Glossary

Medical glossary

This glossary collects words that patients hear in the doctor’s office, see in referrals, discharge summaries and reports, or come across in medical news. The definitions are deliberately short and general: they help you understand what is being discussed, but do not explain what these words mean in your particular case. There are no reference values here.

A word in a document is less frightening when you know which area of medicine it belongs to. What it means for you, your doctor will explain.

— Editor’s note

At the appointment

Presenting complaints: What bothers the patient and brought them to the doctor, in their own words.
Medical history: The background: how the problem developed, what illnesses you have had, what medicines you take and what illnesses close relatives have had.
Primary care: Care at the clinic you are registered with: seeing a general practitioner, prevention and referrals to specialists.
General practitioner: A doctor who looks after adults and sometimes children with a range of problems and coordinates visits to specialists.
Specialist: A doctor who works with a particular organ system or group of diseases, such as a cardiologist or neurologist.
Telemedicine consultation: Remote contact with a doctor. It does not replace an in-person appointment when a diagnosis is made for the first time.

Tests

Laboratory test: Analysis of a sample of blood, urine or other material in a laboratory.
Reference range: The range a laboratory prints next to a result. It depends on the laboratory and the method, so forms from different places cannot be compared directly.
Imaging: The general term for methods that produce images of internal organs: ultrasound, X-ray, CT and MRI.
Functional diagnostics: Tests of how an organ or system works, rather than how it looks.
Screening: Testing people without symptoms to spot a possible problem before it makes itself felt.
Dispanserizatsiya: A preventive health check-up for adults under Russia’s OMS: every three years from 18 to 39, and every year from 40.

Documents

Discharge summary: A document briefly describing what happened to the patient during a period of treatment or monitoring: tests, treatment and recommendations.
Medical report: The concluding part of a specialist’s examination or a test, in which the doctor sets out the findings.
Referral: A document on the basis of which another doctor sees you or a test is performed; it states the purpose and the place.
Informed voluntary consent: A patient’s agreement to a medical intervention after its purpose, risks and alternatives have been explained. The patient also has the right to refuse.
OMS policy: The document of Russia’s compulsory medical insurance, under which care within the state guarantee programme is provided free of charge.
Medical records: Records about your health kept by a healthcare provider. Patients have the right to review them and obtain copies and extracts.

Research and evidence

RCT: Randomised controlled trial: participants are assigned to groups at random and outcomes are compared.
Systematic review and meta-analysis: A review gathers all studies on a question by strict rules; a meta-analysis combines their numbers into an overall result.
Placebo: An inactive “dummy” used for comparison: it helps separate the effect of a method from participants’ expectations.
Blinding: When participants or researchers do not know who is receiving the intervention being studied and who is receiving the comparison.
Preprint: An article posted before review by independent peer reviewers; its conclusions may change.
Correlation and causation: Correlation is an association between measures; causation is when one thing actually causes another. The first does not prove the second.
Absolute and relative risk: Absolute risk is the probability of an event in a group; relative risk is how many times it differs between groups.

Where these terms appear in the reference

Ask your doctor
Questions worth asking your doctor before an appointment, when a test is ordered and after you get a report.
Methods
What makes a prescription well-founded, what kinds of tests exist and how to check a method or medicine.
Research
Types of studies and how to discuss a “breakthrough” news story or an ad for a “proven” method with your doctor.
Prevention
A follow-up plan between appointments, preventive check-ups and dispanserizatsiya under Russia’s OMS, a day off work.

Ask your doctor
Questions worth asking your doctor before an appointment, when a test is ordered and after you get a report.
Methods
What makes a prescription well-founded, what kinds of tests exist and how to check a method or medicine.
Sources
Which documents this reference relies on and where its limits lie.

Sources

Federal Law No. 323-FZ “On the Fundamentals of Health Protection of Citizens in the Russian Federation”
Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation — procedure for preventive medical check-ups and dispanserizatsiya
General concepts of evidence-based medicine

Information is current as of the date of preparation. In Russia, the rules of compulsory medical insurance (OMS), the procedure for preventive check-ups and dispanserizatsiya, and the requirements for medical records and remote consultations may change — check the current documents and confirm details with your clinic or your health insurance company. Healthcare systems in other countries work differently.