Nurse–Midwives

Registered nurses who receive additional formal, nationally accredited training in midwifery. nursing assistants Individuals, often untrained, who provide basic custodial care for patients, most often in nursing homes and hospitals. See nursing homes. nursing homes Facilities that primarily provide nursing and custodial care to many individuals over a long period of time. Skilled nursing homes also provide some medical care. outpatient Hospital patient who is neither formally admitted nor kept overnight. pandemic A worldwide epidemic. See also epidemic. parallel practitioners Occupational groups, such as osteopaths, that perform basically the same roles as allopathic doctors while retaining occupational autonomy. See also allopathic doctors. passive euthanasia When health care workers allow patients to die through inaction. performance norms Socially accepted rules for how a person should perform his or her roles. For example, we expect mothers to keep their children clean and paid workers to arrive on time each day. physician extenders Health care providers who have less education than physicians but who can take over some of the tasks traditionally done by physicians at lower costs. physician-assisted death When doctors help patients to end their lives. placebo Anything offered as a cure that has no known biological effect. placebo effect The process through which belief in a drug’s effectiveness leads patients to experience physical benefits from a drug (such as decrease in pain).