What is the sequence of medical "conditions"?
Asked by
kelly (
1918
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March 1st, 2007
you'll read, "he's in stable condition, she's in fair condition, he has been raised to critical." what is the correct sequence from worst to mostly well, and what are some of the characteristics of each category. are these standardized throughout the whole medical community?
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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.
A common progression might look like this:
Critical condition
High risk of death within 24 hours
Serious condition
reduced risk of death within 24 hours, but requiring frequent observation
Stable 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, including things like, grave condition, extremely critical condition, critical but stable condition, serious but stable condition, satisfactory condition, fair condition, and others. Definition varies between 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.
(courtesy of Wikipedia)
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