Occupations of medical personnel who are not physicians, and are qualified by special training and, frequently, by licensure to work in supporting roles in the health care field. These occupations include, but are not limited to, medical technology, physical therapy, physician assistant, etc.

Schools which offer training in the area of health.

Professions or other business activities directed to the cure and prevention of disease. For occupations of medical personnel who are not physicians but who are working in the fields of medical technology, physical therapy, etc., ALLIED HEALTH OCCUPATIONS is available.

Crafts, trades, professions, or other means of earning a living.

Individuals enrolled in a school or formal educational program in the health occupations.

The level of health of the individual, group, or population as subjectively assessed by the individual or by more objective measures.

Branch of medicine concerned with the prevention and control of disease and disability, and the promotion of physical and mental health of the population on the international, national, state, or municipal level.

The concept concerned with all aspects of providing and distributing health services to a patient population.

A systematic collection of factual data pertaining to health and disease in a human population within a given geographic area.

Decisions, usually developed by government policymakers, for determining present and future objectives pertaining to the health care system.

Encouraging consumer behaviors most likely to optimize health potentials (physical and psychosocial) through health information, preventive programs, and access to medical care.

Innovation and improvement of the health care system by reappraisal, amendment of services, and removal of faults and abuses in providing and distributing health services to patients. It includes a re-alignment of health services and health insurance to maximum demographic elements (the unemployed, indigent, uninsured, elderly, inner cities, rural areas) with reference to coverage, hospitalization, pricing and cost containment, insurers' and employers' costs, pre-existing medical conditions, prescribed drugs, equipment, and services.

The state wherein the person is well adjusted.

Diseases caused by factors involved in one's employment.

The state of the organism when it functions optimally without evidence of disease.

The promotion and maintenance of physical and mental health in the work environment.

Public attitudes toward health, disease, and the medical care system.

The degree to which individuals are inhibited or facilitated in their ability to gain entry to and to receive care and services from the health care system. Factors influencing this ability include geographic, architectural, transportational, and financial considerations, among others.

Statistical measures of utilization and other aspects of the provision of health care services including hospitalization and ambulatory care.

Behaviors expressed by individuals to protect, maintain or promote their health status. For example, proper diet, and appropriate exercise are activities perceived to influence health status. Life style is closely associated with health behavior and factors influencing life style are socioeconomic, educational, and cultural.

Planning for needed health and/or welfare services and facilities.

Men and women working in the provision of health services, whether as individual practitioners or employees of health institutions and programs, whether or not professionally trained, and whether or not subject to public regulation. (From A Discursive Dictionary of Health Care, 1976)

Care which provides integrated, accessible health care services by clinicians who are accountable for addressing a large majority of personal health care needs, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community. (JAMA 1995;273(3):192)

The levels of excellence which characterize the health service or health care provided based on accepted standards of quality.

Services for the diagnosis and treatment of disease and the maintenance of health.

Insurance providing coverage of medical, surgical, or hospital care in general or for which there is no specific heading.

The concept pertaining to the health status of inhabitants of the world.

The exposure to potentially harmful chemical, physical, or biological agents that occurs as a result of one's occupation.

Education that increases the awareness and favorably influences the attitudes and knowledge relating to the improvement of health on a personal or community basis.

The optimal state of the mouth and normal functioning of the organs of the mouth without evidence of disease.

Health services required by a population or community as well as the health services that the population or community is able and willing to pay for.

Knowledge, attitudes, and associated behaviors which pertain to health-related topics such as PATHOLOGIC PROCESSES or diseases, their prevention, and treatment. This term refers to non-health workers and health workers (HEALTH PERSONNEL).

Variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between population groups defined by socioeconomic characteristics such as age, ethnicity, economic resources, or gender and populations identified geographically or similar measures.

Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.

The integration of epidemiologic, sociological, economic, and other analytic sciences in the study of health services. Health services research is usually concerned with relationships between need, demand, supply, use, and outcome of health services. The aim of the research is evaluation, particularly in terms of structure, process, output, and outcome. (From Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 2d ed)

The amounts spent by individuals, groups, nations, or private or public organizations for total health care and/or its various components. These amounts may or may not be equivalent to the actual costs (HEALTH CARE COSTS) and may or may not be shared among the patient, insurers, and/or employers.

The science of controlling or modifying those conditions, influences, or forces surrounding man which relate to promoting, establishing, and maintaining health.

Management of public health organizations or agencies.

The seeking and acceptance by patients of health service.

The status of health in rural populations.

Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time.

Planning for the equitable allocation, apportionment, or distribution of available health resources.

Any enterprise centered on the processing, assembly, production, or marketing of a line of products, services, commodities, or merchandise, in a particular field often named after its principal product. Examples include the automobile, fishing, music, publishing, insurance, and textile industries.

A stratum of people with similar position and prestige; includes social stratification. Social class is measured by criteria such as education, occupation, and income.

The concept covering the physical and mental conditions of women.

The activities and endeavors of the public health services in a community on any level.

Preferentially rated health-related activities or functions to be used in establishing health planning goals. This may refer specifically to PL93-641.

The status of health in urban populations.

Components of a national health care system which administer specific services, e.g., national health insurance.

Organized services to provide mental health care.

The state of being engaged in an activity or service for wages or salary.

A health care system which combines physicians, hospitals, and other medical services with a health plan to provide the complete spectrum of medical care for its customers. In a fully integrated system, the three key elements - physicians, hospital, and health plan membership - are in balance in terms of matching medical resources with the needs of purchasers and patients. (Coddington et al., Integrated Health Care: Reorganizing the Physician, Hospital and Health Plan Relationship, 1994, p7)

Economic sector concerned with the provision, distribution, and consumption of health care services and related products.

Degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.

Diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive health services provided for individuals in the community.

Attitudes of personnel toward their patients, other professionals, toward the medical care system, etc.

Organized services to provide health care for children.

A specialized agency of the United Nations designed as a coordinating authority on international health work; its aim is to promote the attainment of the highest possible level of health by all peoples.

Research aimed at assessing the quality and effectiveness of health care as measured by the attainment of a specified end result or outcome. Measures include parameters such as improved health, lowered morbidity or mortality, and improvement of abnormal states (such as elevated blood pressure).

Educational attainment or level of education of individuals.

The total number of cases of a given disease in a specified population at a designated time. It is differentiated from INCIDENCE, which refers to the number of new cases in the population at a given time.

Planning that has the goals of improving health, improving accessibility to health services, and promoting efficiency in the provision of services and resources on a comprehensive basis for a whole community. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988, p299)

Health services, public or private, in rural areas. The services include the promotion of health and the delivery of health care.

Institutions which provide medical or health-related services.

Planning for health resources at a regional or multi-state level.

The availability of HEALTH PERSONNEL. It includes the demand and recruitment of both professional and allied health personnel, their present and future supply and distribution, and their assignment and utilization.

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

Maleness or femaleness as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from SEX CHARACTERISTICS, anatomical or physiological manifestations of sex, and from SEX DISTRIBUTION, the number of males and females in given circumstances.

Unforeseen occurrences, especially injuries in the course of work-related activities.

Available manpower, facilities, revenue, equipment, and supplies to produce requisite health care and services.

Women who are engaged in gainful activities usually outside the home.

Diseases in persons engaged in cultivating and tilling soil, growing plants, harvesting crops, raising livestock, or otherwise engaged in husbandry and farming. The diseases are not restricted to farmers in the sense of those who perform conventional farm chores: the heading applies also to those engaged in the individual activities named above, as in those only gathering harvest or in those only dusting crops.

Activities and programs intended to assure or improve the quality of care in either a defined medical setting or a program. The concept includes the assessment or evaluation of the quality of care; identification of problems or shortcomings in the delivery of care; designing activities to overcome these deficiencies; and follow-up monitoring to ensure effectiveness of corrective steps.

Statistical models which describe the relationship between a qualitative dependent variable (that is, one which can take only certain discrete values, such as the presence or absence of a disease) and an independent variable. A common application is in epidemiology for estimating an individual's risk (probability of a disease) as a function of a given risk factor.

Facilities which administer the delivery of health care services to people living in a community or neighborhood.

Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from AGING, a physiological process, and TIME FACTORS which refers only to the passage of time.

Services designed for HEALTH PROMOTION and prevention of disease.

Inhaling and exhaling the smoke of burning TOBACCO.

Health services for employees, usually provided by the employer at the place of work.

Ongoing scrutiny of a population (general population, study population, target population, etc.), generally using methods distinguished by their practicability, uniformity, and frequently their rapidity, rather than by complete accuracy.

A nursing specialty concerned with promoting and protecting the health of populations, using knowledge from nursing, social, and public health sciences to develop local, regional, state, and national health policy and research. It is population-focused and community-oriented, aimed at health promotion and disease prevention through educational, diagnostic, and preventive programs.

Conversations with an individual or individuals held in order to obtain information about their background and other personal biographical data, their attitudes and opinions, etc. It includes school admission or job interviews.

The physical condition of human reproductive systems.

Media that facilitate transportability of pertinent information concerning patient's illness across varied providers and geographic locations. Some versions include direct linkages to online consumer health information that is relevant to the health conditions and treatments related to a specific patient.

The inhabitants of rural areas or of small towns classified as rural.

Organized services to provide health care to expectant and nursing mothers.

Health insurance plans for employees, and generally including their dependents, usually on a cost-sharing basis with the employer paying a percentage of the premium.

The ratio of two odds. The exposure-odds ratio for case control data is the ratio of the odds in favor of exposure among cases to the odds in favor of exposure among noncases. The disease-odds ratio for a cohort or cross section is the ratio of the odds in favor of disease among the exposed to the odds in favor of disease among the unexposed. The prevalence-odds ratio refers to an odds ratio derived cross-sectionally from studies of prevalent cases.

An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.

Place or physical location of work or employment.

Studies in which subsets of a defined population are identified. These groups may or may not be exposed to factors hypothesized to influence the probability of the occurrence of a particular disease or other outcome. Cohorts are defined populations which, as a whole, are followed in an attempt to determine distinguishing subgroup characteristics.

The number of new cases of a given disease during a given period in a specified population. It also is used for the rate at which new events occur in a defined population. It is differentiated from PREVALENCE, which refers to all cases, new or old, in the population at a given time.

Stress wherein emotional factors predominate.

Psychiatric illness or diseases manifested by breakdowns in the adaptational process expressed primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling, and behavior producing either distress or impairment of function.

A situation in which the level of living of an individual, family, or group is below the standard of the community. It is often related to a specific income level.

An infant during the first month after birth.

Services for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases in the aged and the maintenance of health in the elderly.

The inhabitants of a city or town, including metropolitan areas and suburban areas.

The number of males and females in a given population. The distribution may refer to how many men or women or what proportion of either in the group. The population is usually patients with a specific disease but the concept is not restricted to humans and is not restricted to medicine.

The systematic application of information and computer sciences to public health practice, research, and learning.

The organization and administration of health services dedicated to the delivery of health care.

An operating division of the US Department of Health and Human Services. It is concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to health and medical research. Until 1995, it was an agency of the United States PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE.

The aggregate business enterprise of building.

The frequency of different ages or age groups in a given population. The distribution may refer to either how many or what proportion of the group. The population is usually patients with a specific disease but the concept is not restricted to humans and is not restricted to medicine.

Exposure of the male parent, human or animal, to potentially harmful chemical, physical, or biological agents in the environment or to environmental factors that may include ionizing radiation, pathogenic organisms, or toxic chemicals that may affect offspring.

State plans prepared by the State Health Planning and Development Agencies which are made up from plans submitted by the Health Systems Agencies and subject to review and revision by the Statewide Health Coordinating Council.

Studies which start with the identification of persons with a disease of interest and a control (comparison, referent) group without the disease. The relationship of an attribute to the disease is examined by comparing diseased and non-diseased persons with regard to the frequency or levels of the attribute in each group.

The exposure to potentially harmful chemical, physical, or biological agents in the environment or to environmental factors that may include ionizing radiation, pathogenic organisms, or toxic chemicals.

The science, art or practice of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock.

Elements of residence that characterize a population. They are applicable in determining need for and utilization of health services.

Smallest political subdivisions within a country at which general governmental functions are carried-out.

Those actions designed to carry out recommendations pertaining to health plans or programs.

Activities concerned with governmental policies, functions, etc.

Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.

A generic concept reflecting concern with the modification and enhancement of life attributes, e.g., physical, political, moral and social environment; the overall condition of a human life.

Norms, criteria, standards, and other direct qualitative and quantitative measures used in determining the quality of health care.

A geographic area defined and served by a health program or institution.

Studies in which variables relating to an individual or group of individuals are assessed over a period of time.

Global conflict involving countries of Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America that occurred between 1939 and 1945.

Health care services related to human REPRODUCTION and diseases of the reproductive system. Services are provided to both sexes and usually by physicians in the medical or the surgical specialties such as REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE; ANDROLOGY; GYNECOLOGY; OBSTETRICS; and PERINATOLOGY.

Organized services to provide health care to women. It excludes maternal care services for which MATERNAL HEALTH SERVICES is available.

Voluntary groups of people representing diverse interests in the community such as hospitals, businesses, physicians, and insurers, with the principal objective to improve health care cost effectiveness.

Health care provided to specific cultural or tribal peoples which incorporates local customs, beliefs, and taboos.

Male parents, human or animal.

Longitudinal patient-maintained records of individual health history and tools that allow individual control of access.

The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH.

The concept covering the physical and mental conditions of men.

Recommendations for directing health planning functions and policies. These may be mandated by PL93-641 and issued by the Department of Health and Human Services for use by state and local planning agencies.

Statistical interpretation and description of a population with reference to distribution, composition, or structure.

Typical way of life or manner of living characteristic of an individual or group. (From APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed)

The health status of the family as a unit including the impact of the health of one member of the family on the family as a unit and on individual family members; also, the impact of family organization or disorganization on the health status of its members.

Evaluation procedures that focus on both the outcome or status (OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT) of the patient at the end of an episode of care - presence of symptoms, level of activity, and mortality; and the process (ASSESSMENT, PROCESS) - what is done for the patient diagnostically and therapeutically.

Procedures for finding the mathematical function which best describes the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. In linear regression (see LINEAR MODELS) the relationship is constrained to be a straight line and LEAST-SQUARES ANALYSIS is used to determine the best fit. In logistic regression (see LOGISTIC MODELS) the dependent variable is qualitative rather than continuously variable and LIKELIHOOD FUNCTIONS are used to find the best relationship. In multiple regression, the dependent variable is considered to depend on more than a single independent variable.

Organized systems for providing comprehensive prepaid health care that have five basic attributes: (1) provide care in a defined geographic area; (2) provide or ensure delivery of an agreed-upon set of basic and supplemental health maintenance and treatment services; (3) provide care to a voluntarily enrolled group of persons; (4) require their enrollees to use the services of designated providers; and (5) receive reimbursement through a predetermined, fixed, periodic prepayment made by the enrollee without regard to the degree of services provided. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988)

The state of being retired from one's position or occupation.

Health services, public or private, in urban areas. The services include the promotion of health and the delivery of health care.

Financial resources provided for activities related to health planning and development.

Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease.

Diseases which have one or more of the following characteristics: they are permanent, leave residual disability, are caused by nonreversible pathological alteration, require special training of the patient for rehabilitation, or may be expected to require a long period of supervision, observation, or care. (Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed)

Organized services to provide health care to adolescents, ages ranging from 13 through 18 years.

The science, art, or technology dealing with processes involved in the separation of metals from their ores, the technique of making or compounding the alloys, the techniques of working or heat-treating metals, and the mining of metals. It includes industrial metallurgy as well as metallurgical techniques employed in the preparation and working of metals used in dentistry, with special reference to orthodontic and prosthodontic appliances. (From Jablonski, Dictionary of Dentistry, 1992, p494)

A range of values for a variable of interest, e.g., a rate, constructed so that this range has a specified probability of including the true value of the variable.

Educational institutions for individuals specializing in the field of public health.

Studies designed to assess the efficacy of programs. They may include the evaluation of cost-effectiveness, the extent to which objectives are met, or impact.

An interactive process whereby members of a community are concerned for the equality and rights of all.

The scientific study of past societies through artifacts, fossils, etc.

Health care workers specially trained and licensed to assist and support the work of health professionals. Often used synonymously with paramedical personnel, the term generally refers to all health care workers who perform tasks which must otherwise be performed by a physician or other health professional.

Observation of a population for a sufficient number of persons over a sufficient number of years to generate incidence or mortality rates subsequent to the selection of the study group.

Diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive mental health services provided for individuals in the community.

Time period from 1901 through 2000 of the common era.

The smallest continent and an independent country, comprising six states and two territories. Its capital is Canberra.

The probability that an event will occur. It encompasses a variety of measures of the probability of a generally unfavorable outcome.

All deaths reported in a given population.

The aggregate business enterprise of manufacturing textiles. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)

Preventive health services provided for students. It excludes college or university students.

The total amount of work to be performed by an individual, a department, or other group of workers in a period of time.

A country spanning from central Asia to the Pacific Ocean.

Differences in access to or availability of medical facilities and services.

A group of four British islands and several islets in the English Channel off the coast of France. They are known to have been occupied prehistorically. They were a part of Normandy in 933 but were united to the British crown at the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066. Guernsey and Jersey originated noted breeds of cattle. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p242)

The decision process by which individuals, groups or institutions establish policies pertaining to plans, programs or procedures.

Community or individual involvement in the decision-making process.

Official records of individual deaths including the cause of death certified by a physician, and any other required identifying information.

Providing for the full range of personal health services for diagnosis, treatment, follow-up and rehabilitation of patients.

A cabinet department in the Executive Branch of the United States Government concerned with administering those agencies and offices having programs pertaining to health and human services.

The process of leaving one's country to establish residence in a foreign country.

Community health education events focused on prevention of disease and promotion of health through audiovisual exhibits.

Support systems that provide assistance and encouragement to individuals with physical or emotional disabilities in order that they may better cope. Informal social support is usually provided by friends, relatives, or peers, while formal assistance is provided by churches, groups, etc.

A non-medical term defined by the lay public as a food that has little or no preservatives, which has not undergone major processing, enrichment or refinement and which may be grown without pesticides. (from Segen, The Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)

Any type of research that employs nonnumeric information to explore individual or group characteristics, producing findings not arrived at by statistical procedures or other quantitative means. (Qualitative Inquiry: A Dictionary of Terms Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997)

The transfer of information from experts in the medical and public health fields to patients and the public. The study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual and community decisions that enhance health.

Assessment of physiological capacities in relation to job requirements. It is usually done by measuring certain physiological (e.g., circulatory and respiratory) variables during a gradually increasing workload until specific limitations occur with respect to those variables.

Application of marketing principles and techniques to maximize the use of health care resources.

A set of techniques used when variation in several variables has to be studied simultaneously. In statistics, multivariate analysis is interpreted as any analytic method that allows simultaneous study of two or more dependent variables.

Persons functioning as natural, adoptive, or substitute parents. The heading includes the concept of parenthood as well as preparation for becoming a parent.

Systematic identification of a population's needs or the assessment of individuals to determine the proper level of services needed.

Federal, state, or local government organized methods of financial assistance.

Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.

The practice of medicine concerned with conditions affecting the health of individuals associated with the marine environment.

A recurrent contact dermatitis caused by substances found in the work place.

A group of people with a common cultural heritage that sets them apart from others in a variety of social relationships.

A constituent organization of the DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES concerned with protecting and improving the health of the nation.

Services designed to promote, maintain, or restore dental health.

The ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health-related data with the purpose of preventing or controlling disease or injury, or of identifying unusual events of public health importance, followed by the dissemination and use of information for public health action. (From Am J Prev Med 2011;41(6):636)

Persons living in the United States having origins in any of the black groups of Africa.

Generally refers to the amount of protection available and the kind of loss which would be paid for under an insurance contract with an insurer. (Slee & Slee, Health Care Terms, 2d ed)

Earth or other matter in fine, dry particles. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)

Contracts between an insurer and a subscriber or a group of subscribers whereby a specified set of health benefits is provided in return for a periodic premium.

A country in western Europe bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the Mediterranean Sea, and the countries of Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the principalities of Andorra and Monaco, and by the duchy of Luxembourg. Its capital is Paris.

That distinct portion of the institutional, industrial, or economic structure of a country that is controlled or owned by non-governmental, private interests.

Organized groups serving in advisory capacities related to health planning activities.

The interaction of persons or groups of persons representing various nations in the pursuit of a common goal or interest.

The state of not being engaged in a gainful occupation.

The process of formulating, improving, and expanding educational, managerial, or service-oriented work plans (excluding computer program development).

Insurance coverage providing compensation and medical benefits to individuals because of work-connected injuries or disease.