chapter 7 chapter 7 medical terminology as a paramedic you must develop a strong working knowledge of medical terminology medical terminology is an international language of medicine and health care so no matter where you go some of these most of these terms are all just a universal language no matter where you go no matter what country you're in they tend to all use the same language um the same medical terms used to describe and record every aspect of patient care including medical history assessment result results treatment outcomes treatment outcomes you should understand the origin of medical terms the components and the guidelines for forming words incorrect use of medical terminology can cause administrative of ineffective or harmful treatment and also the patient could lose trust in the paramedics ability so you want to make sure you not only know the medical terminology but you use it correctly cuz again just trying to sound smart to a patient if they feel like you don't know what you're talking about you're not sure what you're talking about they're going to lose confidence in you and you don't want people to lose confidence in your abilities because again they're trusting you with their medical emergency so in those times it's better to just keep everything simple and use layman's terms as opposed to trying to prove how smart you are with you know your fanasy medical terminology um for effective communication and documentation you must comprehend key terms acronyms symbols and abbreviations understanding medical terminology requires you to break down each word into its components and have a good working knowledge of those parts learn the accepted terms in your local area determine if your emergency medical service system has a list of approved medical abbreviations and terms you should always have a working knowledge of common slang terms and to expand your vocabulary to be able to deliver better care you should have a medical terminology app on your phone so any kind of app that pertains to medical terminology I will download to your phone just so if you are um getting into this field and you want to make sure that um you come across a word you need to look it up real quick cuz it's it's so many different words you can't I can't no no one can be expected to remember every single um medical term there is cuz they coming out with new words all the time so definitely have a medical terminology app on your phone and also carry a field guide you know if there's a like a small little pocketbook you can have with you um keep one of those as well so the origins of medical words so understand the origins of medical terms helps you decipher the meanings of those terms okay most medical terms have Greek or Latin Origins words that refer to diseases are derived from Greek words and words that refer to anatomic structures are derived from Latin words so again any type of diseases those words are genuinely um generally they derive from Greek and words that refer to any type of anatomy or anatomic structure those words tend to derive from Latin Lang from Latin languages eponym so an eponym is a name of disease device procedure or drugs that are based on a person who invented discovered or first described them um diesel engine for example is named for the German inventor Rudolph diesel so again an eponym is a name of a disease device procedure or drug that is based on the person who invented discovered or first described them and an example of that again is like a diesel engine diesel engine was named after Rudolph diesel sometimes it appears in the possessive form so what is the possessive form that's that's is mine so going back to English class I know it's been a while some of us been in English class but possessive so any time I want to say you want to say like yours or use your name it's always Bernard's you know apostrophe s possessive M Bernard sneakers Bernard TV Etc that type of thing so for example like Hoskins disease or Hoskin disease it all it'll be hot skins disease in the possessive form often include the name of the physician or surgeon first associated in some way with them so for example Alzheimer's disease abgar score biny reflex cesarian section Shane Stokes respirations croh disease Foley catheter um Gillian bar syndrome Levine sign Morphin syndrome and MC Bernie Point these are all examples of divices diseases or procedures that have the name of the person that invented or discovered them in the term through knowledge of anatomy and understanding of context in which each term is used can help you determine the correct use of the word so medical term components when you encounter an unfamiliar word break it up to its component parts so medical terms are composed of distinct parks that perform specific functions the word root the prefix the suffix and its combining form those are the distinct parts of a medical term the way in which the parts of a word are combined determines its meaning changing or deleting any portion of a term can alter its meaning refer to the set of Master tables or in any ter medical terminology app or medical terminology guide that you may have so a word root so the word root is the main part of the word so the root you may have so a word root so the word root is the main part of the word so the root word basic meaning of the word some are complete words by themselves and others are not changing the prefix or suffix will change the meaning of the term consider the context of a word before assigning its meaning the same word root may have different meanings in different fields of studies several word roots describe color they use frequently to describe patient presentation and other key Concepts oh prefixes so prefixes appear at the beginning of a word and generally describe the location of intensity of a word route that follows change the meaning of a medical term by describing the what how why or when of the root word cutaneous means skin add the prefix sub and it means below the skin so the root word in that in that word would be cutaneous cutaneous means skin if I add the prefit sub and I make the word subcutanous ous what am I saying below the skin sub is the prefix sub meaning below cutaneous is the root word Skin So putting Sub sub before cutaneous making subcutaneous I am saying below the skin so that that is the example of how a root word can be altered with a prefix or a suffix learn to understand words by breaking apart prefixes and root words so for examp for example apnea means with without breath recognize that prefix a means without or lack of and the word root uh niia means breath so for example again if you can break down the word from its base prefix and suffix you can generally get a idea of what the person is trying to say so again for example apnea means without breath meaning that the prefix a just a letter A A that is lack lack of or without lack of or without and then the root the root word again being Nipa apnea means breath so without breath numerical pref numerical prefixes are used to indicate number of sides limbs or sensory organs affected for example mon uh for example monocular vision so if I'm telling you monocular vision I'm saying one one side they can only see out of one ey monocular vision uh time time is also a prefix that is used um uh that is used by numerical prefixes so numerical prefixes are also used to indicate time so for example an octogenarian so octogenarian would be a person between the ages of 80 and 89 octo being the prefix octo meaning eight generian is the root word that's the a root word for elderly or senior person so octogenarian a elderly or senior person between the ages of 80 and 89 and then also numerical prefixes can indicate the quantities that are uncountable for example semicom so semi being half or two so semios if a person is half if they uh halfway in the coma that mean they're halfway conscious semicom specialized prefixes are used to specify position direction or location these terms can describe the movement of the body body or something within it the location of an organ foreign body or mass surgical procedures and the uh medical instrument used to perform them and direction of radiation or ultrasound waves components added to the end of word roots that change or add the words meaning or provide further definition or suffixes in medical terminology a suffix usually specifies a procedure condition disease or part of speech uh for example uh the suffix as e or ass indicates an enzyme so the suffix as e indicates an enzyme uh lip meaning Fat Lip lip plus ass means lip ass an enzyme that digest fats so again suffixes are components that can change the word's meaning and in medical terminology it specifies a procedure condition disease or part of speech so again for example with ass meaning enzyme and lip meaning fat if you put lipad together you get lipad or in an enzyme that digest fats sufaces are able to change the medical term to a noun or adjective as needed combining forms and vows so combining vows facilitates the formation of new and more complex terms often consist of an O added to a word root combining form word root prefix or suffix with an added vow example for example osteopathic so the word osteopathic the word root is osteon Osteo plus pathic bone disease so if I'm saying osteopathic the root word is ostean the uh the word Osteo in the root word is pathic and the word bone relates to disease so if I'm saying somebody is Osteopathic I'm talking about bone disease uh another example would be uh gastr gastral so gastral the root word in that is gastra gastro is migally stomach and an irregular enlargement so again it's being able to break down root words from prefixes and suffixes to get an understanding of what the uh what the uh what the person might be experiencing what the person might be trying to communicate to you as far as like a doctor or a nurse as you um describing your care and what's going on with the if the suffix begins with a vow a combining vow is not needed so for example Gast plus I gastric that's an example of a suffix that begins with a vowel a combining vowel is not needed follow these guidelines when adding combining vows to word roots so using a combining vow before a suffix that begins with a consonant use a combining vowel to join other words and other word roots do not use a combining vowel before a suffix that begins with a vowel common combining forms and vowels so cardi being the root word Loi uh uh yeah pretty much Loi means study of so cardi Loi we put a o in the middle you get Cardiology study of the Heart Another example is Nur neur neur the suffix would be Loi again and you add that o to combine those two so neur logi you put a o in the middle neurology study of nervous system so that's what I'm saying anytime you trying to combine a root word with that suffix if it ends in a constant it tends to have a vowel in between the combin the two terms I know guys it's like learning another language trust me I know um but the more you practice with your terms you pick them up and you be able to decipher things real easily um plural endings so to change a term from singular to plural form plural form certain rules apply so sometimes you can simply add an S um lung become lungs uh but some rules are more complicated so singular words that end in an a change to AE when plural so example if you talking about your your um your vertebrae so your vertebra mean your your uh bones that run down your spine those are vertebrae each individual is vertebra you want to talk about more than one you add e and now I know you're talking about more than one so vertebra becomes vertebrae so when you're describing something and you're talking about one section so maybe you're talking about your C1 vertebra you're talking about one specific bone it it's a com a combination so if I have pain in my C1 C2 C3 C4 well now I say hey I got pain in my vertebrae so now they know I'm talking about more than one of uh the bones in my spine uh singular words that end and is are changed to es when plural so for example the word diagnosis so the word diagnosis that's singular if I want to talk about more than one diagnosis I change it to uh es so now it's diagnosises diagnosis so it's it's the same word but because I Chang from is to e s I start talking from singular to plural so diagnosis diagnosis same word but that I means singular and that e means no not no diagnosis s e s that that's all you all you literally changing is the I to e to make it seem plural that is it um singular words that end in x or iix change to i c s so for example Apex becomes Apes so again another uh another I know again we learn another language tonight um singular words that end in on or um change to a so a gangon or a g a ganglion which is that thing in the back of your throat gangion that's singular if I'm talking about a plural uh the O becomes the ganglia ganglia so I Chang that o n to an A so that o n is singular that a means plural in that in that sense and singular words that end in us us are Chang the ey so your bronchus becomes your Bron ey so if I'm talking about one bronchus one bronchus that's singular if I mean more than one is broni it's plural we talking about compound words so compound words in medical terminology compound words contain more than one root word so each root each word root retains his basic meaning simple examples containing two word roots so electrocardiogram that's that's an example of two words that have that's two root words in one word so you have two words that can be separated and mean their own things and they combin together to mean one frame one phrase or one term uh for example electrocardiogram and thermometer we all we know them you know just talking we think that those are just that would just be one word one thing but it's actually two root words put together so Electro is a root word cardio so Electra and cardi that's two different root words so if I'm talking about electroc cardiogram I'm talking about an uh um electrocardiogram I'm talking about uh machine that takes a picture of your heart and electrical impulses that your heart gives off and again the word thermometer is two um two root words you have therm and you have meter you have therm you have meter so I'm saying that it is a meter that measures temperature so a temperature meter thermometer that's two separate words put together that make one word but they if you separate them they they each mean their own singular entity so those are compound words that form uh that have more than one word root that combined to make one word a more complicated version of that is uh osteoarthritis osteoarthritis so again that's a compound word because it has more than one root word you have OST which means bone you had Arthur means joint or joints and itis meaning inflammation so now you got three root three root words all combining to make one word so putting all those together you have osteoarthritis which mean inflammation of the bone joints so again when you're breaking down these medical terms if you know the root words even if I if you never heard somebody said osteoarthritis and you knew what those four different individual terms means you can put together what that word might mean so if I didn't know what osteoarthritis meant but I know I know hey o a that's that's that relates to Bone um Arthur Arthur you talking about joints um and itis itis is inflammation anytime you hear itis and anything is inflammation of something so I'm putting that word together OST osteoarthritis inflammation of bone joints that's so again break the words down to their simplest forms if you don't if you don't know what they mean or you possibly have never seen the word before if you can see some Roots uh root words that you are familiar with chances are you could probably break down what that word means again homonyms obviously two or more words that are spelled and are pronounced the same way but have different meanings antonyms pair word roots prices or suffices that have opposite meanings of another word and synonyms pair word roots prefaces uh prefixes or suffixes that have the same or almost the same meaning all right we won't get too much into that that's basic English so topographic Anatomy so topographic Anatomy your superficial landmarks to the body that serve as guides to the structures that lie beneath them okay these feature makes up the body's topography familiarize yourself with these landmarks to perform a thorough assessment imagine the body is in the anatomic position to describe topography accurately so anytime someone says anatomic position anytime someone says anatomic position they mean standing so they mean standing arms palms palms faced out standing straight up that's what anatomic position position is so anytime someone is telling you anatomic position that's what they mean look imagine a person that is standing straight up Palms facing out pal Palms facing towards you that is anatomic position and again that's that's a universal thing anatomic position that is universal no matter where you go if you if they asking or referring to anatomic position standing straight up Hands by your side Palms facing out towards you so the anatomic planes and axises of the body okay so know these terms you got to know these terms guys know these terms I'm about to go over okay the anatomic plane of the body is imaginary flat surfaces dividing the body horizontally and vertically into sections okay your axis the axis is an imaginary line that divides the body equally and creates a point of rotation the AIS the axis axis axis is an imaginary line that divides the body equally and creates a point of rotation body can be divided along three main axises to create the following planes so coronal plane the coronal plane slices the body vertically from ear to ear dividing it into front and back so your coronal plane if I'm standing in anatomic position the coronal plane imagine the line coming straight down your whole body and it divides your B body into front which is ventral ventral is front dorsal is back so the coronal plane divides your body straight down the middle this would be the this would be the front this would be my ventral this is the ventral side this would be the dorsal side the back side so if you're looking at me at anatomic position and you're dividing me in the coronal plane which is a line coming straight down this is the front the ventral this is the back dorsal okay so anything front is ventral back is dorsal the plane that divides your body to ventral and dorsal is the coronal plane okay remember these terms it's also called The frontal plane your coronal plane is also called your frontal plane so it can be referred to as coronal or frontal plane the transverse plane so the transverse plane of your body passes horizontally through the body at the waist creating top and bottom portions so the transverse plane is what divides your body waist up up and waist down so the line that comes through your waist that divides your body into up and down is called the transverse plane it's also called the axal plane so transverse plane and axial plane it's the same thing the sagittal plane or lateral plane the sagittal plane or lateral plane it divides the body vertically slicing it from front to back so it also called the lateral plane and the sagitta is lat for Arrow the mid sagittal plane which is the midline divides the body into equal left and right halves so the sagittal plane is the the plane that goes straight down the middle that divides your body left to right the Sagal plane the line that goes straight down the middle that divides your body left and right okay the three axes along which the body can be divided are the Anor the anal posterior axis it runs perpendicular to the coronal plane the longitudinal axis runs perpendicular to the transverse plane and the horizontal axis also called the medior lateral axis runs perpendicular to the sagittal plane what's going to help you guys with this man again pictures pictures so get a um you can Google it um it's real simple just look up anatomic position and then you look up the uh anatomic position divided by planes and it'll it'll give you a nice diagram of everything that I'm talking about here I'm a visual learner and I know a lot of people are a visual learner so again you get a chance go look up um the anatomical position divided by um divided by planes and you'll get a breakdown a more visual breakdown of what I'm trying to describe to you guys these planes and axises help to identify the location of internal structures understanding relationships between and among the organs cross-section is slicing across an object object perpendicular to its long axis and longitudinal sections a view of an object cut along through its long axis specific structures of the body many body structures have specific names to describe an injuries location paramedics rely on anatomic planes body surfaces and imaginary lines familiarizing yourself with these regions will help you to communicate with other professionals break down other terms I.E for example sternal nucleoid mastoid I know I know I know sternal sternal nucleoid mastoid is a combination of the words sternal ceto and mastoid which refers to the sternal the clavical and the mastoid process if you understand the roots you will be able to locate the origin and insertion of this large neck muscle so again man all these words are just being able to break them down being able to break down their roots prefaces and sufaces and you'll be um you'll be able to uh understand some of these words and understand this medical terminology again if nobody expects you to remember every single medical term there is but as long as you have a basic understanding of like the root words in medicine and what certain prefixes mean and what suffixes mean even if you don't know a word if you can come across together you can put things together and figure out what they might be talking about or what the word might actually means um body cavity so the human body's cavities contain various organs and other structures all right these cavities can be grouped into dorsal cavities which is posterior so again posterior back and uh in the dorsal cavities you have the cranial cavity and the uh spinal cavity the vental cavities the ventral cavities or anterior remember anterior mean front you have your thoracic cavity your abdominal cavity and your pelvic cavity so what I'm I saying guys so it when you divide your body the dorsal cavities which are in the posteri which means posterior which in the back so your cranial cavity is in is in the back is in the dorsal is in the posterior and then also your spinal cavity your spine so your spine is contained in the um dorsal cavities and your posterior so your cranium and your spine are all in your dorsal cavities your ventral cavities which is anterior front your front cavities that way you contain your thoracic which is your chest all the organs of your chest are in the front all those stomach organs are in the front and all the pelvic anything in your pelvic area again that's in the front cavity so your body has your front cavity your vental cavity and your posterior cavity the abdominal and pelvic cavities can be referred to together as abop pelvic cavity the Retro the retrop parital cavity is separate from and lies posterior to the abdominal cavity and contains different organs different organs most notably the kidneys okay so the retrop peronal cavity which is the cavity below your pelvis all right so that um that section underneath um underneath your male and your female organs that's your retrop parital cavity okay it's not in the front or the back it's below it's below your um abdominal cavity so again it contains different organs and that cavity it has your kidneys in it um directional terms so directional terms describe relative positions of body parts and imaginary anatomic divisions um use correct directional terms to describe the location and pain of an injury directional terms of medicine tend to occur in Parish because every direction has an opposite um Superior and inferior so Superior part of any body part is the portion closest to the head so the Superior part of your body is any body part that's closest to the Head um for example so if I have an ed injury if I have an an uh let's say I have upper arm injury okay say I have an Upp and arm upper arm injury okay I would say the injury excuse me the injury is on the is superior to my elbow meaning up if I want to tell somebody have an upper arm injury I'm going say the injury is superior to my elbow if I hear Superior to my elbow I know closest to the head is on the arm so it's going to be in this area Superior upper you know Superior uh upper elbow injury so it's up above my elbow closer to my head so Superior the B the part of the body that's closest to the feet is inferior so inferior would be the body the part of the body that's closest to the feet so if I had a below the elbow injury I would say hey I have an injury inferior to my elbow inferior to my elbow meaning it's below my elbow remember the body part closer to the feet inferior inferior below Superior above lateral and medial so parts of the body that lie farther from the midline are described this lateral parts of the body closer to the midline are described as medium so if you this is your body's midline straight down this is your body straight down if I have a upper chest area uh injury right here if this is the midline this part would be this uh this location would be lateral so I would say it's lateral to um to um to my let's say how can I break this down so my heart is here I say I have have an injury lateral to my heart left lateral so be left of my heart left of my heart further away if I had an injury closer to my heart I would say medial medial close to that midline so medial medial is close to that midline lateral is further away from that midline okay so remember this is your midline if the injury is medial to the midline it's as close to the midline as possible so it's medial if it's lateral it's further away from your midline okay uh proximal and distance so proximal describes structures that are closest to the body distal indicate structures that are further from the trunk or near the the free uh to the free end of the extremity so for proximal distal so for example if you got a foot injury or even a hand injury so you guys can see my hand if I broke a finger I would say I have a dis uh my finger I broke the right finger distal um to my hand so again further away um proximal the closer you get to the structure the closer you get to the structure so is your injury um is your injury proximal cuz it's getting close or distal distant further away the further away you are from your cavity from the center is distal the closer you are to the C to your um to your chest cavity to your body's cavity you're proximal all right um superficial and deep so superficial means closer to or on the surface of the Skin Deep means further inside the body away from the skin um again scratches superficial scratch barely barely um cut through super icial scratch I can see your bones that's a deep scratch all right I can see muscle tissue and all that that's a deep scratch so superficial uh and deep and then again guys we talked about an anterior posterior anterior means front posterior means back um Palmer and plantar Palmer and plantar the front region of the the front region of the hand is referred to as the Palm or Palmer the vlar surface the bottom of the foot is is referred to as the plantar surface front Palm Palmer plantar is the bottom of the foot and apex apex is the tip of a structure so Apex is the tip of the struct of the structure uh movement and and positional terms so movement and positional terms and accept a set of terms that describes any body movements particularly particularly useful in explaining mechanism of injury so range of motion range of motion is the full distance that a joint can be moved so range of motion shows my shoulder um my shoulder range of motion that is the full distance range of motion that is the full distance any joint can move range of motion all right flexion flexion is moving the distal point of an extremity towards the trunk while in anatomic position so remember guys we talked about anatomic position so if I'm talking about flexion flexion is moving toward towards towards your cavity towards the center flexion is moving the distal point which is the further Point toward the trunk while in anatomic position so if I wanted to be flexing just think of it muscle you flexing your muscle so if I'm here flexion I'm flexing I'm flexion towards towards my body flexion okay dorsy flexion is the movement of the foot towards the dorsal the dorsal aspect so remember I told you guys dorsal is bottom so if I'm saying the I'm dorsy flexing the foot I'm flexing so flexing is towards the bottom I'm I'm flexing the bottom of the foot towards my body so dorsy flexion bottom of the foot towards the body it's dorsy flexion plantar flexion is movement of the foot toward the sole so think of it like this imagine this is my foot so dorsy flexion I'm here I'm coming back with my foot cuz I'm flexing it towards the body plantar flexion remember I'm going away so I'm pointing my toes so when you point your toes that's plantar Flex plantar flexion um extension extension the return of a body part from a flex position to the anatomic position so if I'm here if this is flexion when I come back down that's that's extension so flexion and extension flexion and extension extension is the uh opposite of flexion okay the return of a body part from a flex position is extension um abduction is movement away from the midline abduction is movement away from the midline so if this is the midline if remember this is the body's midline abduction is away anything away from the midline is abduction so if you guys I don't know if you guys go to the gym you see those abductor machines so when you put your legs in the machine going away is abduction you're going away from the body and the opposite would be add adduction so remember add you're adding something you're adding to your body back towards the body adduction movement towards the midline so abduction away add add adduction towards and again these are all words these are all words that are used to describe um as it relates to any kind of injury or medical or anything that might be going on um during a um during a medical call or doing during U being a being seen by a doctor a lot of these terms that get used so again it's good to know them cuz a lot of times doctors will just start talking or medical r just start talking and forget that um we're talking to people that don't that don't really know this type of stuff so um it's always good to know what they what they might be talking about a patient's neck a patient's neck can be in one of several positions when the patient is lying supine supine is on your back so when the patient is lying supine on their back the neck can be in one of several positions the prefix hyper is added to the terms flexion or extension to indicate the mechanism of injury the prefix hyper is added to the term flexion or extension to indicate the mechanism of injury so hyper indicates normal range of motion for the particular joint was maximized or exceeded so hyper means the normal range of motion was maximized or exceeded for example hyperflexion hyper flexion a maximum flexion or flexion beyond the normal range of motion so um if I if this is flex let's say I'm remember this is flexion so let's say I hyper Flex my elbow meaning I flex my elbow my elbow jump farther than it needed to go as hyperflexion I over I over flexed it hyperflexion you get a hyperflexed hyperflex uh elbow um and then hyper extension you hear that a lot of times especially like with athletes hyper extension like knee hyper extensions what happens is again you maximum maximize the extension maximize the extension beyond the normal range of motion so you can hyperextend your elbow so remember if this is flexion I'm doing extension I can hyperextend meaning overextend his elbow past that point and cause myself an injury so that' be a hyperextended elbow so you have a hyper Flex hyper flexed elbow and a hyperextended elbow U more times than not you get a lot of hyper a lot of hyperextension injuries you hyperflex injuries are not as common as hyperextension because again um you're more likely to hyperextend something than to hyper Flex something um risk injuries risk injuries can also be described using the words superation and pronation um risk injuries risk injuries can also be described using the words superation and pronation pronation turn the Palms downward so if I'm if I'm if these are my Palms if I'm this this is your hand you're in anatomic position say I have a risk injury so your risk injury superation superation turning the Palms upwards superation superation you're turning your palms upward okay pronation turning your palms down pronation is turning the Palms downward okay and again that's as it pertains to risk injury so you can have a a supern risk injury meaning um anytime you try to turn your palms uh anytime you try to turn your palms upward it hurts or you can't do it so chances are you super you got a supernate risk injury you can't turn your palms downward chances are you got a pronated risk injury um rotational deformities so you have internal rotation turning the anterior portion of an extremity toward the midline and an external rotation injury turning the extremity away from the midline so if it's if you can't turn towards the midline which is this is the midline so if you have a problem rotating towards your it line that's internal rotation and you have a problem turning away from the midline that's an external rotation on some other directional terms bilateral bilateral meaning a body part or condition that appears on both sides of the midline so examp another example of that is let's say um you get in a vehicle accident and both your kneecaps are broken so you have bilateral um bilateral patella injuries bilateral kneecap injuries meaning you have the exact same injury on both sides of the midline midline here um and again that could even be um let's say for instance you got uh two penetrating injuries you know two Pew pews you got one on each side you got bilateral um got bilateral uh gunshot WS bilateral because you have on both sides of the midline bilateral um unilateral obviously is the opposite so unilateral meaning only on one side so if it's only on one side the injury that you have you have a unilateral injury it's only on one side of the midline um unilateral and bilateral can also be described as the location of pain numbness itching or other phenomena um for example you can have bi um bilateral shoulder pain like both your shoulders hurt bilateral shoulder pain so or unilateral shoulder pain only one your shoulders hurt so bilateral and unilateral can also be described as areas of uh pain um also describing where numbness is itching or other any other phenomena so if it's happening on one side of the midline it's unilateral if it's happening on both sides it's bilateral okay ipsilateral means same side of the body ipsilateral meaning same side of the body so you have an injury up here and one in your lower extremities they're both on the same side so you have ipsilateral injuries you have injuries and they're both on the same side of the midline and contralateral is opposite side so contralateral is opposite side so you have a left knee injury and a right elbow injury those two injuries are controlateral meaning there are two injuries but they're two different injuries on two different sides of your midline so don't get that confused okay so bilateral is the same injury on both sides so the exact same injury if you got a shoulder pain here and shoulder pain here that's bilateral because they're on the same side they're the same injury on different sides but they exact same injuries they're affecting the same body parts contralateral is having left shoulder pain and then like right knee pain they're on opposite sides of the midline but there are two different body parts it's two different injuries and the same with unilateral and Epal so unilateral again it's the same injury on one side ipsilateral is multiple injuries but they're all on one side it's one side of injuries all right uh you must be able to Des describe the exact location of areas of the abdomen so the abdomen the abdominal cavity is divided into four equal quad quadrants the quadrants are formed from two lines intersecting at the umbilicus to describe the location even more specifically the abdomen can be divided into nine regions you want to get into that you just stick with those four quadrants so if you start from your your uh umbilicus your belly button it's a line that goes here across your belly button and then a line that starts right here from the top of your abdominal cavity all the way down to your pelvis and your ab your abdominal sections are divided into those four quadrants so the midline goes across your belly button your umbilical and then the uh the other line goes straight down your Abal from the bottom from the top of your abdominal cavity all the way down to your PBS and that's how we divide the the ab the abdominal cavity we divide it into four quadrants U position of the patient so these terms describe say patient's position so prone so if you hear somebody say the patient is prone that means face down you laying face down prone prone position is face down prone position is face down okay supine Supine position is face up Supine position is laying on your back face up fowers position Fowler's position is position sitting straight up with knees either bent or straight so Fowler's position is position is sitting straight up with your knees bent or straight all right and then semi positions is sitting patients at a 45° angle generally in a position of comfort and again these uh legs are usually straight out at this point so most of the time when you see people on the stretcher they're in a semi position they're seated at a 45° angle with their Le their legs extended out recovery position recovery position helps maintain a clear air we in an unresponsive patient and pre and prevents uh aspiration or vomit and so recovery position is left lateral recumbent so if you run across anybody anybody who's sick anybody who needs any type of medical uh any type of medical um help also Al any type of um any issues with the airway breathing they're vomiting they're um they they have short breath you find them unconscious first thing you want to do is you want to lay them on their left side that's known as the recovery position left lateral recumbent you lay people on their left side if they have anything coming out it'll still be coming out um and it gives you a better chance to um help clear that Airway and also again um the main thing is making sure that they don't choke on their own um aspiration of vomit all right so you want to put on that left side abbreviation acronyms and symbols medical abbreviations acronyms and symbols are a type of shorthand used to communicate in the medical world so nine times out of 10 most uh medical providers and Healthcare Providers they communicate in shorthand they write in shorthand because if they actually had to write if I had to write all my reports and like the full words they will be way too long and take way too long so a lot of a lot of on Healthcare professionals use professionals use shorthand again develop to allow us to communicate faster do not trade speed for accuracy however don't be just making up your own shorthand cuz again it has to be Universal it has to be somebody things that people are familiar with you can't don't remember what I was talking about yesterday with documentation don't bring your texting language into these uh patient documents of patient care reports because again all that stuff is a legal document and it um it all can be bought up in a court or criminal case against you so again make sure um if you're going to be using shorthand and acronyms that they are accepted Shands and acronyms all acronyms are abbreviations but not all abbreviations are acronyms okay all acronyms are abbreviations but not all abbreviations are acronyms when you use an abbreviation pronounce each letter of the abbreviation separately and distinctly acronyms form shortened words from the initial of several words to produce a new word or phrase for example Urban search and rescue becomes usar us AR R Urban search and wrest Urban search and rescue becomes usar an abbreviation is still considered an acronym if it's pronounced as a word even if the word form isn't part of the English language for example a lot of people know what Hippa is Hippa some people think that is the actual word they they that whatever the the actual thing that it describes is Hippa not knowing that Hippa means health insurance portability and accountability act so 90% of this country just know Hippa Hippa Hippa Hippa but if you ask them what does Hippa mean well they be like what you talking about and I was like okay so you don't know you don't know what's going on so again um don't get it confused just because the word is abbreviated doesn't mean um just because a word is uh an acronym doesn't mean it's an abbreviation and just because an abbreviation doesn't mean it's an acronym all right another example is like da da is not an acronym because it's spelled spelled out like de EA don't nobody say Dia coming for us if you walked up to somebody and be like hey man you better hey I don't know what you're doing but I heard di was looking for you they going to ask you who the hell is De you know you got to say de EA so again some acronym you got to spell it out de EA you can't just be like de de around the corner you better uh get on out of here for de come pull up in your house all right it's de EA as opposed to you don't be like the hi P AA is Hippa people Hippa Hippa Hippa people know what Hippa is if I walked up to somebody and be like hey man do you know what the hip a is they would have no clue what you're talking about so know those differences know those common um those common ways that people say acronyms and abbreviations and what they mean medical abbreviations abbreviations take the place of words to shorten documentation ensure that the medical abbreviations are consistent with those approved in your EMS System error prone abbreviations so the joint commission and the institute for safe medical practices ismp have each published do not use list of abbreviation so serious serious errors can occur when an abbreviation is not interpreted as attended HS on the prescription can mean either hours of sleep or have strength to avoid errors some agencies limit use of abbreviations or do not allow their use at all trailing zeros and naked decimals trailing zeros zeros after the decimal point to avoid errors always include a zero before the decimal but leave it off after So to avoid errors you always include the zero before the decimal point point and leave it off after the decimal point for example you write 5 Mig you don't write 5.0 milligram or you write 0.5 migr you don't write .5 milligram cuz again they they don't see that little Dot and I wrote like 5.0 migr and they didn't see that little Dot and they gave somebody 50 Mig I got a lot of explaining to do that's why before the uh before the uh that's point you include that zero cuz again you don't want to be in misconception if you meant to put .5 Mig you write .5 mg you put that 0.5 so it's not it's not it's not a misnomer you mean have 0.5 all right and then again you don't put zeros after whole number so if it's five you don't got to put 5.0 cuz 5.0 can look like 50 to some people in then you got a whole different set of problems like abbreviations symbols are sometimes used as a shortcut in do M mentation and other communication as with the abbreviations it important to only use symbols that are widely understood and accepted each EMS system should also keep a list of approved medical abbreviations for reporting and documentation purposes learn which abbreviations are acceptable in your service area and when in doubt write out the term in full so if you're not sure about abbreviation just write out the whole word don't don't try to be cute just write the whole word out um paramedics EMTs must be familiar with terminology related to medication and medication administration such as metric conversions use and Drug calculations also selected medical abbreviations associated with pharmacology okay again guys it is extremely extremely important if you're going to be dealing with medicine if you're going to be dealing with Health Care get you one of those apps those medical terminology apps um don't be ashamed to have to look up a word if you got to look up a word um it's just like learning any other language you're not ashamed to pull out your Google Translate when when you got Spanish or Italian or French German any those other languages it's the same thing man make sure you have a medical terminology app accessible to you at all times whether it be a app remember like a little handheld guide you can put that in uh put that in your emergency care kit so you know again medical terminology terms all right other than that guys that's it man that's it that's it for chapter 7 we all done we all done with this lecture chapter 7 lecture is finished