Glossary - PHB Docs

Identity

Term	Meaning
HPN	Health Point Number. A patient’s lifelong PHB number, shown as `PHB-0000-0000-0000`. See The HPN.
Provisional	An HPN or record whose NIN has not been checked yet. The patient can still get care.
Verified	An HPN whose NIN has been checked.
NIN	National Identification Number, issued by NIMC. Not needed to register or to get care.
Persona	Which “you” you are signed in as: a patient, or a member of staff. A doctor can switch to My health to see their own record as a patient.
Acting-as banner	The bar that shows when a staff member is viewing their own patient record, with a link back to the staff view.

Facilities and roles

Term	Meaning
Facility	A hospital, pharmacy or lab on PHB.
Front door	The sign-in page for one kind of user, such as `/hospital/login` or `/lab/login`.
Role	What you are allowed to do at a facility. Shown in code style, exactly as PHB stores it: `owner`, `admin`, `finance`, `medical_director`, `cashier`, `receptionist`, `clinician`, `nurse`, `pharmacist`, `lab_tech`.
Patient	`patient`. Every registered patient holds this role.

Licences

Term	Meaning
MDCN	Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria. A verified MDCN licence is what lets a doctor use the clinical workspace.
NMCN	Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria. Needed for a nurse to record vitals, triage, handover and tasks.
PCN	Pharmacy Council of Nigeria. Covers the pharmacist (person) and the pharmacy (premises).
MLSCN	Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria. Needed to release lab results.
CAC	Corporate Affairs Commission. A pharmacy’s company registration.
Onboarding	The steps where you enter your licence so PHB can verify it.

Term	Meaning
Consent	The patient’s permission for a clinician to see their record.
Access request	A request a clinician sends to the patient’s app. The patient approves or declines it.
Consent code	A code sent to the patient’s phone. The patient reads it to the clinician to give access there and then.
Treatment basis	Limited access while the patient is present. It covers this visit and a non-sensitive summary.
Emergency override	Full access in an emergency, also called “break-glass”. You must give a reason. The patient is told, and it is reviewed.
Identity confirm	The “who are you?” check. It confirms identity but never blocks care.
Access log	The patient’s list of who opened their record and when.
Share link	A link plus passphrase a patient gives to a clinician who is not on PHB. It expires.
Guardian	A patient who manages a child’s or another person’s record.
Hand-off at 18	When a child turns 18, they take over their own record and the guardian’s access drops to view-only.
Sensitive result	A lab result the patient sees only after their doctor releases it to them.
Release to patient	The doctor’s action that lets the patient see a held result.

Clinical

Term	Meaning
Encounter	One visit, with its note.
SOAP note	Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan. The note format in an encounter.
Sign	Finalising an encounter. After signing you can’t edit it.
Addendum	A correction added after signing. The original stays as it was.
Triage	The nurse’s first check. Acuity is red, yellow or green.
Vitals	Observations such as temperature, pulse and blood pressure.
Ward board	A view of beds and patients on a ward.
Fluid balance	The record of fluids in and out for an admitted patient.
Handover	Passing a patient to the next nurse, using SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation).
Prescription	A signed medicine order. It can’t be cancelled after signing.
Refill	A repeat of a prescription. The patient requests it and the prescriber approves or declines.
Allergy block	PHB stops a prescription or dispense that matches a recorded allergy, unless you give an override reason.
Substitution	Dispensing a different drug from the same class, with a reason.
Partial dispense	Giving part of the quantity now and the rest later.
Medication record	A pharmacy record of an over-the-counter sale or an outside prescription.
ADR	Adverse drug reaction.
Accession	Logging a specimen into the lab.
Specimen	The sample, such as blood or urine.
Release (lab)	Making a result final. Needs a verified MLSCN licence.

Money

Term	Meaning
Wallet	The patient’s PHB balance.
Hold	Money set aside in the wallet when a patient books. It is taken when the visit is confirmed, or released if it is cancelled.
Pay at the desk	Paying in person at the facility instead of from the wallet.
Registration fee	The fee to “open a file” at a hospital, also called primary-hospital registration.
Primary hospital	The hospital a patient registers with as their main one.
Tariff	A facility’s price list.
Co-sign	A second person’s approval. Needed for price changes of more than 5%.
Claim	A bill to an insurer or NHIA.
Payout	Money PHB pays to a facility.
Reconciliation	Checking payments against records.

Channels

Term	Meaning
USSD	Dial `347731#` on any phone to register or ask for help.
Request a call	Asking the Care Line to call you back, at `/care/callback`.
Care Line	PHB’s human help line.
Disposition	The outcome a Care Nurse records after a call.

Status words

Term	Meaning
Live	Works today.
Soon / Not available yet	Shown on screen but greyed out.
Not built	Planned, with nothing to use yet.
Awaiting clinical sign-off	Built, but waiting for PHB’s chief medical officer to approve the clinical content (decision D-006).
Proposed	A decision that is not yet agreed. Don’t treat it as a rule.