Glossary

Health and care conversations are full of terms that professionals use every day and families hear for the first time. This glossary explains the ones that come up most often in our articles. The definitions are deliberately simple; your doctor, nurse or care team can explain how a term applies to your situation.

Care at home

• Activities of daily living: the basic tasks of looking after yourself, such as washing, dressing, eating, using the toilet and moving around. Care assessments often ask about these.
• Aging in place: continuing to live in your own home as you get older, usually with some adjustments or support.
• Care plan: a written agreement setting out what support someone needs, who provides it and how often.
• Home health care: professional health support delivered in the home, for example during recovery from illness. See our explainer.
• Needs assessment: a review, usually by local services, of what help a person requires to live safely.
• Respite care: short-term care that gives a regular carer a break. Read What Is Respite Care? for the main options.
• Occupational therapist: a professional who helps people manage daily tasks, often by suggesting equipment or changes to the home.

Carers and wellbeing

• Family carer: an unpaid relative or friend who regularly helps someone with health or daily needs.
• Caregiver burnout: physical and emotional exhaustion that builds when caring demands outweigh support.
• Power of attorney: a legal arrangement that lets a chosen person make certain decisions on someone else's behalf. Rules differ by country, so legal advice is wise.

Memory and thinking

• Cognition: the mental processes of thinking, remembering, learning and understanding.
• Memory clinic: a specialist service, usually reached by referral, that assesses memory problems.
• Delirium: sudden confusion, often linked to illness or infection, that needs prompt medical attention.
• Dementia: an umbrella term for conditions that cause a lasting decline in memory, thinking or daily functioning.

Pregnancy

• Trimester: one of the three stages a pregnancy is divided into. The first runs to around week 13.
• Antenatal care: health checks and support during pregnancy, also called prenatal care.
• Morning sickness: nausea and sometimes vomiting in early pregnancy, which can happen at any time of day.
• Midwife: a trained professional who supports people through pregnancy, birth and the early weeks after.

Medicines

• Medicines review: a check by a doctor or pharmacist that current medicines are still suitable and working well together.
• Over-the-counter: medicines you can buy without a prescription. They can still interact with other treatments.
• Side effect: an unwanted effect of a medicine. Report worrying ones to a pharmacist or doctor rather than stopping treatment on your own.