Citation: A problem or discrepancy found during a survey of a facility by the Department of Health Services.

Elder abuse: An intentional act, or failure to act, that causes or creates a risk of harm to someone 60 or older. The abuse occurs at the hands of a caregiver or a person the older adult trusts.

Elopement: An event when a resident who is incapable of protecting themselves from harm is able to successfully leave the facility unsupervised and unnoticed and possibly enter into harm’s way.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA): Legislation that required the creation of national standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.

Mandated reporter: Nursing assistants and other health care professionals are referred to as mandated reporters because they are required by state law to report suspected neglect or abuse of the elderly, vulnerable adults, and children. As a caregiver, you are required to report any signs or symptoms that are suspicious for abuse or neglect to the nurse.

Neglect: Failure to provide care to oneself or to someone for whom you are enlisted to care.

Nursing care plan: A type of documentation created by registered nurses (RNs) that describes the individualized planning and delivery of nursing care for each specific patient using the nursing process.

Nursing process: A critical thinking model based on a systematic approach to patient-centered care that nurses use to perform clinical reasoning and make clinical judgments when providing patient care. The nursing process is based on the Standards of Professional Nursing Practice established by the American Nurses Association (ANA). The mnemonic ADOPIE is an easy way to remember the ANA Standards and the six components of the nursing process: Assessment, Diagnosis, Outcomes Identification, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation.^[1]

Patient-centered care: A model of health care where an individual’s specific health needs and desired health outcomes are the driving force behind all health care decisions. Patients are partners with the health care team members, and health care professionals treat patients not only from a clinical perspective, but also from an emotional, mental, spiritual, social, and financial perspective.

Resume: A factual presentation of yourself that lists your various skills and accomplishments.

Scope of practice: Services that a trained health professional is deemed competent to perform and permitted to undertake according to the terms of their professional license.^[2]

Staffing ratios: The number of patients assigned each shift to nurses and nursing aides.

Survey: An evaluative visit by state Department of Health Services (DHS) employees to observe care provided to residents, watch preparation and serving of food, review resident care plans and facility documentation, interview residents and families, and look at every aspect of the facility. The surveyors are ensuring that each aspect of residents’ physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs are met.

Vulnerable populations: Patients who are children, older adults, minorities, socially disadvantaged, underinsured, or those with certain medical conditions. Members of vulnerable populations often have health conditions that are exacerbated by unnecessarily inadequate health care.^[3]