Dictionary

do not resuscitate A directive to not attempt mechanical or manual resuscitation if the patient stops breathing. Abbreviated DNR. See also advance directive.

DOB Date of birth, an abbreviation that is frequently used in medical charting.

doctor In a medical context, any medical professional with an MD, a PhD, or any other doctoral degree. The term doctor is quite unspecific. A doctor may, for example, be a physician, psychologist, biomedical scientist, dentist, or veterinarian. In a nonmedical context, a professor of history might be addressed as doctor, an eminent theologian might…

doctors’ symbol See Aesculapius.

DOE Department of Energy, a US agency.

dolor Pain, one of the four classic signs of inflammation together with calor, rubor, and tumor (heat, redness, and swelling, respectively).

disorder, seasonal affective See seasonal affective disorder.

dissect To cut apart or separate tissue, as for anatomical study or in surgery. Also, an artery is said to dissect when its wall is torn, as in a dissecting aneurysm.

dissecting aneurysm See aneurysm, dissecting.

dissociation In psychology and psychiatry, a perceived detachment of the mind from the emotional state or even from the body. Dissociation is characterized by a sense of the world as a dreamlike or unreal place and may be accompanied by poor memory of specific events.

dissociative disorder A psychiatric disorder characterized by the ability to temporarily disconnect from reality. Multiple personality disorder is a type of dissociative disorder in which, while dissociating, the person believes himself or herself to be another person.

distal hereditary myopathy See muscular dystrophy, distal.