Pediatric Medecine Glossary

24 terms

This glossary aims to inform you on Pediatric medicine terms, but before beginning, what is this job specifically. Pediatric medicine is medicine for the child, more specifically age under 18 years old. The job consists of following the child development, in this case, the medicine is about the organism in development and in permanent transformation. This medicine treats infant syndromes, disease and gave diagnostics that are vital for the future health of the child. The job need a university doctorate and an additional course specializing in pediatrics, because this field is more specific then general medicine. You can practice it in hospital or even in private institution. This glossary will be useful to others in my field because it is full of general medicine terms and more specifics ones that are related in pediatrics. These are terms that are used daily in this field and that everyone who works in it need to know to be clearly understood. This glossary will also help parents to know a little bit more about what doctors mean when they talk about their children's disease.

bacteria
A member of a large group of unicellular microorganisms which have cell walls but lack organelles and an organized nucleus, including some that can cause disease.
down syndrome
A congenital condition characterized by a distinctive pattern of physical characteristics including a flattened skull, pronounced folds of skin in the inner corners of the eyes, large tongue, and short stature, and by some degree of limitation of intellectual ability and social and practical skills. It usually arises from a defect involving chromosome 21, usually an extra copy (trisomy-21).
epidemiology
The branch of medicine which deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health.
epilepsy
A neurological disorder marked by sudden recurrent episodes of sensory disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions, associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain.
genetics
The study of how genes and how traits are passed down from one generation to the next.
growth
The process of increasing in physical size.
hand, foot, and mouth syndromes
A mild, contagious viral infection common in young children.
infant
A very young child or baby.
infection
The process of infecting or the state of being infected.
jaundice
A medical condition with yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes, arising from excess of the pigment bilirubin and typically caused by obstruction of the bile duct, by liver disease, or by excessive breakdown of red blood cells.
leukemia
A malignant progressive disease in which the bone marrow and other blood-forming organs produce increased numbers of immature or abnormal leukocytes. These suppress the production of normal blood cells, leading to anemia and other symptoms.
measles
A highly contagious, serious airborne disease caused by a virus that can lead to severe complications and death.
mumps
An illness caused by a virus that usually affects the glands on each side of the face.
neonatology
The branch of medicine concerned with the treatment and care of newborn babies.
patient
A person receiving or registered to receive medical treatment.
pediatrics
The branch of medicine dealing with children and their diseases.
premature
A baby born before the end of the full term of gestation, especially three or more weeks before.
prescribe
Advise and authorize the use of (a medicine or treatment) for someone, especially in writing.
prognosis
The likely course of a disease.
roseola
A childhood illness caused by two strains of the herpes virus.
syndrome
A group of symptoms which consistently occur together, or a condition characterized by a set of associated symptoms.
vaccine
A substance used to stimulate immunity to a particular infectious disease or pathogen, typically prepared from an inactivated or weakened form of the causative agent or from its constituents or products.
varicella
A herpes virus that causes chickenpox and shingles; herpes zoster.
white blood cells
A type of blood cell that is made in the bone marrow and found in the blood and lymph tissue.