Nursing Home Abuse Terms and Definitions

Adult Protective Services (APS): Adult Protective Services includes the 24-hour, 365 days a year access to assistance and/or referral with reports of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, neglect by caretaker, self-neglect, exploitation and abandonment.

Alzheimer's Disease: A progressive, neurodegenerative disease characterized by death of nerve cells in several areas of the brain, leading to loss of mental functions and physical function. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia.

Assessment: A process used by care managers to gather information about an individual to determine his or her functional needs and/or eligibility for services. Information collected may include health status, financial status, ability to perform activities of daily living, mental status, etc.

Assisted Living Facilities: Assisted Living Facilities provide assistance with activities of daily living, 24-hour supervision, and medication management. The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services licenses Assisted Living Facilities.

Care/Case Management: Care management is the process through which needs are identified and managed to allow the consumer to receive service in the most appropriate, least restrictive setting. This process focuses on consumer need and includes: development of a care plan addressing consumer need; explaining options for service delivery; ongoing monitoring of service delivery; periodically reassessing the consumer condition; making the necessary adjustments to the care plan; and notification to providers of changes in service provision.

Concerns/Complaints: Concerns/complaints related to issues surrounding the care of an elderly individual's home and/or institutional care.

Congregate Meals: Nutritious meals provided at least five days a week in local Senior Citizen Centers throughout the State. Meals are usually served around noon, and in some areas meals may be available at other times of the day. Besides providing nutrition, congregate meals provide needed socialization for older adults.

Dementia: A clinical term used to describe a group of brain disorders that disrupt and impair cognitive functions -- thinking, memory, judgment -- personality, mood, and social interaction. Also, see Senility in this Glossary.

Elder Abuse: Term describing three types of domestic violence including abuse, neglect and exploitation

Elder Law Attorney: An attorney who specializes in the laws that deal with the rights and issues of the health, finances, and well-being of the elderly and the power of other individuals and the government to control them.

Estate Planning: A plan for what will happen to an individual or couple's assets and liabilities after death.

Geriatric Assessment: An evaluation of an older person's physical, psychological, and social condition by a professional team of specialists. This team makes recommendations to the older person, family, and primary care doctor. Geriatric assessments are offered in geriatric evaluation centers and are generally associated with hospitals.

Hospice: Usually a combination of at-home and hospital care of the terminally ill that combines medical and social services. It is designed to help both the patient and the family. Hospice care emphasizes pain control, symptom management, and emotional support rather than the use of life-sustaining equipment

Incontinence: The loss of voluntary control over bladder or bowel functions

Patient Bill of Rights: A list of principles to be followed to ensure that patients receiving health care services will be treated with dignity and will participate fully in decisions relevant to their health care

Patient Bill of Rights: A list of principles to be followed to ensure that patients receiving health care services will be treated with dignity and will participate fully in decisions relevant to their health care

Primary Care Physician (PCP): The doctor who is consulted first when a health problem occurs and on whom the patient relies for advice, referrals, and ongoing care.

Respite Care: Temporary care provided when the primary caretaker needs time away from care giving. Respite care is provided in-home or as an alternative location for a short stay.

Senility: A term used to refer to the mental and physical deterioration of old age. Not a medical term. Also, see Dementia in this Glossary.

Trustee: A legal term referring to a person who holds legal title to property in order to administer it for a beneficiary.

Visiting Nurse: A trained professional nurse who visits patients in their homes to monitor vital signs, the physical condition, and carry out a physician's treatment plan.

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