MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY

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MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY

• The Language of Medicine

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Importance

• Specialized terms abbreviations, based mainly
  on Latin or Greek
• Provides medical personnel with a common language
• Enhances reading comprehension
• Aids in understanding lecture material
• Permits communication with allied health care
  personnel

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Medical Dictionary

• Defines and spells terms
• Provides pronunciation aids (phonetic spelling)
  and etymologies of terms
• Provides associated words and synonyms
• Provides additional sections with medical
  information on topics such as first aid,
  diseases, drugs and anatomy

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ROOT WORDS

• The part of a word that conveys its essential
  meaning.
• May be attached to other roots to form words.
• What are some common root words?

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Root Words

• Tonsil
• Palpate

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Prefixes

• Prefixes are placed at the beginning of root
  words to modify a words meaning.
• Almost never used alone.
• Examples dys-difficult
• a-withourt
• tachy-fast
• brady-slow

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Suffixes

• Placed at the end of a root word or prefix to
  alter the meaning of the word.
• Examples pnea-breathing
• ology-science of
• itis-inflammation
• pathy-disease
• phasia-speech
• rrhea-flowing

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Abbreviations

• Used to speed documentation
• If used, should be common, well-known, not
  unique to your documentation
• Many often used ones.

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Review

• Root words
• Prefixes
• Suffixes
• Abbreviations