Intracranial Pressure

Understanding Coma

Rancho Los Amigos Scale/ The Levels of Coma

Objectives of Neurosurgery

A Guide to Brain Anatomy

Quadriparesis - Weakness of all four limbs. [Click Here To Return To List]

Quadriplegia - Paralysis of all four limbs (from the neck down). British authors often use the prefix "tetra" to mean four, so they may describe a patient as having tetraplegia. [Click Here To Return To List]

Quality of Life - A rating of what kind of existence a person experiences. In estimating the quality of life the following items are usually considered:

1) mobility and activities of daily life;

2) living arrangements;

3) social relationships;

4) work and leisure activities;

5) present satisfaction; and

6) future prospects. [Click Here To Return To List]

Random Movement - An action or process of moving without obvious aim, purpose, or reason. [Click Here To Return To List]

Range of Motion (ROM) - Refers to movement of a joint (important to prevent contractures). [Click Here To Return To List]

Range of Motion, Active - The muscles around the joint do the work to move it. [Click Here To Return To List]

Range of Motion, Passive - Movement of a joint by means other than contraction of the muscles around that joint; e.g., someone else moves the joint. [Click Here To Return To List]

Reasoning, Abstract - Mode of thinking in which the individual recognizes a phrase that has multiple meanings and selects the meaning most appropriate to a given situation. The term "abstract" typically refers to concepts not readily apparent from the physical attributes of an object or situation. [Click Here To Return To List]

Reasoning, Association - A skill dependent on a person's ability to determine the relationship between objects and concepts. A patient with impairment may touch a hot stove, failing to realize that pain is associated with touching a heated burner. Similarly, a patient given a knife, spoon, fork, and baseball may not be able to discriminate which of the objects "does not belong." [Click Here To Return To List]

Reasoning, Categorization - The ability to sort or group objects and concepts based on the shared attribute(s) and apply a label depicting the attribute(s). Task difficulty is greater in circumstances requiring formulation of new categories. Impaired patients may have difficulty sorting clothes or choosing items for a balanced meal. Categorization is similar to association in that patients must understand the relationship between objects or concepts. However, categorization requires an extra step; the ability to provide a label describing the group of objects or concepts. [Click Here To Return To List]

Reasoning, Cause and Effect - The ability to perceive and anticipate the consequences of a given action or statement. For example, a patient may sit for a long period in a darkened room without realizing that flipping a light switch will cause the light to turn on. A patient may turn the oven up to make a cake cook faster, not realizing that the increased heat will simply cause the food to burn. [Click Here To Return To List]

Reasoning, Concrete - The ability to understand the literal meaning of a phrase. [Click Here To Return To List]

Reasoning, Deductive - Drawing conclusions based upon premises or general principles in a step-by-step manner. [Click Here To Return To List]

Reasoning, Generalization - The ability to take information, rules and strategies learned about one situation and apply them appropriately to other, similar situations. For example, a patient who learns to lock his/her wheelchair brakes in physical therapy may not lock the brakes while sitting in his/her room. [Click Here To Return To List]

Reasoning, Inductive - Awareness of one's behavior and the accuracy or appropriateness of one's performance. Usually automatic and on-going. [Click Here To Return To List]

Reasoning, Organization - The ability to arrange or group information in a manner which improves task efficiency. Persons who lack organizational skills often demonstrate a sense of purposelessness and have difficulty effectively utilizing nonstructured time. They have difficulty completing a puzzle or arranging materials to cook or shower. [Click Here To Return To List]

Reasoning, Problem-Solving - The ability to analyze information related to a given situation and generate appropriate response options. Problem-solving is a sequential process that typically proceeds as follows: identification of problem; generation of response options; evaluation of response option appropriateness; selection and testing of first option; analysis as to whether solution has been reached. A patient/client may discontinue making a cup of coffee because the sugar bowl is empty, even though sugar is readily available in a nearby cabinet. A patient/client may easily navigate his way into a room crowded with furniture, but request staff assistance to navigate his way out. [Click Here To Return To List]

Reasoning, Sequencing - The ability to organize information or objects according to specified rules, or the ability to arrange information or objects in a logical, progressive manner. Nearly every activity, including work and leisure tasks, requires sequencing. For example, in cooking certain foods it is important that ingredients be added and mixed in a specified order; in dressing, undergarments must be put on prior to outer garments. [Click Here To Return To List]

Recreation Therapist - Individual within the facility responsible for developing a program to assist persons with disabilities plan and manage their leisure activities; may also schedule specific activities and coordinate the program with existing community resources. [Click Here To Return To List]

Referral - The process of directing a client to an agency for services. [Click Here To Return To List]

Referral Data - Data about the client obtained from other specialists, persons, and agencies that are obtained verbally or through such documents as psychometrics, terminal reports, medical reports, intake, and social service reports. [Click Here To Return To List]

Referral Source - That person or facility sending a client for services. This includes, but is not limited to, service agencies such as vocational rehabilitation, physicians, industry, insurance companies, employment agencies, community action groups, and potential clients themselves. [Click Here To Return To List]

Referring Agency - The agency which sends or directs the client for services. [Click Here To Return To List]

Refrig Bag - Device used to help keep males dry when they are incontinent. It is a small plastic bag filled with absorbent tissue that is secured around the penis. [Click Here To Return To List]

Registry - A clinical or service-oriented system used to:

1) identify patients eligible for services,

2) evaluate treatment methods, and

3) monitor patient outcomes. [Click Here To Return To List]

Rehabilitation - Comprehensive program to reduce/overcome deficits following injury or illness, and to assist the individual to attain the optimal level of mental and physical ability. [Click Here To Return To List]

Rehabilitation Counselor - Also called Vocational Counselor. A specialist in social and vocational issues who helps the patient develop the skills and aptitudes necessary for return to productive activity and the community. [Click Here To Return To List]

Rehabilitation Engineering - Use of technical advances, physics, computer science and other scientific devices to aid in improving the quality of life for the person with a disability, e.g., computerized communication boards, mechanically-assisted wheelchairs. [Click Here To Return To List]

Rehabilitation Facility - Agency of multiple, coordinated services designed to minimize for the individual the disabling effects of one's physical, mental, social, and/or vocational difficulties and to help realize individual potential. [Click Here To Return To List]

Rehabilitation Nurse - A nurse specializing in rehabilitation techniques as well as basic nursing care. Nurses assist the patient and family in acquiring new information, developing skills, achieving competence and exhibiting behaviors that contribute to the attainment of a healthy state. [Click Here To Return To List]

Rehabilitation Objective - A goal of the comprehensive restoration of an individual to the best possible level of functioning following a physical, mental, or emotional disorder. [Click Here To Return To List]

Rehabilitation Process - A planned, orderly sequence of services related to the total needs of the person with a disability and designed to assist one to realize maximum potential for useful and productive activity. [Click Here To Return To List]

Rehabilitation Team - An organized group of health care specialists, who focus on providing a logical, practical and complete rehabilitation plan for the patient. Upon admission to the rehabilitation hospital, the patient is evaluated by each team member who defines both short-term and long-term goals for the patient's rehabilitation. Meetings of the rehabilitation team (sometimes called "rounds") are held regularly to discuss the patient's progress and, if necessary, to redefine the goals. Additional family conferences may also be scheduled. [Click Here To Return To List]

Remediation - The process of decreasing a disability by challenging the individual to improve deficient skills. [Click Here To Return To List]

Report-Vocational Evaluation - A well planned, carefully written means of communicating vital vocational information about a client. It is a studied, permanent record of significant vocational data observed as a client and an evaluator interact in various types of work or work-like situations. It puts the plan, action, findings, logic, and interpretation of the evaluation in writing. It usually includes a description of the client's work traits and how they compare to minimal requirements of selected jobs or work areas, physical capacities, learning ability, personal characteristics, social competence, other vocational factors, and recommendation for further services. It may also provide a prescriptive-descriptive sequence of experiences which are aimed at maximizing an individual's vocational potential. [Click Here To Return To List]

Respirator/Ventilator - A machine that does the breathing work for the unresponsive patient. It serves to deliver air in the appropriate percentage of oxygen and at the appropriate rate. The air is also humidified by the ventilator. Although these two terms are often used interchangeably, a respirator is a device used in workplaces to filter out particles whereas a ventilator is used for assistance with breathing. [Click Here To Return To List]

Respite Care - A means of taking over the care of a patient temporarily (a few hours up to a few days) to provide a period of relief for the primary caregiver. [Click Here To Return To List]

Response Control - Development of the ability to recognize and suppress abnormal behaviors in one's self. Two behaviors fall within this category: impulse control, and perseveration. [Click Here To Return To List]

Respiratory Therapist - Also known as a respiratory care practitioner. In most states now the respiratory care practitioner is licensed to practice in his/her field. In today's medical environment, the respiratory care practitioner performs many functions. They not only monitor the ventilator, but also in some hospitals perform ventilatory management based upon a set of protocols developed by the hospital and based upon Clinical Practice Guidelines set up by the American Association of Respiratory Care (AARC). The respiratory care practitioner draws and analyzes arterial blood gases and provides breathing treatments to improve ventilation. In some hospitals, the RCP also performs more advanced duties such as monitoring of the swan ganz catheters and insertion of intravenous lines, nasogastric tubes, chest tubes, etc. [Click Here To Return To List]

Retrograde Amnesia - Inability to recall events that occurred prior to the accident; may be a specific span of time or type of information. [Click Here To Return To List]

RCP - See Respiratory Therapist. [Click Here To Return To List]

"Road Trip" - Although not a specific medical term it may be one that the family of a TBI patient might hear. This is often meant by the medical personnel as meaning a trip from the ICU to the radiology department or other departments to perform testing, diagnostic workup or treatment to the patient. Because of the amount of equipment often needed by the patient, it takes substantial coordination to transport the patient to other areas of the hospital when necessary and therefore this is often referred to by the personnel as planning for a "road trip". [Click Here To Return To List]

R.T. - See Respiratory Therapist. [Click Here To Return To List]