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NCLEX-PN 3000 – Vocabulary Terms
and Definitions
Abruptio Placentae - Answer✔✔-Premature separation of a normally positioned placenta in a pregnancy
of at least 20 weeks' gestation either before labor or during labor but before delivery. This serious
complication of pregnancy, occurring in one of every 200 births and often resulting in hemorrhage, may
lead to the death of the mother, the fetus, or both. Also called ablatio placentae, accidental hemorrhage.
Abuse - Answer✔✔-1. Behavior toward another that is offensive, harmful, or injurious.
2. Misuse or particularly excessive use of a substance, service, or equipment; commonly refers to
improper use of a drug or similar substance.
Accommodation - Answer✔✔-1. The act or process of adapting to changes in the physiologic or
psychological environment to maintain homeostasis.
2. In ophthalmology: adjustment of the lens of the eye for various distances.
3. In sociology: the use of compromise, arbitration, or negotiation to resolve conflicts between persons
or groups that arise from differences in customs or cultural norms. Also called adjustment.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) - Answer✔✔-A disorder of the immune system
characterized by an inability to mount a successful defense against infection such as by organisms that
usually aren't pathogenic (opportunistic infections). The syndrome is caused by infection with the human
immunodeficiency virus, which causes a marked depletion in the number of helper T cells. AIDS is
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currently incurable and fatal. However, recently developed drug treatments and regimens seem to be
effective in prolonging the lives of clients with AIDS.
Active Immunity - Answer✔✔-Acquired immunity caused by the production of antibodies, either
following infection or as a result of vaccination.
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) - Answer✔✔-A form of leukemia, most commonly occurring in
children, marked by large numbers of immature leukocytes in the blood and blood-forming tissues
(including the bone marrow, spleen, liver, and lymph nodes). The disease has a sudden onset and rapid
clinical course. Signs and symptoms include fever, pallor, fatigue, loss of appetite, anemia, bleeding, bone
pain, spleen enlargement and, because the immune function is disturbed, frequent infection. Also called
acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Acute Nephritis - Answer✔✔-Acute inflammation of the kidney, possibly involving the glomerulus,
tubules, and interstitial tissues.
Addison's Disease - Answer✔✔-A life-threatening condition characterized by fatigue, hypotension, loss
of appetite and weight, nausea or vomiting, and increased hyperpigmentation of the skin and mucous
membranes. It results from partial or complete loss of glucocorticoid, mineralocorticoid, and androgenic
function of the adrenal glands caused by tuberculosis, an autoimmune process, or other disease. Also
called addisonism, addisonian syndrome, chronic adrenocortical insufficiency.
Addisonian Crisis - Answer✔✔-An emergency situation occurring with adrenal hypofunction and
exposure to trauma, surgery, or other severe physiologic stress that exhausts the body's stores of
glucocorticoids.
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Adrenergic - Answer✔✔-1. Activated or transmitted by epinephrine, norepinephrine, or a similar
substance.
2. Also called a sympathomimetic, a drug that stimulates alpha or beta receptors (thus mimicking the
effects of epinephrine or norepinephrine) or acts primarily on receptors in the sympathetic nervous
system that are stimulated by dopamine.
Advance Directive - Answer✔✔-Documented written or verbal instructions by the client about his wishes
for life-sustaining medical care in the event he becomes incapacitated (for example, living wills, durable
powers of attorney for health care, or any document that states the client's wishes).
Agonist - Answer✔✔-1. In anatomy: any muscle in a state of contraction whose action is opposed by
another muscle with which it's paired (called the antagonist).
2. In pharmacology: a drug that has an affinity for and stimulates physiologic activity at cell receptors.
Agoraphobia - Answer✔✔-An intense, irrational fear of being in open spaces or of venturing out from
the home or other familiar setting. The anxiety may be generalized to any setting beyond the home or
may be specific for certain types of situations and environments, such as open spaces or crowded places.
Akinesia - Answer✔✔-1. Loss of the ability to move voluntarily.
2. The rest period after systole in the normal heart rhythm.
3. In psychiatry: a neurotic condition characterized by symptoms of paralysis.
Allen's Test - Answer✔✔-A test designed to evaluate a client's collateral circulation in the arm before an
invasive arterial procedure such as arterial blood gas analysis. While the client's radial and ulnar arteries
are occluded, he clenches his fist, causing the hand to blanch. The client then unclenches his fist while
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the pressure on the ulnar artery is released (but the radial artery remains occluded). The hand should
become pink, indicating a patent ulnar artery.
Amblyopia - Answer✔✔-Decreased visual acuity in one eye in the absence of detectable structural or
pathologic changes.
Amenorrhea - Answer✔✔-The absence or cessation of menstruation. Except in preadolescents and in
pregnant and postmenopausal women, amenorrhea may reflect dysfunction of the hypothalamus,
pituitary gland, ovary, or uterus; congenital absence or surgical removal of both ovaries or the uterus; or
an adverse effect of medication.
Amniocentesis - Answer✔✔-Withdrawal of a sample of amniotic fluid by transabdominal puncture and
needle aspiration, usually performed during the fifth month of pregnancy to detect such genetic
disorders as Down syndrome, neural tube defects, and Tay-Sachs disease; if the clinician suspects sex-
linked genetic defects, the procedure may be done to determine fetal gender.
Amniotomy - Answer✔✔-Artificial rupture of membranes.
Analgesic - Answer✔✔-1. Having the ability to relieve pain.
2. A medication that relieves pain.
Anaphylaxis - Answer✔✔-A systemic reaction to a previously encountered antigen.
Anastomosis - Answer✔✔-A surgical procedure in which two blood vessels, ducts, or other tubelike
structures are joined to allow the flow of substances between them. Types of anastomoses are end-to-
end and side-to-side.
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