Glossary

General Medical Terms

  • Acute - Sudden, or abrupt onset. Different conditions have different specific timeframes, but is in the scale of days to weeks (usually no more than 6 weeks)

  • Chronic - Long-standing, and unresolving. Usually something that has lasted at least for 1-2 months.

  • COPD - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Comprised of chronic bronchitis and emphysema, these are long-term lung conditions usually (but not always!) associated with smoking history.

  • Dialysis - A method of drawing out your blood, filtering out toxins and contaminants, and putting it back in you. Typically only used in people with severe kidney disease or kidney failure, this can also be used to remove certain toxins in emergency settings. In America this is managed almost exclusively by nephrologists.

  • ECMO - Extra-Corporeal Membranous Oxygenation. This has gotten more air time recently with COVID-19, but is still a very rare technique. This is similar to dialysis in that it draws out your blood, however instead of filtering out toxins it instead acts as "artificial lungs" to pull out carbon dioxide and to put in oxygen before putting the blood back in you.

  • Echocardiogram - (also known as "Echo") This is a tool that helps to see the physical structure of the heart. It is an ultrasound that can be used to check how the valves of the heart function, how well the heart squeezes & pumps blood, and (sometimes more importantly) how well the heart relaxes to let blood in.

  • EKG - Electrocardiogram (also known as "ECG"). This is a tool to help see the electrical rhythm of the heart. It consists of stickers being placed on your chest and is interpreted as a wavy line on a sheet of paper. It's important to note that most EKG machines give a machine interpretation of what these results mean, but these computers are easily confused by little variances. If you see something that sounds concerning on your EKG, ask your doctor! They'll be able to explain why you should be concerned, or why you don't need to be.

  • ER - Emergency Room (also known as ED, Emergency Department). An area of the hospital designed solely to see if an illness or injury is serious or dangerous enough to warrant being admitted to the hospital.

  • Insurance - A method of paying for the exorbitant healthcare costs in America. For a breakdown of individual terms, see the separate section below.

  • Inpatient - Related to patients admitted to a hospital or treatment facility. These is typically for patients with more severe illness or who are undergoing a more intensive procedure.

  • Laparoscopic - A technique for doing surgery that consists of making several small holes to use cameras & robotic arms to do the procedure, instead of opening up a large hole to do it by hand. More and more often, surgeons are opting to do procedures laparoscopically due to improved results, quicker OR times, and faster healing times.

  • Metabolism

  • "Metabolized By"

  • Outpatient - Everything other than outpatient. In general, this includes clinics and "day procedures" in which you go home that evening after the procedure is done.

  • Pill Burden


Types of Physicians

  • Allergy/Immunology - A doctor who can help to manage complicated allergy issues. These doctors help with ongoing allergy reduction shots, complicated immune system diseases, and help to diagnose uncertain allergic reactions with blood & scratch tests.

  • Bariatrics - A surgeon that deals with weight-loss surgery specifically. These doctors typically coordinate with dieticians, social workers, psychologists, and other in order to make sure you're ready for a big procedure like weight-loss surgery. They also then perform the surgery, and typically help with followup with vitamin checkups and ongoing monitoring.

  • Cardiologist - A "Heart Doctor." The expert when it comes to heart rhythms, heart attacks, and other similar issues. These doctors deal with ongoing heart failure, heart attacks, and other complicated heart issues that your PCP can't.

  • Emergency Physicians - A doctor that works in the ED. These doctors are trained to rule out potential immediate injury to life or limb - they are NOT there to "give you a diagnosis." Often the emergency department CAN do this, but it's not their purpose. Often they will tell you what the diagnosis is NOT ("this chest pain could be several things, but we've ruled out a heart attack" or "I'm not sure what's causing your headache, but it's not a stroke or tumor"), and refer you back to your PCP. This doctor doesn't have the time or training to track down every individual thread in your story, and needs to get back to the other 1-2 dozen patients who may have a hangnail or may be dying, and they need to tell the difference which is which immediately.

  • ENT - "Ear Nose & Throat" surgeons. Also known officially as Otolaryngologists. These experts deal with the small structures of your nose, ears, and to some degree the inside of your mouth & throat. These doctors also deal with the

  • FP - Family Physician (also called FM or Family Medicine). See this section for more information.

  • GI - Gastroenterologist. A doctor that deals with your esophagus, stomach, intestines, pancreas, and liver; the organs that perform digestion for you. These doctors deal with colonoscopies for colon cancer screening, address liver problems including cirrhosis, and help with esophageal problems.

  • Heme/Onc - Hematology & Oncology. A doctor who deals with specialized blood issues as well as cancer as a whole. These doctors help to coordinate with surgeons to potentially remove the cancer, radiation physicians to manage radiation therapy, and prescribe chemotherapy. These doctors deal with severe anemia or uncommon blood disorders your PCP can't manage, cancer, and followups after cancer.

  • Hyperbarics - Not to be confused with bariatrics, hyperbaric or "Dive Doctors" deal with compression chambers that increase the pressure within a small space, thus increasing the amount of oxygen available. This a more recent subspecialty, but has applications to deal with things like chronic wound healing, general wound care, or even certain eye and lung problems.

  • IM - Internal Medicine (also called "Internists"). See this section for more information. Many specialists (including Cardiologists, Endocrinologists, GI's, Hematologist/Oncologists, ID, Nephrologists, Pulmonologists, and Rheumatologists) first start off with a residency in internal medicine to use as a foundation before going through subspecialty fellowship.

  • Nephrologist - A "Kidney Doctor" who focuses on how the kidneys filter your blood and get rid of toxins, by producing urine. These doctors deal with things like chronic kidney disease, kidney transplants, and dialysis management for patients who have lost kidney function.

  • Neurologist - A "Brain Doctor" who focuses on the physical, structural, and chemical issues within the brain. These doctors common deal with seizures, strokes, movement disorders such as Parkinson's, and many other fine nuances.

  • OB/GYN - Obstetrics & Gynecology. A "Female Doctor" who delivers babies, treats vaginal, uterine, and ovarian issues. These doctors deal with things like pregnancy & delivering babies, cancer of the female reproductive tract, or vaginal concerns that can't be treated by your primary care physician. See this section for more information.

  • Ophthalmologist - An "Eye Surgeon." These doctors deal with things like glaucoma or cataract surgery, as well as many other things. Often ophthalmologists work hand-in-hand with optometrists.

  • Optometrist - An "Eye Doctor." These specialists don't go to medical school, but can help to diagnose simple eye complaints and issues, as well as manage prescriptions and contacts or glasses. Often optometrists work hand-in-hand with ophthalmologists.

  • Pathologist - A "Lab Doctor." These doctors help to coordinate & manage the laboratories that process all of the tests that other doctors order, including bloodwork, urine tests, and others. They examine samples that are taken from patients via biopsies and tell the ordering doctor what type of cells and condition may be present. These are the doctors that perform autopsies as well, though these are rare nowadays.

  • PCP - Primary Care Physician (also called Primary Care Managers in the military & the VA). These are the main doctors you should see in an outpatient setting. They are the "quarterback" or "coordinator" of all of your care. These are the "jacks of all trades" in that they can deal with simple issues from every single specialty, and who can start the workup so that

  • Pediatrics - A doctor who specializes in children up to the age of 18. See this section for more information.

  • Psychologist - A separate "Brain Doctor" who instead focuses on the psychological and thought-based issues within the brain. These doctors deal with things like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and issues like anxiety or depression that can't be treated by your primary care physician.

  • Pulmonologist - A "Lung Doctor" who focuses on the lungs, breathing, and the systems of the body that support these functions. These doctors deal with things like lung cancer, COPD or asthma that can't be treated by your primary care physician.

  • Radiologist - An "Imaging Doctor." These doctors look at the x-rays, CT scans, MRI's, and other things that other doctors order and provide an expert analysis of the images. They are specialists in getting every possible nuance from the images ordered, but they rely on the ordering provider to order the right test in the first place as well as to confirm with a clinical exam that any findings are relevant to what's going on as opposed to just an asymmetry that may have been present your whole life without causing issues. A subspecialty of radiologists, "Interventional Radiology," perform procedures and minor surgical techniques using the guidance from the imaging that they control.

  • Rheumatologist - An "autoimmune" doctor. These doctors help to manage issues with your immune system, if your PCP can't. These doctors deal with things like Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or psoriasis.

  • Urologist -


Insurance Terms:

  • Co-Insurance - Once a deductible is met, some insurance policies will require you to pay a percentage of healthcare costs, called "co-insurance." These numbers are often much lower if they are "in-network," meaning that the organization providing the health service has signed an agreement with that insurer.

  • Copay - A flat fee determined by your insurance company that you will pay for healthcare services. Often there is a different fee for prescriptions, for office visits with your PCP vs. specialists, and for any procedures.. Typically this cost does not go towards the deductible.

  • Deductible - The yearly amount that

  • Prior Authorization - A method for a health insurance to dictate which forms of healthcare you can receive, this drastically increases the price of healthcare (most often medications or procedures) unless a certain set of requirements are met first. For example before a specific medication can be covered by insurance, one or more inferior medications may need to be tried first, to decrease the amount they need to pay.

    • You should be aware that some offices tell patients upfront that they will not do prior authorizations - this is most often an admission that they do not have the resources to spend an average of 14 hours of staff time in order to get this your insurance to pay for the medication or procedure they consider necessary for your health. Many physicians consider this an attempt on the behalf of insurance companies to practice medicine on you without a medical license - if you want to get a PCP riled up quickly, ask them about their "prior auths" and settle in for a long rant!


Can't find a term you're unfamiliar with, or that you'd like to see added? Please e-mail me at mdsnakedoc@gmail.com!