Glossary

1. "Affiliate" means an agency which provides services included in the organization and operation of a community mental health and retardation center and which is related to that center by formal agreement or contract. 2. "Aftercare" means the process of providing continued contact with a patient after the patient's treatment at the center. 3. "Alcoholism program" means a program designed to identify, evaluate, and treat persons who experience problems related to alcohol use. 4. "Audit (financial)" means an independent opinion by a certified public accountant verifying the center's financial condition as to its soundness and validity. 5. "Clinical staff" means that group of personnel which is directly involved in patient care and treatment. 6. "Consultation" means the act of providing information or technical assistance, or both, to a particular group or individual seeking to resolve an existing or potential problem. 7. "Contract" means a formal legal document adopted by the center's governing body and any other organization, agency, or individual that specifies services, personnel, and space to be provided to the program as well as the moneys to be expended in exchange. 8. "Cost accounting" means the accounting procedure concerned with the determination of costs of services provided by the center, as well as the provision of data for control of operations. 9. "Diagnostic service" means an assessment or evaluation of a patient including recommendations for appropriate care carried out by center staff. 10. "Documentation" means provision of evidence to substantiate compliance with standards such as minutes of meetings, memoranda, schedules, notices, and announcements. 11. "Education" means the dissemination of relevant information to professionals and laymen about any aspect of mental health. 12. "Emergency care" means the provision of immediate mental health care and evaluation for persons in crisis on a twenty-four hour a day basis. 13. "Executive director" means the mental health professional appointed by the governing authority to act in its behalf in the overall management of the center. 14. "Fiscal management system" means procedures that provide management control of the financial aspects of program operations such as budgeting, materials purchasing, and patient billing. 15. "Full-time employee" means a person employed by the center to work the regular forty-hour week. 16. "Inpatient care" means the treatment of patients who require twenty-four hour supervision in a hospital setting as a result of mental disorder. 17. "Medical care" means those diagnostic and treatment services that are provided by or under the supervision of a licensed physician. 18. "Medical director" means a licensed physician (psychiatrist) who has responsibility for the medical care of center patients. 19. "Medication" means the use of drugs in the treatment of patients. 20. "Mental health professional" means an individual who has completed successfully an organized program of education and training devoted to principles of mental health and the care and treatment of those with mental disorders, or a person who has completed successfully a basic education in another discipline who, by virtue of additional training or experience, becomes qualified to carry out the person's professional activities in a mental health setting. 21. "Outpatient care" means the process of providing mental health services to patients on a regularly scheduled basis with arrangements made for nonscheduled visits during times of increased stress or crisis. 22. "Partial care" means those treatment services which are usually available and utilized by patients who require less than twenty-four hour a day care, but more than outpatient care. 23. "Patient (client)" means an individual who has contacted the center seeking service and for whom treatment responsibility is accepted by the center. 24. "Patient record" means a compilation of those events and processes that describe and document the evaluation and treatment of the patient. 25. "Physician" means a doctor of medicine, licensed to practice medicine in North Dakota. 26. "Precare and aftercare service" means the screening of patients prior to hospital admissions, home-visiting before and after hospitalization, and maintaining contact with the patient after discharge from the center's treatment program. 27. "Psychiatric nurse" means a professional who is licensed to practice in North Dakota and holds a master's degree in the clinical speciality of psychiatry. 28. "Psychiatrist" means a physician with three years of approved residency training in psychiatry who is licensed to practice medicine in North Dakota. 29. "Psychologist" means a person who holds a doctor's degree in psychology who is licensed by the state of North Dakota. 30. "Rehabilitative service" means social and vocational activities related to increasing the social and vocational skills of patients. 31. "Social worker" means a person who holds a master's degree from an accredited school of social work and, if required, is licensed by the state of North Dakota.