B B Babinski's Reflex: Also know as the plantar reflex; the movement of the big toe upward instead of downward; used to test injury to, or diseases of, the upper motor neurons
Bactrim: The trade name for cotrimoxazole, an antibacterial agent particularly useful for urinary infections
Bagging: Manual respiration for a patient having breathing trouble that uses a handheld squeeze bag attached to a face mask
Barlow's Syndrome: Infantile Scurvy
Betadine: Trade name for povidone-iodine, a preparation used as a surgical scrub that is available in liquid and aerosol forms
Bilateral Hemothorax: Blood in both sides of the pleura, the membrane covering the lung
Blood Culture: Incubating a blood sample so that suspected infectious bacteria can multipy and thus be identified
Blood Gas: A test to determine the gas-phase components of blood, including oxygen, carbon dioxide, pH balance, etc.
Blood Swab: A blood sample taken with a cotton-tipped stick
Body Packer: A drug courier who swallows condoms filled with cocaine or heroin in order to smuggle them into a country and then passes them rectally after he's safe
Bolus: A large dose of a drug that is given (usually intravenously) at the beginning of treatment to raise blood-level concentrations to a therapeutic level
Bounceback: A patient who returns to the ER with the same complaint shortly after being released
Bowel Disimpaction: Manual removal of impacted fecal matter from a patients rectum
BP: Blood Pressure
Bradycardiac: A slowing of the heart rate to less than 50 beats per minute
Breath Sounds: The sounds heard through a stethoscope placed on the chest over the lungs
Bronchoscopy: The use of an endoscope to examine and take biopsies from the interior of the bronchia
BUN: blood urea nitrogen