Medical state

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Medical state is a term used to describe a hospital patient's health status, or condition. The term is most commonly used in information given to the news media, and is rarely used as a clinical description by physicians.

Two aspects of the patient's state may be reported. The first aspect is the patient's current state, which may be reported as "good" or "serious," for instance. Second, the patient's short-term prognosis may be reported. Examples include that the patient is improving or getting worse. If no immediate change is expected, the term stable is frequently used as a qualifier to denote conditions where a patient has stable vital signs.^[1]