CareMeridian Las Vegas Nursing Home Medical Terminology

Medical terms can be very confusing.  More often than not you’ll hear a medical term and not understand what it means, when really the definition is quite simple.  For instance, osteoarthritis is more simply, inflammation or swelling of a bone joint.  “Osteo” means bone, “arthro” means joint and “itis” means inflammation or swelling of.  CareMeridian is a subacute and skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility for patients suffering from the following conditions:

Traumatic Brain Injury
Pulmonary (ventilator and tracheostomy weaning)
Neuromuscular Disorders
Spinal Cord Injury
Pediatrics
Congenital Anomalies

Some of these might not be familiar terms.  So a small definition for each could probably be very helpful.  First of all, the term “subacute” refers to a length of time that a disease has been present.  While there is no exact length of time that the term subacute represents, in the medical world it refers to a time period between “acute” and “chronic” which mean “short” and “long” respectively. Therefore, “subacute” means longer than a few days, but shorter than several months.  So, CareMeridian is a skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility for patients of a few months.

A “traumatic brain injury” is a brain injury caused by trauma.  Trauma is a body wound caused by sudden physical contact, such as a car accident.

“Pulmonary” refers to an illness or injury of the lungs.  “Ventilators” are devices that assist breathing.  “Tracheostomy” refers to a procedure that involves the creation of an artificial opening in the neck in order to assist breathing.  “Weaning” means to withdraw from something.  CareMeridian offers lung rehabilitation services that help patients withdraw from the use of assisted breathing devices and procedures.

“Neuromuscular disorders” refer to injuries and diseases affecting the nerves and muscles.

“Spinal Cord Injuries” naturally refer to injuries involving the spine.

“Pediatrics” refers to the development, care and diseases of babies and children.

“Congenital anomalies” refer to uncommon conditions inherited at birth.  “Congenital” refers to birth, while “anomalies” refer to something uncommon or uncharacteristic of the norm.

These brief definitions should help describe the type of patient services that CareMeridian offers.  For more information, feel free to browse the CareMeridian website.