OBJECTIVES: Clear precise statement of the knowledge, skills and attitudes the student must attain in order to pass the course, in order to have learned. It should be possible for students to use objectives to guide their learning and for teachers to use them to test their students. Objectives have (up to) three main components: Task (or behaviour) plus conditions plus criteria. The Task (or behaviour) to be learnt is stated using action verbs. The Conditions are the circumstances under which a task is performed. The Criteria are the measure by which to judge the outcome.
OBSERVATIONAL STUDY A study in which nature is allowed to take its course and changes or differences in one characteristic are studied in relation to changes or differences in another characteristic, without the intervention of the investigator(s).
OBSERVERSHIP in relation to professional performance refers to an unpaid clinical attachment with a consultant/senior clinician who will be asked to provide a report.
OBSERVER VARIATION (ERROR) Variation or error due to failure of the observer to measure or identify a phenomenon accurately. All observations are subject to variation. Discrepancies between repeated observations by the same observer (intraobserver variation) and between different observers (interobserver variation) cannot be eliminated completely, but can be diminished.
OCCURRENCE (Syn: frequency) A general epidemiological term describing the frequency of a health problem or event in a population, without distinguishing between incidence and prevalence.
ODDS RATIO: The odds of an experimental patient having an adverse event relative to a control patient
OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS (ONS): National body which collects and publishes national data about, for example, population and health.
ONS Office for National Statistics (see definition).
OPEN SYSTEMS THINKING. This is the notion of teaching people to see how what they do and what others do are interconnected
OPEN-ENDED When used about a classification it means its ability to be organized in such a manner as to allow for contingencies and permit additional codes. The ICPC has these abilities.
OPERATIONAL RESEARCH The systematic study, by observations and experiment, of the health services or general practice, with the aim of improving some aspects of patient care.
ORDINAL SCALE A scale in which the numbers reflect levels ordered from `most' to `least' with respect to some attribute. The relative distance between each level differ, and the number assigned to each level does not reflect an exact quantity. For example: `no, maybe, yes' or `never, rarely, often, always' are ordinal scales.
ORGANISATION PROVIDING NHS CARE: The organisation(s) responsible for providing care to patients and/or users and carers participating in the study.
ORGANISATIONAL RE-ENTRY in relation to professional performance refers to the part of a return to work programme that is necessary to deal with the organisational issues which will allow a practitioner to return to safe professional practice.
OUT OF HOURS Times other than the usual scheduled working hours of the health care provider. See TIME OF ENCOUNTER.
OUTCOME ANALYSIS a comprehensive approach to determining the effects of medical care using a variety of data sources and management methods. It includes the vigourous determination of what works in medical care..and how different providers compare with regard to their results on patient outcomes
OUTCOME The measurable result over time of the natural course of a health problem, or of an intervention to prevent, detect, or manage a health problem. See also FUNCTIONAL STATUS INDEX, HEALTH OUTCOME MEASURES, HEALTH STATUS INDEX.
OUTPATIENT (Syn: ambulatory patient) A patient who attends an outpatient clinic in a hospital. Patients are usually recently discharged inpatients or referrals from general practice or accident and emergency services.