Medical conditions are used to describe a patient's conditions in a hospital. These terms are most commonly used by the news media and are rarely used by doctors in their daily business, preferring to deal with medical problems in greater detail.
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USA Practice[1]
- Critical condition
- High risk of death without continuous intervention or life support
- Serious condition
- reduced risk of death within 24 hours, but requiring frequent observation
- Fair condition
- no major fluctuation in vital signs
- Good condition
- little significant injury; patient may be discharged shortly
However, a range of different terms are used, such as grave condition, extremely critical condition, critical but stable condition, serious but stable condition, satisfactory condition, and others. Typically, stable is not a condition on its own; it needs to be qualified with a true condition. The use of such conditions in the U.S. media has increased since the passing of the HIPAA in 1996. Patient privacy has become more of a concern to doctors and hospitals, and they are less likely to release specific medical conditions, fearing litigious patients. Definitions vary among hospitals, and it is even possible for a patient to be upgraded or downgraded simply by being moved from one place to another, with no change in actual physical state. Furthermore, medical science is a highly complex discipline dealing with complicated and often overlapping threats to life and well-being. In the case of possibly life threatening illness, a patient may be treated by a dozen or more specialists, each with their area of medical expertise. It is to be expected that there will be a range of opinion concerning that patient's immediate condition.
Other Countries
United Kingdom
The release of patient information to the press is strictly controlled in the National Health Service (NHS). The Department of Health (DH) publishes a Code of Practice for guidance to NHS Trusts.[2] In general, no information can be released at all without patient consent unless there are exceptional circumstances. If consent is witheld then it would not be possible for the hospital to state even that fact to the press since it would confirm that the patient is receiving treatment. Each NHS Trust has its own guidance for statements to the press. The DH Code of Practice has no official definitions of the standard phrases in use. However, most NHS Trusts will specify some[3] or all[4] of the following phrases in their guidance;
- CRITICAL
- CRITICAL BUT STABLE
- STABLE
- SATISFACTORY
- COMFORTABLE
- PROGRESSING WELL
- DISCHARGED
- DECEASED
References
- ^ What does it mean when a patient is in "critical" or "serious" condition? — The Straight Dope, 1999-10-18 webcite archived 16th December 2007
- ^ Confidentiality: NHS Code of Practice, November 2003
- ^ Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust: condition checks webcite archived 16th December 2007
- ^ Ashford & St. Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust Policy for Handling Press Enquiries webcite archived 16th December 2007
