Note: references for definitions can be found in chapters where the concepts are utilized

Cross cultural care: learning how to transcend one’s own culture in order to form a positive therapeutic alliance with patients from other cultures

Culture: the integrated pattern of human behaviors that includes thoughts, communications, languages, practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting and roles, relationships and expected behaviors of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group; and the ability to transmit the above to succeeding generations

Disaster: a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society, causing human, material, and economic or environmental loses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resources

Epidemiology: the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems

Equity: the absence of avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically

Global North: a group based on a geographic and economic divide, inclusive of relatively richer countries within the global sphere; includes the United States, Canada, Europe, developed parts of Asia (Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) as well as Australia and New Zealand

Global South: a group based on a geographic and economic divide, inclusive of relatively poorer countries within the global sphere; includes countries mostly located in tropical regions and in the Southern Hemisphere

Health: a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity

Health disparities: a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic and/or environmental disadvantage

Health equity: fair distribution of health determinants, outcomes, and resources within and between segments of the population, regardless of social standing

Health literacy: the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions

Healthy People: a US government program from the ODPHP that identifies US health improvement priorities and sets 10-year goals and targets

Herd immunity: the circumstance in which a sufficient proportion of the population is protected from a disease such that transmission among members is unlikely is insufficient to protect unvaccinated members

Information literacy: being able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information

Interprofessional education: when two or more professions learn about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes

Pharmacoepidemiology: the study of the use and effects/side-effects of drugs in large numbers of people with the purpose of supporting the rational and cost-effective use of drugs in the population thereby improving health outcomes

Preventive medicine: delivery of medical care that is focused on the health of individuals, communities, and defined populations in order to protect, promote, and maintain health and well-being and to prevent disease, disability, and death

Social determinants of health: the conditions in which individuals live, work, and play that can affect health outcomes

Telepharmacy: the provision of services by pharmacists to patients or their caregivers through the use of technology to provide cost-effective routine and highly specialized clinical services in remote areas where the need may be greatest