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A measurement of the compliance of a health care provider with accepted standards of care. Ratings are used as a public means of comparing health care quality and patient care experience A variety of performance factors are used as measures, such as the percentage of a provider’s female patients who have undergone Pap testing or mammography, the percentage of school-age patients vaccinated against preventable diseases; or the frequency of hospital-acquired infections among patients.
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(proo′vingz) In homeopathy, an assessment of the symptoms experienced by healthy volunteers after treatment with a proposed remedy.
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(prō-vī′rŭs) The nucleic acid of a virus that has been incorporated into the DNA of a host cell.
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(prō-vĭzh′ŭn-ăl) [L. provisio, provision] Serving a temporary use pending permanent arrangements.
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(prō-vī′tă-mĭn) [L. pro, before, + vita, life, + amine] An inactive substance that can be transformed in the body to a corresponding active vitamin and thus function as a vitamin.
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p. A Carotene, the precursor of vitamin A.
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(prŏv″ă-kā′shŭn) A diagnostic test in which drugs, chemicals, allergens, or physical forces are systematically administered to reproduce symptoms, in order to discover the source of a symptom or the tissue origin of a lesion. Provocation tests are used by specialists in several fields of health care, such as: allergists, to determine which of several agents may produce a patient’s rhinitis, wheezing, or rash; physical therapists, to identify relationships between a patient’s tissue pathology or impairment and his or her functional limitations; and cardiologists and neurologists, who use tilt table provocation tests to diagnose the cause of a patient’s loss of consciousness.
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(prok-sē′miks) [prox(imity) + (phon)emics] The study of how people interact with each other spatially, e.g., how closely they approach each other, how directly they face each other, and how they enter or leave each other’s personal space. proxemic (mik), adj.
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(prok′sĭm-ad″) [L. proximus, nearest, next+ -ad] Toward the proximal or central point.
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(prok′sĭ-măl) [L. proximus, nearest, next + -al] Nearest the point of attachment, to the center of the body, or to the point of reference; the opposite of distal.
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(prŏk′sĭm-āt) Closely related with respect to space, time, or sequence; next to, or nearest.
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(prok″sĭ-mō-dis′tăl) [L. proximus, nearest, next + distal] In bodily development, pert. to growth that begins proximally (in the middle or axial part of the body) and extends distally (outward, toward the extremities).