Glossary
Medical glossary
When someone in the family starts needing care, lots of new words suddenly appear — from the doctor, the nurse, the social worker and other relatives. Here they are explained briefly and in everyday language, without diagnoses or medical detail.
A new word stops being frightening once you know what it stands for and whom to ask about it.
Skin and position
- Pressure sore
- Damage to the skin caused by prolonged pressure on one spot; regular repositioning is used to help prevent it.
- Repositioning
- Regularly turning or moving a bedbound person so that pressure doesn't fall on the same areas all the time.
- Skin check
- A daily look at the areas pressed against the bed, so that redness is noticed in time and reported.
- Person with limited mobility
- Someone who moves with difficulty or hardly gets up and needs help.
Home and support
- Grab bar
- A sturdy bar fixed to the wall to hold on to when standing up and walking, especially in the bathroom and toilet.
- Non-slip surface
- A floor or bath covering that reduces slipping of wet feet.
- Adjustable care bed
- A bed with adjustable sections that makes caring for a bedbound person easier; whether one is needed is discussed with a professional.
- Route
- The person's usual path around the home, for example from the bed to the toilet, which is especially important to make safe.
Prescriptions and monitoring
- Pill organiser
- A box with compartments for each day and time of day, filled strictly according to the doctor's prescription.
- Prescription list
- A single up-to-date list of everything the doctor has prescribed, with the times to take it; bring it to every appointment.
- Care diary
- A notebook or notes where you briefly record sleep, drinking, the state of the skin, mood and any changes.
- Dehydration
- A lack of fluid in the body; in older people it can develop unnoticed because thirst is felt less strongly.
Help and support
- FAST test
- A way to remember the signs of a stroke: Face, Arms, Speech, Time — call your local emergency number at once (in Russia 103 or 112).
- Home visits
- Visits to the person at home by a health or social care worker; ask your local health and social services how they are arranged.
- Carer
- A relative or friend who regularly helps the person with daily life and keeps an eye on their condition.
- Carer burnout
- Exhaustion from long-term caring without rest: tiredness, irritability, a feeling that there is no way out.
- Respite
- Time when someone else takes over the caring so that the main carer can rest.
Where these words appear in the guide
- Daily care
Hygiene and skin, drinking and food, movement and positioning — the everyday basics of care and their limits.
- Prevention
A fall-proof home: how to go through the home room by room and remove whatever is easy to trip over.
- Ask the doctor
What to ask the doctor and nurse about monitoring at home, the medication schedule and warning signs.
- Topics
A map of topics: home safety, daily care, prescriptions and doctor's visits, the carer's own strength. Plus the article catalogue.
Related sections
- Daily care
Hygiene and skin, drinking and food, movement and positioning — the everyday basics of care and their limits.
- Ask the doctor
What to ask the doctor and nurse about monitoring at home, the medication schedule and warning signs.
- Tips & facts
How to tell reliable care advice from advertising, myth or someone else's story passed off as a rule.
Sources
- Guidance on caring for people with limited mobility
- WHO — materials on healthy ageing
- Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation — public information leaflets
Information is current as of the date of preparation. Arrangements for home medical care, social services and paperwork differ between countries and can change — check the details with your local health and social services.