The terms medical record, health record, and medical chart are used somewhat interchangeably to describe the systematic documentation of a single patient’s medical history and care across time within one particular health care provider’s jurisdiction. The medical record includes a variety of types of “notes” entered over time by health care professionals, recording observations and…
Human resources is used to describe both the people who work for a company or organization and the department responsible for managing resources related to employees. The term human resources was first coined in the 1960s when the value of labor relations began to garner attention and when notions such as motivation, organizational behavior, and…
Health care quality is a level of value provided by any health care resource, as determined by some measurement. As with quality in other fields, it is an assessment of whether something is good enough and whether it is suitable for its purpose. The goal of health care is to provide medical resources of high…
Housekeeping refers to the management of duties and chores involved in the running of a household, such as cleaning, cooking, home maintenance, shopping, laundry and bill pay. These tasks may be performed by any of the household members, or by other persons hired to perform these tasks. The term is also used to refer to…
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss. It is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss.An entity which provides insurance is known as an insurer, insurance company, insurance carrier or underwriter. A person or entity who buys insurance is known as an insured…
Pharmacy is the science and technique of preparing and dispensing drugs. It is a health profession that links health sciences with chemical sciences and aims to ensure the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs.The scope of pharmacy practice includes more traditional roles such as compounding and dispensing medications, and it also includes more modern…
The front office or reception is an area where visitors arrive and first encounter a staff at a place of business. Front office staff will deal with whatever question the visitor has, and put them in contact with a relevant person at the company. Broadly speaking, the front office includes roles that affect the revenues…
Radiotherapy uses radiation, such as x-rays, gamma rays, electron beams or protons, to kill cancer cells or damage them so they cannot grow or multiply. It is a localised treatment, which means it generally only affects the part of the body where the radiation is targeted. Radiotherapy kills or damages cancer cells in the area…
Radiology is a branch of medicine that uses imaging technology to diagnose and treat disease. Radiology may be divided into two different areas, diagnostic radiology and interventional radiology. Doctors who specialize in radiology are called radiologists. Diagnostic radiology helps health care professionals see structures inside your body. Doctors that specialize in the interpretation of these…
A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are usually done on clinical specimens in order to obtain information about the health of a patient as pertaining to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Clinical laboratories are thus focused on applied science mainly on a production-like basis, as opposed to research…