Hello class! Welcome to the Language of Medicine, Medical Terminology for the Healthcare Professional. Now, studying medical terminology is very similar to learning a new language.
At first, the words seem strange and complicated, although they may stand for commonly known disorders and terms. Now, if this is your first class, if you're back to school, If this is your first medical class, this is going to be challenging. I will do my best to provide simple techniques, but at the end of the day, it's a lot of memorization.
Okay, so medical terminology is a good foundation for the rest of your career, so you really want to spend some time, and again, this is going to take some time, and you might want to start making flashcards as well. all right so basic word structure let's look at some goals for chapter one identify basic objectives to guide your study of the medical language divide medical words into their component parts learn the meanings of basic combining forms prefixes and suffixes of the medical language use these combining forms suffixes and prefixes to build medical words here's the key okay learning prefixes and learning suffixes to build medical words versus just memorizing the word if you can break it down and say okay this is what the prefix means this is what the suffix means then it will make sense to you okay a lot of times you know people ask why do I have to memorize all this stuff well learning medical terminology understanding what it means will save someone's life one day so this is this is very important all right lesson 1.1 what are objectives analyze words by dividing them into component parts Relate the medical terms to the structure and function of the human body and be aware of spelling and pronunciation problems. Here's a little funny little cartoon. The doctor will see you now.
Here's your medical jargon dictionary. So sometimes you go to the medical professional, they start using big words. They say, okay, what does that mean?
So our goal as healthcare professions, we already know that you passed the degree and stuff. We know you're smart. You don't have to prove it to anybody. But when you're talking to patients, you want to talk to patients so they can understand what you're saying.
It's one thing to know what you're talking about, but to explain what you're talking about is even better. That means that you're a good teacher, you're a good healthcare professional, and that you care about your patients. So let's look at the three words or three types of word parts.
There's suffixes, there's prefixes, and there's combining forms. Suffixes come at the end of the medical term. Prefixes come at the beginning. beginning of the medical term and combining forms are created by joining a word root with a combining vowel.
So all medical terms have a combining vowel, two roots, a suffix, a prefix. Which element appears at the beginning of the medical term? Okay, let's look at this hematology.
The root is the foundation of the word. All medical terms have one or more roots. For example, the root hema means blood. The suffix is the word ending.
So all medical terms have a suffix. The suffix lauji means the process of study. The combining vowel, which is o, usually o, but as in the term links the root to the suffix or the root to another root a combining vowel has no meaning okay it joins one word part to another so the o in this has no meaning so he mat means blood logi means process of study and this combines the words so hematology is the study of blood all right it is useful to read the meaning of medical terms starting from the suffix from the suffix and then going back to the beginning of the term thus the term hematology means the process of study of blood so there's the suffix there's the root there's the combining vowel hemato means blood logi means process of study Here are some important elements. The root is the foundation of the word.
The suffix is the word ending. The prefix, the small part attached to the beginning of a term. Combining vowel, usually O.
That links the root to the suffix or the root to another root. And the combining form is the root plus the combining vowel. Electrocardiogram. So remember the O's really have no meaning.
They're just combining. So let's look at this. Let's break this down. So electcardi and gram. These are just, okay.
So here's the root. Cardi is a root and gram is the suffix. Combining vowels. So electric means electricity, cardi means heart, and gram means to record.
Okay so if we start from the suffix, we're going to record the electricity of the heart. Easy. You're a medical terminology expert already. Gastritis.
Look at this. Okay now here's the root gastro. Itis is the suffix.
Gastro means stomach. Itis, the Itis brothers as I like to call it, means inflammation. Bursitis, tendonitis, arthritis. Itis just means inflammation.
Gastro means stomach. So here's inflammation of the stomach. Usually it's the stomach lining.
Gastroenterology. So O again doesn't really mean much. Logi, you know, means the process of study. Gastro means what? Stomach.
Now we just need to know what enter means. So there's the root, root, suffix. Gastro means stomach.
Enter means intestines. Okay, and logi means process of study. So study of the stomach and intestines. That's gastroenterology.
Easy. Three general rules. These are very important rules.
Read the meaning of the medical terms from the suffix back to the beginning of the term and across. Drop the combining vowel, usually O before a suffix, beginning with a vowel. Gastritis, not gastro-itis. You wouldn't put two vowels together.
Keep the combining vowel between two roots. Gastroenterology, not gastroenterology. Keep the combining valve between two roots, but drop the combining valve before a suffix. That's the rule. That's why it's a little confusing why it's gastritis and not gastro-itis.
Why here it's gastroenterology, but here you're combining two roots and here it's a suffix. So make sure you understand that. The more examples you see, you'll be better off. So hypogastric.
hypogastric that's a prefix hypo we know the root gastro means stomach and ick so hypo means below gastric means stomach and ick means pertaining to so pertaining to below the stomach the hypogastric region okay but here's the thing instead of just memorizing hypogastric if as long as you understand hypo means below Now you also know hypoglycemia. So as long as you understand hypo means below. So someone that is hypoglycemic will be below blood sugar. And hyper means above, means above blood sugar.
So you understand the importance of learning the prefix and not just memorizing the word hypogastric. You want to memorize the prefix, the root, and suffix so you can break it down. This course will help you tremendously.
decipher medical terminology you're like oh this means this is a piece of cake because a lot of times we get intimidated by looking at big words but it's really not that hard epigastric pertaining to right pertaining to ick gastro stomach what does epi mean epi means above so prefix root suffix gastro means something so above the stomach epigastric region. Here's some combining forms adeno, arthro, bio, carcino, and cardio. So really adeno, arthro, bi, carcino, and cardio.
So making sure you know what all these mean. Adeno means gland, arthro means joint, bi means life, carcino means cancerous, and cardio means heart. So biology is the study of life.
Arthritis is inflammation in the joint. Getting it? Easy, right? Which term means inflammation of the gland?
Well, we know that adeno means gland. We know that inflammation is itis, so which one? Adenitis?
Adenitis? There you go. Okay, easy. Cephalo, cerebro, c, crin, and cyst. Cephalo means head.
Cerebral means cerebrum. Cis to cut. Crin to secrete.
Cis means urinary bladder. Cystitis would mean inflammation of the bladder. Very common in women to get cystitis.
Cyto means cell. Derm, derma, skin, electro, electricity, encephalo, and entero. So cyto means cell.
Derm, dermat, skin, electro, electricity. Electricity, encephalo, brain, enter, intestines. Which term means study of cells? We know that logi means study of, and cyto, if you look at that, means cell, so cytology.
You guys are smart. Erythro, gastro, glyso, nose, gynec, hemato, or hem. Erythro means red. Gastro means stomach. Glyce means sugar, gnos means knowledge, gynec means woman or female, and hemato is blood.
So, hepato, itro, leuc, log, nephro, ner, hepato means liver, iotro means treatment, physician, leuco means white, log, study of, nephro means kidney, ner, ro means nerve. Onco, optho, malo, osteo, patho, and pedo. Onco means tumor, ophthalo means eye, osteo means bone, patho means disease, and pedo means child.
So pathology, study of disease. Psycho, radi, reno, rhino, and sarco. Psycho means psychologies, study of the mind. Radiology, study of x-rays or imaging.
Reno, kidney. Rhino. Okay, nose, so rhinitis is inflammation of the nose. Sarco, flesh, sarcoma, we'll talk about that a little bit later. Secto, thrombo, and uro.
Secto means to cut. Thrombo, clot, clotting. Uro, urinary tract, and urine. So now the suffixes.
So you would make flashcards of all the combining forms. Now let's look at suffixes, which are going to be at the end. We need to know what ac, al, algia, site, ectomy mean. So ac means pertaining to, al means pertaining to, algia means pain, site is cell, ectomy is excision or removal. Which suffix means to cut or remove?
Ectomy, so you're going to go with a, ectomy. EMEA, GENIC, GLOBIN, GRAM, and ICICL. EMEA means blood condition. GENIC means produced by or in. GLOBIN means protein.
GRAM is record. ICICL means pertaining to. ION, IST, ITIS, LOGIE, and OMA.
ION means process. IST is specialist. ITIS is inflammation. Logi, process of study.
Oma is tumor, mass, or swelling. I don't know if you saw Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's not a tumor.
I used to love Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Too bad they don't make them like they used to. Opsy, osis, pathy, scope, and scopy. Opsy means process of viewing. Osis, condition, usually abnormal.
Pathy, disease condition. Scope, instrument. Okay, and scopy, process of visually examining.
So arthroscopy is visually examining a joint. Arthroscopy. Okay, so because you know arthro means joint. Easy. Endoscope, right?
Endoscope. Cis, tommy, y. Cis means state of, condition.
Tami means process of cutting or incision. And y is a process or a condition. Now, prefixes, this would be a, auto, dia, and epi, ex. A or an means no, not, or without.
Auto is self. Dia is complete. Endo, within. Epi is above.
Exo is out, outside of. Hyper, hypo, in, peri, and pro. Remember, hyper, excessive above, hyperglycemia.
hypo deficient hypoglycemia in into peri surrounding pericardium pro before okay or forward re retro sub and trans re means back retro behind retro peritoneal behind sub below subcutaneous below the skin trans across or through Look at that! You finished chapter one! Congratulations!
Now go practice and make flashcards.