Voluntary Health Dictionary

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Voluntary: From 1 Different Sources

adj. 1. describing a decision or action taken freely, i.e. without coercion or undue pressure. *Consent must be voluntary if it is to be legally valid. See also autonomy. 2. under the control of *striated muscle.
Health Source: Oxford | Concise Colour Medical Dictionary
Author: Jonathan Law, Elizabeth Martin

Voluntary Admission

The term applied in the UK to the admission of a mentally ill person to a psychiatric unit with his or her agreement. Patients with mental illnesses that may endanger their own safety or that of others can be compulsorily admitted using special legal powers – this is traditionally called ‘sectioning’. (See MENTAL ILLNESS.)... voluntary admission

Voluntary Muscle

Also known as skeletal muscle, this forms the muscles which are under a person’s conscious control. Muscles that control walking, talking and swallowing are examples of those under such control (see INVOLUNTARY MUSCLE; MUSCLE; NERVOUS SYSTEM).... voluntary muscle

Voluntary Reporting

A medical error reporting system where the reporter chooses to report an error in order to prevent similar errors from occurring in the future. See also “medical error”; “malpractice”; “monitoring and incidence reporting”.... voluntary reporting

Voluntary Hospital

in the USA, a hospital that is owned or operated by a religious organization or community association to provide health-care facilities on a non-profit basis. In recent decades the role of voluntary hospitals has changed from one of caring primarily for *charity patients to one of serving all members of a community. At the same time, the practice of charging higher fees to patients able to afford them in order to compensate for the expense of caring for charity patients has generally been eliminated.... voluntary hospital

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