emphasizing importance of manipulation in treatment of diseases.
M.D.: A doctor of medicine is a physician who has had many years of training in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. The basic training of a physician includes four years of premedical education in a college or university, four years of medical school, and receiving the M.D. degree, after passing certain exams.
State License: Privilege to practice general medicine and surgery in a state. By law each state licenses physicians after meeting certain minimal standards. Each state has its own standards, policies and procedures.
State Board of Medical Examiners: State board responsible for licensing physicians.
American Medical Association (AMA): One of the largest organizations representing physicians in the United States.
Nurses:
Nurse practitioner: A registered nurse who is prepared, both academically and clinically, to provide a broad range of health care services, employing a "holistic" approach. Nurse Practitioner functions include performing diagnostic skills (history taking, physical assessment, ordering appropriate laboratory tests/procedures), therapeutic management (outlining care, providing prescriptions, coordinating consultations and referrals), and promoting health activities, all done in collaboration with the patient. Nurse practitioners are licensed by the state and board certified on the national level.
Nurse midwife: An advanced practice registered nurse who is prepared, both academically and clinically to manage and care for essentially newborns and normal women antepartally, intrapartally and postpartally. The practice includes the skills, therapeutic management and promotion of health as outlined for the nurse practitioner. The nurse midwife is licensed by the state and board certified on the national level.
Hospitals:
Non-Profits: These hospitals are organized as nonprofit entities under the IRS tax code. Religious organizations, community groups or charitable foundations usually own and run these.
For-Profit: Popularized in recent years these hospitals are run by individuals or organizations as a commercial profit-seeking venture. Some of them form large chains that sometimes dominate geographic areas (e.g. Columbia HCA and Humana).
Accredited: Hospitals accredited by the JCAHO after thorough review on a regular basis.
Teaching (Tertiary) Hospitals: In addition to providing care these hospitals provide training to healthcare providers, perform research and provide high level services (e.g. organ transplantation).
Specialty Hospitals: Another recent trend popularized by for-profit chains where hospitals specialize in specialized services (e.g. heart disease) as opposed to general medical conditions common to most hospitals.
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