Zagazig Academic Panelist 4th Year 2013/2014

Terms and Definitions

Chapter 1
Health A state of complete physical, mental and social well- being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity
Disease Any deviation from normal health state that is manifested by characteristics set of
symptoms and signs, whose etiology, pathology and prognosis may be known or
unknown.
Medicine A branch of science concerned with diagnosis, treatment, prevention of disease
and maintenance of good health. It has 2 main branches: preventive and curative.
Community medicine It is the branch of preventive medicine. It deals with population/group of
individuals living in community (rather than individual patient).
Public Health It is the art & science of promoting health, preventing and controlling diseases,
rehabilitating handicapped individuals and increase span of healthy life through
organized effort in society.
Chapter 2
Demography To describe population characteristics, size/number, geographical distribution and
to study the change of these determinants over years.
Rate The frequency of an event in a population in relation to time. Eg: birth rate
Ratio The occurrence of an event in relation to other event. Eg: male to female ratio
Proportion It is the ratio that compares a part with the whole. When the base is 100, it is
called a percent.
Index It is used when the denominator is cannot/ difficult to be calculated, so a related
accurate denominator is used.
Population Census To enumerate people in certain area (country) at certain time.
It collects date about number of population, characteristics (age, sex) and socio
economic data (income, crowdedness index, occupation)
Life Expectancy The average number of years that can be expected to be lived by an individual at
certain age.
Population Pyramid A graphical presentation of population by age and sex. Vertical axis= age group (in
five), horizontal axis= % of population of these groups in relation to sex.
Vital Indices Quantitative measure that describe various aspects of health status of a defined
community and summarize the vital events in human life ad birth, marriage,
fertility, disease affect and death.
Chapter 3
Research Methodology Science dealing with the methods applied to collect data for scientific research,
when research is done among a group of population, we call it epidemiologic
research.
Epidemiology The study of distribution, frequency and determinants of diseases and health
problems in human population in order to prevent and / control these problems.
Disease surveillance The systemic collection, analysis and dissemination of health data on an ongoing
basic to monitor the health of the community, set priorities and plan programs for
prevention and control of health problems.
Case Reports The careful, detailed report by one/ more clinicians of the profile of a single
patient.
Case series When the case report is expanded to description of the characteristics of a
number of patients.
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Cross sectional study It is the examination of a cross section of particular population at one point of
(prevalence survey) time. The individuals are classified as diseased/ not, exposed/ not to suspected
risk factors at the same of time of examination.
Cohort Is a group of individuals sharing a common characteristics such as born in the
same year, graduated from the same faculty etc
Risk Assessments Aim: to measure the degree of association between certain risk factors and the
occurrence of disease and to quantify this risk in order to provide preventive
measures.
EBM A process of lifelong, self-directed, problem-based learning. It is the
conscientious, clear and judicious use of current best evidence in making decision
about the care of individual patients. It means integrating physicians clinical
expertise with the best available evidence from published perfectly done
researches.
Population All livings in a place or any collection of individuals or things that we are
interested in, their numbers may be finite of infinite.
Sample A group of individuals (or things) selected from a larger population and is used to
get certain information about this population.
Cluster A group of individuals that present in certain locality or geographic area.
Screening The application of relatively simple and rapid test to a large number of apparently
healthy people in order to classify the as likely or unlikely to have the disease.
Valid It is the ability of the screening test to do what is supposed to do and it is
measured by sensitivity and specificity.
Sensitivity It is the ability of the screening tests to detect positive cases among truly positive
who are proved to be cases by more specific accurate test (gold standard test).
Specificity It is the ability of the screening tests to detect negative cases among truly
negative who are proved to be free by more specific accurate test (gold standard
test).
Predictive Value Positive It is the percentage of truly positive cases detected from all positive individuals
diagnosed by screening tests.
Predictive Value It is the percentage of truly negative cases detected from all positive individuals
Negative diagnosed by screening tests.
Reliable It is the ability of the test to give sane results when repeated under standard
conditions.
Chapter 4
Statistics The science dealing with numbers. It is used for collection, summarizing,
presentation and analysis of data. It provides a way of organizing data to get
information on a wider and more formal (objective) basic than relying on personal
experiences (subjective).
Normal Distribution The frequency polygon of a quantitative variable measures in large number.
Curve
Arithmetic means The sum of observations divided by the number of observations.
Median The middle observation in a series of observation after arranging them in an
ascending or descending manner.
Mode The most frequent occurring value in the data.
Range The difference between the largest and smallest values.
Chapter 5
Management It is getting thing effectively done to achieve desired objectives through, proper
Zagazig Academic Panelist 4th Year 2013/2014

planning, efficient implementation, and efficient evaluation to identify needs for

re-planning.
Situational Analysis It is the study of nature, distribution, importance and contributing factors of a
problems we are interested in.
Vision The statement of goals for the future that clarify the direction of every one, it is
long term direction. It is a broad scope for the importance of the selected
problem (Dream to achieve)
Mission The organizations purpose or reason for existing.
Goal Broad statement of what we are going to accomplish.
Objectives Specific statements details how the goals will be achieved. It must be SMART.
(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reliable and Timeliness).
Planning Think well before doing.
Plan Series of activities must be done to achieve the objectives.
Implementation To make plan real = to do= to act
Monitoring The maintenance of regular checking of ongoing activities or programs with
respect to defined objectives.
Supervision Making sure that staff performs their duties effectively with competency to keep
the work standards.
Evaluation Assessment of the effectiveness of the planned objectives.
Quality The degree of adherence to pre-established criteria or standards.
Quality Management The act of overseeing all activities and tasks needed to maintain a desired level of
excellence. This include creating and implementing quality planning and
assurance, as well as quality control and quality improvement. Also referred as
Total Quality Management (TQM).
Total Quality A way of strict management of business/ service processes to ensure complete
Management customer satisfaction at every stage, internally and externally, the first time and
every time.
Quality Assurance A program for the systemic monitoring and evaluation of various aspects of a
project, service or facility to ensure that standards of quality are being met.
Quality Control A process through which a business seeks to ensure that product quality is
maintained or improved and manufacturing errors are reduced or eliminated.
Quality Improvement A distinct management process and set of tools and technique that are
coordinated to ensure that departments consistently meet the health needs of
their communities.
Economy Art and science of studying the inputs, expenditures and outputs.
Economics The study of how people and society chose to employ resources, usually
scarce/limited sources. Economics analyze the costs and benefits.
Health economic The application of economic principles to the health field. An important
component of health management.
Effectiveness The measure of the extent to which objectives are achieved.
Efficiency The best use of resources to minimize cost and achieve cost containment and
economy.
Cost effectiveness An analytical tool help decision makers, assess and compare the costs and
effectiveness of alternative ways of achieving an objective.
Chapter 6
Health promotion Any combination of health education and related organizational, economic and
political interventions designed to facilitate behavioral and environmental
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changes conductive to health.

The process of enabling people to increase control over the determinants of
health to improve their health.
Positive concept to health, strengthening the reserves for, and reducing the risks
to health.
Quality of Life An individuals perception of their position in life in the context of the cultural and
value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectation,
standards and concerns.
The degree of well-being, satisfaction and standardized living.
Is feeling, function and future of happiness, health and hope, with increase life
expectancy all over the world, aim of health services is to make these added life
years of good quality.
Quality adjusted life Assess years lived with high quality of health without disability or premature
years (QALYs) death.
Disability adjusted life A measure of the global burden of disease. The sum of years lost (YLL) because of
years (DALYs) premature mortality and years lived with disability (YLD) adjusted for the severity
of the disability.
Chapter 7
Behavior Science Include sciences like sociology, psychology, anthropology and many others.
However, it is mainly concerned in how to understand human behavior aiming at
promoting peoples health.
Health Belief Model Can explain much of peoples perception of illness and their behavior towards
such illness.
Communication It is the process in which feelings or ideas are expressed as messages sent,
received and comprehended. The process should be dynamic, continuous and
reciprocal. Once send, it is irreversible (non-erasable).
Listening An active process (not hearing). It involves a conscious effort to listen to words, to
the way they are said, to be aware of the feelings shown and attempts to hide
feelings.
Verbal communication Words, phrases or sentences included in the message. The message can be
written or spoken.
Nonverbal Include all the ways by which people communicate with each other except the
Communication words they use. Sometimes called body language.
Counseling It is the communication on a one to one basic between health provider and a
client to assist the later to make decision for the type of service to be chosen.
Health Education Is planned opportunities for people to learn about health and make changes in
their behavior. It includes raising awareness, providing information, motivation &
persuasion to make decision and equipping people with the skills and confidence
to make those changes.
Community participation A community may be thought of as a network of people. The link between them
may be: the place they live, the place they work, their ethnic background, the way
they live etc. in short, they share the same experience and they belong to the
same culture.

Chapter 8
Health policy Is a national task based on meeting community needs and respecting social,
geographical and cultural variations.
Zagazig Academic Panelist 4th Year 2013/2014

Primary Health Care -Essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially
(PHC) acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals
and families in the community through their full participation and at cost that the
community and country can afford to maintain at every stage of their
development in the spirit of self-reliance and self-determination.
-An approach to health beyond the traditional health care system that focuses on
health equity-producing social policy.
Family Medicine The medical specialty which provides continuing, comprehensive health care for
the individual and family. It is a specialty in breadth that integrates the biological,
clinical and behavioral sciences. The scope of family medicine include all ages,
both sex, each organ, system and every disease entity.
Family Is a group of people related by blood or marriage or live in one house.
Basic benefit Package Set of integrated services of curative, preventive and public health services within
(BBP) family medicine practice framework.
Reproductive Health It is the state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing not merely
absence of disease or infirmity in all aspects related to the reproductive system.
Maternal and Child It is the health care targeting women in child bearing period (15-49) and children
Health Care (MCH) below 5 years. It has preventive and curative elements.
Maternal health Is a set of actions and services administered by the Department of Health to aid
Program women before, during and after pregnancy.
Maternal Mortality Ratio The number of deaths of mothers due to causes related to pregnancy, labor and
peurperium in relation to live births in the same year and locality.
IMCI A major strategy for child survival, healthy growth and development and is based
on the combined delivery of essentials interventions at community, health facility
and health system levels.
Adolescence Health -Adolescence: The period of life between puberty and maturity. Roughly between
10-19 years. It is characterized by rapid physical growth (adolescent spurt). There
is increase in height, weight, sexual development due to hormonal changes.
-Mental (cognitive) changes: from concrete operational thinking to abstract,
deductive, reasoning thinking. Understand risk and benefit and appreciate future
consequences of choice.
-Psychological change: developing peer relationship. Sexual intimate relation,
determination of educational goals, establishing identity and self- responsibility.
Sensation of independency.
Health of the elderly -Geriatric medicine: it is specialized branch of medicine dealing with prevention,
control and rehabilitation of old persons.
-Old age: those aged 60 years and above. (Some countries: 65, due to increase life
expectancy)
-Gerontology: the scientific study of ageing process.
Urbanization The process of migration of people from rural to urban areas for better
opportunities of jobs, services and recreation.
Occupational Health Promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social
wellbeing of workers in all occupation
Occupational Medicine A branch of preventive medicine with some therapeutic function
Occupational Disease A disease arising out of or during the course of employment and its cause present
in the occupation (eg: silicosis)
Work Related Disease It is a disease aggravated by occupational stressors, so it can be found in the
Zagazig Academic Panelist 4th Year 2013/2014

general population (eh: hypertension)

Occupational Physician Is the leader of the health team who designs and implements the occupational
health program, conducts medical examination and biological monitoring for
workers, provides first aid and emergency treatment at workplace and supervises
the rehabilitative program for the disabled workers.

Occupational Nurse Assists the physician in providing medical services, assists in supervising the work
environment, educates workers and keep medical records.

Occupational Asthma Airway narrowing induced by an agent inhaled at work which is usually reversible
over short period of time either spontaneously or with treatment. It can be
induced by sensitizing agents or irritating agents.

Byssinosis It is a chronic respiratory disease affecting workers involved in the manufacture of

cotton, flax, jute, hemp and sisal. Known as Monday Morning Fever because of
the onset of chest tightness and fever on the Monday morning (1st day of work)

Hypersensitivity It is a granulomatous inflammatory reaction which mainly involves the peripheral

Pneumonitis (Extrinsic gas exchange parts of the lung. Caused by a specific immunological response to
Allergic Alveolitis) various inhaled organic dusts and possibly also to certain low MW chemicals.

Pneumoconiosis (Dusty It is dust collection in the lung and the lung reaction to its presence.
Lung)
Silicosis: a progressive fibrotic lung disease due to inhalation of dust containing crystalline
silicon dioxide (free silica)
Asbestosis: a chronic fibrotic lung disease caused by inhalation of asbestos fibers (naturally
occurring fibrous mineral silicates including chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, etc).