Glossary

BD (or bid) – a short hand term for medication dosing that means ‘twice-daily’.

See also q12H.

cubic millimitre (mm³) – a measure of a volume. Same as microlitre (µL) and million parts per litre (10⁶/L). Practically, a drop of blood.

outreach – a type of service which goes out to find and engage people.

half-life (T1/2) – the time taken a drug to clear from the highest concentration to half this level. Drugs have different half-lives in different compartments (ie half-life in blood can be different from the half-life inside a cell). It take 5 x the half-live for a drug to be considered cleared.

trimester – a 12 week period of a pregnancy. Different periods during pregnancy are commonly referred to as the first, second and third trimester.