Health-care words for symptoms, condition and care
HESI A2 topic: Health-care vocabulary
- Acute is sudden and short; chronic is long-lasting or keeps coming back.
- Chronic is about time, not about how serious a problem is.
- Exacerbate makes a problem worse; alleviate makes it easier to bear.
- Ambulate means walk; void means pass waste, such as urine.
- Discrete means separate; discreet means careful or private.
Key facts
- Acute means having a sudden onset and a short course; chronic means lasting a long time or coming back often.
- Lethargic means sluggish or lacking energy; malaise is a vague, overall sense of being unwell or uneasy.
- Exacerbate means make more severe; alleviate means relieve or lessen.
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- Adverse means harmful or opposed to one's interests; contraindicated means made inadvisable (said of a treatment or procedure).
- To ambulate is to walk; to void is to pass waste from the body, as in voiding urine (emptying the bladder).
- Benign means mild and not threatening to health, especially not cancerous; prognosis is the expected outcome or chance of recovery.
- Discrete means separate and distinct; discreet means careful about what you say or keeping things private.
Quick check1 question · 2 more at the end
Resting in a quiet, dark room helped alleviate Dana's headache. Which word or phrase is closest in meaning to alleviate?
Correct answer: C.
Alleviate means to relieve or lessen something such as pain or suffering, making it easier to bear. Its opposite is exacerbate, which means to make more severe. Alleviating a headache does not mean it never started or vanished completely; it means it became less bad.
A Make more severe is the meaning of exacerbate, the opposite of alleviate.
B Keep from starting is the meaning of prevent; the headache had already started.
C Correct: alleviate means to relieve or lessen.
D Cause to return describes a recurrence, not relief.
Full lesson
Each part starts with its main idea. Open a part when you want the details.
The short answer: Symptom and care words describe how a problem starts and lasts (acute is sudden and short, chronic is long-lasting), how a person feels (lethargic, malaise), what makes things worse or better (exacerbate vs. alleviate), and care actions (ambulate means walk, void means pass waste such as urine). Watch look-alikes such as discrete and discreet.
1 Which words describe how a problem starts and how long it lasts?Acute and chronic are mainly about timing, so read them as clock words first. 1 min
Acute and chronic are mainly about timing, so read them as clock words first. An acute problem starts suddenly and runs a short course; a chronic one lasts a long time or keeps coming back.
| Word | Plain meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Acute | Sudden onset, short course | She had an acute stomach bug that cleared up in two days. |
| Chronic | Long-lasting or coming back often | His chronic back pain has bothered him for years. |
| Benign | Mild, not a threat to health; not cancerous | The biopsy showed the growth was benign. |
| Prognosis | The expected outcome; chance of recovery | After the surgery, her prognosis was good. |
A chronic problem can be mild, and an acute one can be minor. If a choice defines chronic as "severe," it mixes up time and seriousness.
2 Which words describe how a person feels?These words describe the person rather than a body part. 1 min
These words describe the person rather than a body part. Read them as plain descriptions of energy and well-being.
| Word | Plain meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Lethargic | Sluggish; lacking energy | The flu left him lethargic and sleeping most of the day. |
| Malaise | A vague, overall feeling of being unwell | Before the fever started, she felt a vague malaise. |
| Impaired | Weakened or damaged; not working fully | Her vision was impaired without her glasses. |
| Sedentary | Spending much time sitting; not physically active | A desk job can lead to a sedentary routine. |
3 Which words describe making things better or worse?Exacerbate and alleviate are opposites, and they are easy to swap under time pressure. 1 min
Exacerbate and alleviate are opposites, and they are easy to swap under time pressure. Exacerbate makes a problem more severe; alleviate makes it easier to bear.
| Word | Plain meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Exacerbate | Make more severe | Scratching can exacerbate an itchy rash. |
| Alleviate | Relieve or lessen | A cool cloth helped alleviate the itching. |
| Adverse | Harmful; working against you | The leaflet lists possible adverse effects. |
| Contraindicated | Made inadvisable (a treatment or procedure) | The test was contraindicated because of her allergy. |
| Potent | Powerful; strong in effect | Only a small amount of the potent cleaner is needed. |
4 Which words describe everyday care?Several care words are ordinary actions in formal clothing. 1 min
Several care words are ordinary actions in formal clothing. Translate them into the plain verb and the sentence becomes easy.
| Word | Plain meaning | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Ambulate | Walk | The patient was able to ambulate to the hallway. |
| Void | Pass waste from the body, such as urine | The nurse asked him to void before the scan. |
| Compliance | Following a request, rule or plan | Compliance with the fasting rules was checked before the test. |
| Adherence | Sticking steadily to a plan | Adherence to the exercise plan improved her strength. |
In everyday English, void can also mean empty or "cancel." In a care sentence about the bladder or the bathroom, it means to pass waste, such as urine.
5 How do you tell discrete from discreet?Discrete and discreet sound the same but mean different things. 1 min
Discrete and discreet sound the same but mean different things. Discrete means separate and distinct; discreet means careful about what you say or keeping things private.
- Discrete: The scan showed three discrete spots, each one separate.
- Discreet: The receptionist was discreet and spoke quietly about his appointment.
Common mistakes
The traps students fall into most. Read these before you practice.
Watch out: Chronic means long-lasting, not severe; a chronic problem can be mild.
Watch out: Exacerbate means make worse, not relieve; alleviate is the word that means relieve.
Watch out: Void in a care setting means pass bodily waste such as urine, not cancel.
Watch out: Discrete (separate) and discreet (tactful, private) are different words, not two spellings of one word.
Watch out: Potent means powerful or strong in effect, not dangerous; a potent medicine is a strong one.
How to remember it
For discrete, the two e's are separated by the t, just as discrete things are separate. For alleviate, think "lighten": both make a load easier to carry.
Self-check:
- Which word means long-lasting: acute or chronic?
- Swap a plain verb in for ambulate and for void.
- Does exacerbate make a symptom better or worse?
Show answers
- Chronic.
- Chronic means long-lasting or coming back often.
- Acute means sudden onset and a short course.
- Walk and pass waste.
- Ambulate means walk: "The patient was able to walk to the hallway."
- Void means pass waste from the body, such as urine: "The nurse asked him to pass urine before the scan."
- Worse.
- Exacerbate means make more severe.
- Its opposite, alleviate, means relieve or lessen.