Glossary

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI): is any brain injury that has occurred since birth. Types of ABI include stroke, haemorrhage, infection, tumour and traumatic brain injury (TBI), which is caused by a severe blow of jolt to the head, for example in a road traffic collision, fall or assault.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): TBI usually leads to an injury by a series of different events. Firstly, there is direct damage caused by the initial impact. Further injury can occur in the minutes and hours afterwards as a result of oxygen deprivation (hypoxia), brain swelling, bruising, bleeding, chemical changes and blood clots.

Catheter: is a tube that can be inserted into a body cavity, duct, or vessel. Catheters thereby allow drainage, administration of fluids or gases, or access by surgical instruments.

CT Scan: A CT (computerised tomography) scanner is a special kind of X-ray machine. Instead of sending out a single X-ray through your body as with ordinary X-rays, several beams are sent simultaneously from different angles.

Dietician: is an expert in food and nutrition. Dietitians help promote good health through proper eating. In a medical setting, they provide specific artificial nutritional needs to patients unable to consume food normally.

Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS): is a neurological scale that aims to give a reliable, objective way of recording the conscious state of a person for initial as well as subsequent assessment.

Haematoma: is a pocket or localized collection of blood usually in liquid form within the tissue.

High Dependency Unit (HDU): are wards for people who need more intensive observation, treatment and nursing care than is possible in a general ward but slightly less than that given in intensive care. The ratio of nurses to patients may be slightly lower than in intensive care but higher than in most general wards.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU): also sometimes known as a critical care unit, or an intensive therapy department, is a special ward that is found in most hospitals. It provides intensive care (treatment and monitoring) for people who are in a critically ill or unstable condition.

People in ICUs need constant medical support to keep their body functioning. They may not be able to breathe on their own and they may have multiple organ failure. Medical equipment takes the place of these functions while the person recovers.

Intracranial pressure monitor: monitoring uses a device, placed inside the head, which senses the pressure inside the skull and sends its measurements to a recording device.

Intravenous infusion: or IV therapy is the giving of liquid substances directly into a vein. The word intravenous simply means "within a vein".

MRI Scan: MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging. An MRI scan uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to create pictures, on a computer, of tissues, organs and other structures inside your body.

Neuropsychiatrist: deals with the relationship between neurologic processes and psychiatric disorders.

Neuropsychologist: The branch of psychology that deals with the relationship between the nervous system, especially the brain, and cerebral or mental functions such as language, memory, and perception.

Occupational Therapist: is trained in the practice of occupational therapy. The role of an occupational therapist is to work with a client to help them achieve a fulfilled and satisfied state in life through the use of purposeful activity or interventions designed to improve, sustain or restore the highest possible level of independence.

Oedema: Oedema is the medical term for fluid retention in the body. It occurs when there is a build-up of fluid (mainly water) in the body's tissues, causing swelling to occur in the affected area.

Physiotherapists: help and treat people with physical problems caused by illness, accident or disability. Physiotherapy sees human movement as central to the health and well-being of individuals. Physiotherapists identify and maximise movement potential through health promotion, preventive healthcare, treatment and rehabilitation. The core skills used by physiotherapists include manual therapy and therapeutic exercise.

Post-traumatic amnesia (PTA): is a state of confusion that occurs immediately following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in which the injured person is disoriented and unable to remember events that occur after the injury. The person may be unable to state his or her name, where he or she is, and what time it is.

Social worker: form relationships with people and assist them to live more successfully within their local communities by helping them find solutions to their problems. Social work involves engaging not only with clients themselves but their families and friends as well as working closely with other organisations including the police, local authority departments, schools and the probation service.

Speech and Language Therapists (Salt): is commonly used to help people with language or communication difficulties, although it can also be used to help individuals with difficulty swallowing, eating or drinking.

 The Multidisciplinary Team (MDT): where professionals from a range of disciplines work together to deliver comprehensive care that addresses as many of the patient's needs as possible. This can be delivered by a range of professionals functioning as a team under one organisational umbrella. As a patient's condition changes over time, the composition of the team may change to reflect the changing clinical and psychosocial needs of the patient.

Unconsciousness / coma: is a state in which a patient is totally unaware of both self and external surroundings, and unable to respond meaningfully to external stimuli. 

Ventilator: may be defined as any machine designed to mechanically move breathable air into and out of the lungs, to provide the mechanism of breathing for a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently.