Health Informatics Glossary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
GAO -
Government Accountability Office, an agency
of the legislative branch of the US government that provides Congress with
audit, evaluation, and investigative services. The GAO partially corresponds
by function with the OMB in the executive branch. See
OMB
GE -
[1] General Electric, a large
corporation with extensive healthcare operations. [2] Governance
Entity. See
Cal eConnect
Generalization -
A structural methodology for arranging concepts in hierarchies (trees) based
on characteristics. Sometimes called "is-a" relationships (e.g., hepatitis is
a liver disease). See
Concept,
Hierarchy
Gigabyte -
A semi-ambiguous multiple of the unit Megabyte. Depending upon the context,
a gigabyte is 1,000 megabytes (IEEE and ISO digital standards) or 1,024
megabytes (memory circuits with a binary architecture). As the variance is
small, and as the international electronic standards community shows no
discipline for sorting out the binary v. digital distinction, the term
"kilobyte" is ambiguously employed in dissimilar contexts as if it refers to the
same quantity. See
Kilobyte,
Megabyte
GIGO -
Garbage In Garbage Out (GIGO) is a computer science term emphasizing the
quality of the data input relative to the quality of the data output. Machine
computation is a logical process, therefore loading low quality (or irrelevant)
data into a computer ("garbage in") may produce unintended or nonsensical
computer output ("garbage out"). See
CEHRT,
Informatics,
Noise,
Signal
GIPSE -
Geocoded
Interoperable Population Summary Exchange (GIPSE) is a data standard
developed by the CDC for syndromic surveillance reporting. See
Biosurveillance,
CDC
GIS -
Geographical Information System.
GNU -
A recursive acronym for GNU's not UNIX,
a free software operating system produced and maintained by the
Free Software Foundation.
See
FOSS,
Free Software,
Linux,
Open Source
GCPI -
Geographic Practice Cost Index, an expense adjustment required by Medicare
law to reflect local differences in practice costs. See
CMS
GPL -
The General Public License,
a type of Open Source license with a theoretically inescapable mandatory
redistribution clause. See
Copyleft,
FOSS,
Free Software,
Linux,
Open Source,
Viral License
GPS -
Global Positional System.
greenCDA -
The greenCDA
project uses a pragmatic methodology for creating simplified schemas that can
be transformed directly to or from normative CDA.
See
CDA,
CDA,
HL7
Grid -
Grid computing (or the use of a computational grid) is applying the resources
of many computers in a network to a single problem at the same time - usually
to a scientific or technical problem that requires a great number of computer
processing cycles or access to large amounts of data.
See
caBIG,
Cloud Computing,
SaaS
GSM -
The Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSM) Association is an industry trade
organization of mobile phone carriers and manufacturers. More than 80% of
the cell phones in the world use the GSM standard. AT&T and T-Mobile are
domestic carriers using GSM. See
CDMA,
SMS
GUI -
("goo-ee") Graphical User Interface, a method
of interacting with a computer through visual elements such as
icons, windows, and other images, generally using a mouse or a
touchscreen. Invented at Xerox PARC. See
Icon,
Mouse,
PARC,
Touchscreen
Guideline -
An agreed set of rules or steps which guide the management of a clinical
condition. Also known as "Clinical Guidelines."
See
Algorithm,
Care Pathway,
Evidence Based Medicine,
Protocol
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Last Update: 26 June 2014