Glossary F - K
brain injury terms:
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ada terms
insurance terms
Facial Nerve - Cranial Nerve VII, which has motor and sensory components; motor component governs muscles of facial expression; some taste fibers and salivary gland nerve fibers course within the facial nerve.
Factitious Disorder - A condition wherein physical or psychological symptoms are produced voluntarily, often resulting in multiple hospitalization, but which, unlike malingering has no rationally comprehended goal.
Fibromyalgia - A syndrome that affects the connective tissues and muscles throughout the body. A common form of chronic, generalized muscular pain and fatigue.
Figure-Ground - The differentiation between the foreground and the background of a scene; this refers to all sensory systems, including vision, hearing, touch.
Fixation, Visual - A pause of the line of sight on something of interest in the visual world.
Flaccid - Lacking normal muscle tone; limp.
Flexion - Inward movements of body parts toward the center of the body (bending).
Fluent Aphasia - A language disorder characterized by clear articulation and normal rhythm but long phrases of nonsense, incorrect words or sounds, and circumlocution.
Fluently - Effortlessly smooth and rapid speech.
Focal - Restricted to one region (as opposed to diffuse).
Focus, Eye - Can imply: 1) convergence of the two eyes, 2) accommodation of the lenses of the two eyes, 3) tracking something by moving the eyes, 4) attending to something.
Foley Catheter - This is a tube inserted into the urinary bladder for drainage of urine. The urine drains through the tube and collects into a plastic bag.
Follow-Up, Vocational - Supportive assistance during the initial stage of a new program or job placement and which may determine to what degree the past and present program are adequate to meet client needs and/or ascertain the readiness of clients to benefit from new programs.
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Frontal Lobe - Front part of the brain; involved in planning, organizing, problem solving, selective attention, personality and a variety of "higher cognitive functions" and has intricate connections to other areas of the brain including deeper structures such as the limbic system.
Frustration Tolerance - The ability to persist in completing a task despite apparent difficulty. Individuals with a poor frustration tolerance will often refuse to complete tasks which are the least bit difficult. Angry behavior, such as yelling or throwing things while attempting a task is also indicative of poor frustration tolerance.
Functional Ability - Capacity for performing an act that results in a practical end result.
Functional Independence - The capacity of a person to take care of one's own activities of daily life without the help of another person.
Functional Limitation - Restriction or lack of ability to perform an action in the manner or within a range consistent with the purpose of an organ or organ system.
Functional Outcome, Optimal - The best functional level an individual can realize in consideration of physical, mental and social limitations.
Functional Outcome - The end result of a therapeutic intervention practical activities in which a person is capable of engaging on a regular basis.
Gainful Occupation - Includes employment in the competitive labor market, practice of a profession, farm or family work (including work for which payment is "in kind" rather than in cash), sheltered employment, work activity (to the extent that there is net pay), and home industries or other home-bound work.
Gait - The particular manner of walking (e.g., ataxic, scissor, etc.). Used in diagnosing underlying conditions and in devising interventions.
Gait Training - Instruction in walking, with or without equipment; also called "ambulation training."
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Ganser Syndrome - A form of factitious disorder involving the voluntary production of severe psychological and pseudocognitive symptoms, often of psychotic proportions.
Gerstmann's Syndrome - A brain disorder consisting of right-left confusion, inability to calculate or write, and an inability to name the different fingers of each hand due to parietal lobe lesion.
GI Tube - A tube inserted through a surgical opening into the stomach. It is used to introduce liquids, food, or medication into the stomach when the patient is unable to take these substances by mouth.
Glasgow Coma Scale - A standardized system used to assess the degree of brain impairment and to identify the seriousness of injury in relation to outcome. The system involves three determinants: eye opening, verbal responses and motor response all of which are evaluated independently according to a numerical value that indicates the level of consciousness and degree of dysfunction. Scores run from a high of 15 to a low of 3. Persons are considered to have experienced a 'mild' brain injury when their score is 13 to 15. A score of 9 to 12 is considered to reflect a 'moderate' brain injury and a score of 8 or less reflects a 'severe' brain injury.
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Glasgow Outcome Scale - A system for classifying the outcome of persons who survive. The categories range from 'Good Recovery' in which the patient appears to regain the pre-injury level of social and career activity (even if there are some minor residual abnormal neurological signs); 'Moderate Disability' in which the patient does not regain the former level of activity but is completely independent with respect to the activities of daily life; 'Severe Disability' is defined as a state wherein the conscious, communicating patient is still dependent on the help of others. The original scale had five outcome categories, the newest scale has eight outcome categories. This scale relates to functional independence and not residual deficits.
Global Aphasia - Loss of all language function
Glossopharyngeal Nerve - Cranial nerve IX, a sensory-motor nerve supplying sensation into pharynx and posterior tongue and supplying motor function to these structures.
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Glove-and-Stocking Analgesia - Loss of sensation along symmetrical nonanatomic lines and not having a dermatome distribution; characteristic of hysterical or malingered disorders.
Gray Matter - Nerve tissue not covered by myelin which gives the cerebral cortex its characteristic color.
Habilitation - Process of providing specific learning experiences for those persons with disabilities who have been isolated from such experiences so they can become aware of and develop their abilities and potentials.
Halo - A metal ring used for patients with spinal cord injuries of the neck which encircles the patient's head to allow for proper alignment of the neck and spinal column. It is important that the patient with a broken spine remain still in order to prevent further injury to the spinal cord.
Handicap - Describes a condition or barrier imposed by society, the environment, or by one's own self that limits or prevents the fulfillment of a role that is normal, depending on age, sex, and social and cultural factors, for the individual. Handicap can be used when citing laws and situations but should not be used to describe a disability. Not a synonym for disability.
Handicap Dimensions - Physical independence, mobility, roles and activities, social integration, and economic self-sufficiency.
Hard of Hearing - Mild to moderate hearing loss that may or may not be corrected with amplification.
Head Injury Criteria (HIC) Index - A rating scale which computes the severity and duration of acceleration-deceleration forces exerted on the human head during a crash. HIC is the scale employed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to judge the adequacy of restraining devices.
Head Injury - Refers to an injury of the head and/or brain, including lacerations and contusions of the head scalp and/or forehead. See Brain Injury.
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Health Insurance - See
Terms and Definitions Related to Insurance.
Hearing Impaired - Generic term preferred by some individuals to refer to any degree of hearing loss from mild to profound. It includes both hard of hearing and deaf.
Hematoma - The collection of blood in tissues or a space following the rupture of a blood vessel.
Regarding Brain:
- Epidural - Outside the brain and its fibrous covering, the dura, but under the skull.
- Subdural - Between the brain and its fibrous covering (dura).
- Intracerebral - In the brain tissue.
- Subarachnoid - Around the surfaces of the brain, between the dura and arachnoid membranes.
- Hemianopia - Blindness in one half of the visual field, indicating a pathological process at some point along the visual pathway.
Hemianopsia Hemianopia - Visual field cut. Blindness for one half of the field of vision. This is not the right or left eye, but the right or left half of vision in each eye.
Hemiparesis - Weakness or partial loss of muscle power on one side of the body, usually due to brain damage on the opposite (contralateral) side.
Hemiplegia - Paralysis of one side of the body as a result of injury to neurons carrying signals to muscles from the motor areas of the brain.
Hemorrhage - Bleeding that occurs following damage to blood vessels. Bleeding may occur within the brain when blood vessels in the brain are damaged. See Hematoma.
Herniation - In neurology, used to describe the movement of brain tissue through or across small openings due to increased intracranial pressure.
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Heterotopic Ossification - A disorder characterized by the deposition of large quantities of calcium at the site of a bone injury. Often the result of prolonged immobilization. [heterotopic bone].
High Level Cognitive Processes - Refers to judgement comprehension of problems, deductive and inductive reasoning, problem-solving and planning.
Homeostasis - The condition of the body wherein chemical and neurologic mechanisms regulate a "steady state" of normal physiologic functioning.
Homonymous Hemianopia - Loss of sight in one half of the visual field.
Human Services Delivery System - The organizational structure by which necessary services are provided to those people who need them and includes health care, education, income maintenance, and manpower services.
Human Services - Services provided for people to enable them to deal with their personal environment in such a way that they can gain control over their own destinies and exercise freedom of choice in their lives.
Hydrocephalus - Enlargement of fluid-filled cavities in the brain, not due to brain atrophy.
Hydrocephalus - Literally, "water on the brain"; an abnormal collection of fluid within the skull.
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Hypercapnia - Elevated blood carbon dioxide.
Hypoglossal - Cranial Nerve XII, a motor nerve which innervates the anterior third of the tongue.
Hypotension - Pathologically low blood pressure.
Hypothalamus - A brain stem structure which regulates several vital life functions; has intricate connections to the pituitary ("master") endocrine gland.
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Hypoxia - Insufficient oxygen reaching the tissues of the body.
Hysteria - See
conversion disorder.
ICP - Intra cranial pressure. Virtually any significant injury to the brain will result in a generalized edema (swelling) with corresponding increase in ICP. Such edema and pressure increases may generate a temporary alteration in the activity of otherwise functional neurons located at sites far distant from a localized injury. Upon the resumption of normal brain size and the restoration of normal pressure, these areas will often resume normal functioning. However, prolonged pressure elevations and/or edema may cause new damage to previously uninvolved tissue, as the parenchyma is flattened against the hard skull axons are stretched to the point of severing, circulatory patterns are disrupted, and cell death causes chemical reactions which are themselves toxic to healthy remaining brain tissue.
ICP - See
Intracranial Pressure.
ICU - See
Intensive Care Unit.
Impairment - Any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function.
Impairment - Loss and/or abnormality of cognitive, emotional, physiological, or anatomical structure or function; including all losses or abnormalities, not just those attributable to the initial pathophysiology.
Imperception - Refers to a failure to perceive (notice) stimulation on one side of the body when both sides are being stimulated simultaneously (double simultaneous stimulation). It is not due to a primary sensory deficit such as deafness or blindness but appears to be an attentional deficit. It is less severe than "neglect" and may occur in a patient recovering from neglect.
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Impulse Control - Refers to the individual's ability to withhold inappropriate verbal or motor responses while completing a task. Persons who act or speak without first considering the consequences are viewed as having poor impulse control.
Income Maintenance Service - Services related to the economic support of persons; welfare and social security are two such services.
Incontinent - Inability to control bowel and bladder functions. Many people who are incontinent can become continent with training.
Incoordination - A problem with coordination of movement of parts of the body, resulting from dysfunction of the nervous system rather than weakness of muscles.
Independent - The ability to perform a task without assistance or supervision.
Individual Case Record, Vocational - All information obtained about the client prior to, during, and in follow-up. Includes referral information, social and work history, medical information, referral questions, program goals and plans, services to be provided, signed reports and notations related to performance and progress during the evaluation, notes from case conferences, the termination decision, and final report of findings and recommendations.
Industrial Standards - Actual worker requirements from industry based on the expectations of the employer in terms of quality, quantity, and work behaviors.
Inflexible - Inability to adjust to changes.
Initiative - Refers to the individual's ability to begin a series of behaviors directed toward a goal.
Insight Regarding Impairment - The extent to which an individual accurately judges one's own strengths and limitations; also called metacognition. A patient's ability in this area may be judged on the basis of actions or statements regarding intended actions. Patients with brain injuries often overestimate their strengths and underestimate their limitations. For example, a patient with right hemisphere damage may attempt to drive a car while out on pass and get involved in a serious accident. A patient with two broken legs in casts may state that he can't walk because he's "too tired."
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Insured - See Terms and Definitions Related to Insurance.
Intake - Those activities which result in an individual's entry into the agency and the action taken to finalize arrangements (i.e. funding, housing, programming) necessary for such entry.
Intellect - Pertains to many of the higher functions of the brain.
Intelligence Quotient (IQ) - It is a measure of general intelligence obtained by testing. It consists of either a ratio of mental age to chronological age or a score of deviation from an expected test performance by age.
Intensive Care Unit - Hospital unit that utilizes highly sophisticated equipment and specially trained physicians and nurses to care for patients who are in such serious condition that they must be continuously monitored.
Intensive Rehabilitation - An active, multi-disciplinary rehabilitation program provided for several hours daily, using a team approach. Focus is usually on skill development, rather than on treatment of specific deficits.
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Intercerebral - Between the cerebral hemispheres.
Interdisciplinary Approach - A method of diagnosis, evaluation, and individual program planning in which two or more specialists, such as medical doctors, psychologists, recreational therapists, social workers, etc., participate as a team, contributing their skills, competencies, insights, and perspectives to focus on identifying the developmental needs of the person with a disability and on devising ways to meet those needs.
Interdisciplinary - See Team.
Intermittent Catheterization Program (ICP) - Bladder training program where a catheter is inserted to empty the bladder at regular time intervals.
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International Classification of Disease (ICD-9) - A three digit "N" code used to indicate the pathological nature of an injury. The ninth revision of this classification (ICD-9) has been in use for several years. Unfortunately, the term "brain injury" does not appear as a category. There are ten rubrics which cover most brain/head injuries. The ICD is less useful than desired because rubrics are not mutually-exclusive. Differences occur in coding from one institution to another. A new version, ICD-10, is under preparation.
Interpersonal Skills - The ability to relate to others in a social appropriate, meaningful way.
Interview - Communication between two or more persons used for such purposes as diagnosis, education, therapy or just to gain information. Though some interviews are primarily to obtain information and some primarily to give help, most involve a combination of the two.
Intracerebral Hemorrhage - Small, multiple bleeds associated with contusions that occur within brain substance.
Intracranial Insult - Something that causes injury to the brain. Includes hematomas (intraparenchymal and extraparenchymal; immediate or delayed) elevations of intracranial pressure (ICP), brain swelling, edema, and vasospasm.
Intracranial Pressure (ICP) - Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure measured from a needle or bolt introduced into the CSF space surrounding the brain. It reflects the pressure inside of the skull.
Intracranial Pressure Monitor - An ICP monitor. A monitoring device to determine the pressure within the brain. It consists of a small tube (catheter) attached to the patient at the skull by either a ventriculostomy, subarachnoid bolt, or screw and is then connected to a transducer, which registers the pressure.
Intravenous (IV) - Tubing inserted into a vein through which fluids and medications can be given.
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Intravenous Board - A simple wooden or plastic board usually attached with tape to the patient's forearm. It prevents bending and dislocation of the intravenous, or arterial lines.
Ipsilateral - Same side of the body.
Ischemia - A severe reduction in the supply of blood to body tissues due to obstruction of circulation to a part.
IV - See Intravenous, above.
Jargon - Spoken language that has a normal rate and rhythm but is full of nonsense words.
Jejunostomy Tube (J Tube) - A type of feeding tube surgically inserted into the small intestine.
Job Analysis - Involves the systematic study of an occupation in terms of what the worker does in relation to data, people, and things; the methods and techniques employed, the machines, tools, equipment, and work aids used; the materials, products, subject matter or services which result, and the traits required of the worker.
Job Bank - A computerized system, developed by the Department of Labor, which maintains an up-to-date listing of job vacancies available through the State Employment Service.
Job Clusters (Work Families) - Related occupations grouped on the basis of similar job requirements, such as specific duties on the job, materials and equipment used, skill and knowledge, and worker characteristics required.
Job Development Specialist - Individual who contacts community businesses and industries for the purpose of placing clients with disabilities in competitive employment or on-the-job training stations. Includes analyzing the client's capabilities and consulting with the client's counselor, the facility, and the client in recommending the client for a specific job. May also involve provision of follow-up services relative to the client's on-the-job performance.
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Job Exploration - A process whereby an individual is exposed to work experience and occupational information intended to increase one's knowledge of the world of work.
Job Families - See Job Clusters, above.
Job Samples - See
Work Samples.
Job Seeking Skills - Those skills that enable a person to seek out job vacancies and apply for them. Includes knowledge of where to find information about job openings, how to fill out an application, how to take employment tests, how to handle a job interview.
Job Task - A single work activity that is taken in its entirety, without any changes, directly from a specific job.
Job Tryout - Contains at least the following characteristics: 1) wages paid to the client; 2) primarily for the employer's benefit; 3) the client is an employee; and 4) the setting is controlled by the employer. A placement used with the understanding that the client may not succeed and will be helped further if he does not. The success or failure provides the evaluator and client with additional information to make specific employment decisions.
Judgement of Safety - The extent to which an individual can correctly judge the dangers and risks in a variety of situations. An individual with poor judgment may smoke in bed late at night, touch a red hot stove burner, or show extreme friendliness to complete strangers. Brain-injured persons with poor insight regarding their impairments are also likely to show poor judgement of safety.
Judgement - Process of forming an opinion, based upon an evaluation of the situation at hand in comparison with personal values, preferences and insights regarding expected consequences. The ability to make appropriate decisions.
Kinesthesia - The sensory awareness of body parts as they move (see
Position Sense and
Proprioception).
Kluver-Bucy Syndrome - A severe disorder caused by damage to the temporal lobe and/or the limbic system and characterized by cognitive and sexual disturbances.
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brain injury terms:
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ada terms
insurance terms