Minimum standard Health Dictionary

A measure of the amount by which each value deviates from the mean; equal to the square root of the variance, i.e. the square root of the average of the squared deviations from the mean. It is the most commonly used measure of dispersion of statistical data.... standard deviation

A population in which the age and sex composition is known precisely, as a result of a census. A standard population is used as a comparison group in the procedure for standardizing mortality rates.... standard population

A standard against which facilities or programmes are evaluated to determine if they will be accredited.... accreditation standard

Legislation (approved by the UK parliament in 2001) that sets up a new, independent regulatory body for social care and private and voluntary health-care services. The new body is called the National Care Standards Commission and covers England and Wales, but in the latter the National Assembly is the regulatory body. Independent councils register social-care workers, set social-care work standards and regulate the education and training of social workers in England and Wales. The Act also gives the Secretary of State for Health the authority to keep a list of individuals considered unsuitable to work with vulnerable adults. In addition, the legislation reforms the regulation of childminders and day-care provision for young children, responsibility for overseeing these services having been transferred from local authorities to the Chief Inspector of Schools. Services covered by the Act range from residential care homes and nursing homes, children’s homes, domiciliary-care agencies, fostering agencies and voluntary adoption agencies through to private and voluntary health-care services. This includes private hospitals and clinics and private primary-care premises. For the ?rst time, local authorities will have to meet the same standards as independent-sector providers.... care standards act

An independent agency recently set up by the UK government. The aim is for the agency to protect consumers’ interests in every aspect of food safety and nutrition. The agency advises ministers and the food industry, conducts research and surveillance, and monitors enforcement of food safety and hygiene laws.... food standards agency

A widely agreed upon and generally accepted set of terms and definitions constituting a core of data acquired for e.g. assessment purposes.... minimum data set

See MLD.... minimum lethal dose (mld)

This was set up under the CARE STANDARDS ACT 2000 as an independent regulator in respect of homes for the elderly, the disabled and children in the state and private sectors in the UK.... national care standards commission

The quality of care and quality of life objectives set by an authority which the service providers should strive to achieve for all people.... outcome standard

A quality, measure or reference point established as a rule or model by authorities, custom or general consent, against which things can be evaluated or should conform.... standard

In statistics, the standard error is defined as the standard deviation of an estimate. That is, multiple measurements of a given value will generally group around the mean (or average) value in a normal distribution. The shape of this distribution is known as the standard error.... standard error

A set of techniques used to remove, as far as possible, the effects of differences in age or other confounding variables when comparing two or more populations. The common method uses weighted averaging of rates specific for age, sex, or some other potential confounding variable(s) according to some specified distribution of those variables. The two main methods are direct and indirect standardization.... standardization

(SMR) the ratio of observed mortality rate to expected mortality rate (calculated using indirect standardization), expressed as an integer where 100 represents agreement between observed and expected rates. See standardized rates.... standardized mortality ratio

rates used to summarize the *morbidity or *mortality experience of a population. Age-specific rates and population structures from a study population and a reference or *standard population are used to produce a weighted average. Standardized rates can be used to compare the health experience of populations with different structures. Direct standardization requires application of age-specific rates from a study population to a reference population structure (e.g. the European standard population) to produce a (directly) standardized rate. Indirect standardization requires application of age-specific rates from a standard population (e.g. England and Wales) to a study population structure to produce an expected morbidity or mortality rate. Compare crude rate.... standardized rates