Acute Myocardial Infarction: heart attack

Angina: chest pain

Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitors: drugs shown to to reduce blood pressure and strengthen heartbeat by relaxing and widening blood vessels

Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARB): drugs shown to reduce blood pressure and strengthen heartbeat by relaxing and widening blood vessels

Beta Blockers: a type of medicine used to lower blood pressure, treat chest pain and heart failure, and help prevent heart attack

Core Measures: the tracking of specific steps, based on proven standards of care, that are used for prevention and/or treatment of disease and illness

Foreign Bodies: any objects originating outside the body

Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS): a standardized survey and data collection methodology for measuring patients' perspectives on hospital care

Joint Commission: the preeminent, independent, nonprofit organization that certifies and accredits health care organizations and programs across the United States

MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus): the most common health care-associated bacterial infection, which is resistant to methicillin antibiotic

National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI): the only national nursing quality measurement program

Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI): a highly effective procedure that typically uses a catheter to treat diseased arteries of the heart by opening blocked blood vessels

Surgical Site Infections (SSIs): infections that occur after an operation in the part of the body where the procedure took place

Transparency: the public reporting of a hospital’s performance as a strategy to improve quality of care