Chapter 5. Medical Terminology. Introduction. As an emergency medical technician, it is essential that you have a strong working knowledge of medical terminology. Understanding key terms, abbreviations, and symbols is important for effective communication and documentation.
Understanding how terms are formed and the definitions for the various parts of a medical term will help you determine the meaning of an unknown term by breaking the word apart. Once you understand medical terminology, you will be able to communicate more effectively with other members of the emergency medical service, healthcare, and public safety system. Anatomy of a medical term Medical terms are composed of distinct parts that perform specific functions. Changing or deleting any of those parts can significantly change the function, or meaning, of a word. Components of medical terms include the following.
Word root the foundation of the word. Prefix, what occurs before the word root. Suffix, what occurs after the word root.
Combining vowel, a vowel that joins one or more word roots to other components of a term. How the parts of a term are combined determines its meaning. Accurate spelling, especially when some words are pronounced almost the same way, is essential in medical terminology.
For example, the suffix fascia means speaking. whereas phagia means eating or swallowing. The prefix dys means difficult or painful. Combining those two parts, dysphagia means difficulty speaking, while dysphagia means difficulty eating or swallowing.
These are very different terms, and the two words, although spelled differently, sound almost identical. Likewise, the terms ilium and ilium are pronounced exactly the same, but refer to different anatomic parts. The ilium is the largest bone of the pelvis, and the ilium is the last part of the small intestine. Knowing anatomy and the context of how these words are used will help you correctly determine, and spell, the term in a given situation.
Word roots. The main part or stem of a word is called a word root. Some books use the term word root, others use root word. Both terms mean the same thing. A word root conveys the essential meaning of the word.
and frequently indicates a body part, organ, or organ system. Most terms have at least one word root, and some have more than one word root. Adding a prefix or suffix to the word root creates a term. Changing the prefix or suffix will change the meaning of the term. A frequently used medical abbreviation is CPR, which stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Cardiopulmonary breaks down as follows. Cardio is a word root meaning heart. and pulmon is a word root meaning lungs. By performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, you introduce air into the lungs and circulate blood by compressing the heart to resuscitate the patient.
Some word roots may also be used as prefixes or suffixes for other terms. Examples of some word roots are shown in Table 5-1. See the tables at the end of this chapter for additional common word roots. Combining forms are discussed later in the chapter. Prefixes.
A prefix is the part of a term that appears at the beginning of a word. It generally describes location and intensity. Prefixes are frequently found in general language, that is, autopilot, submarine, tricycle, as well as in medical and scientific terminology.
Not all medical terms have prefixes. A prefix gives the word root a specific meaning. When a medical word contains a prefix, the meaning of the word is altered.
For example, Punea has the word root for breathing. Adding the prefix a, without, Brady, slow, or tacky, rapid, to a word creates three very different terms. A slash new, without breathing.
Brady slash Punea slow breathing. Tacky slash Punea, rapid breathing. By learning to recognize a few of the more commonly used medical prefixes, you can figure out the meaning of terms that may not be immediately familiar to you.
Some common prefixes are shown in Table 5-2. See the tables at the end of the chapter for additional common prefixes. Suffixes. Suffixes are placed at the end of words, and usually indicate a procedure, condition, disease, or part of speech.
A commonly used suffix is "-itis", which means inflammation. When this suffix is paired with the word "-ruthro", meaning joint, the resulting word is arthritis, an inflammation of the joints. Some common suffixes are listed in Table 5-3. See the tables at the end of this chapter for more common suffixes. Combining vowels.
A combining vowel is the part of a term that connects a word root to a suffix or another word root. In most cases, the combining vowel is an O, however, it may also be an I or an E. A combining vowel is usually used when joining a suffix that begins with a consonant or when joining another word root. For example, take the term gastroenterology, the study of diseases of the stomach, and small intestines.
gastr slash o plus enter slash o plus logi, stomach plus small intestines plus the study of. In this term, gastr and enter are both word roots, logi is the suffix, and o is the combining vowel, used twice. The combining vowel helps ease the pronunciation of the term.
Without the vowel, the term would be rather difficult to pronounce, gastroenterology. Refer to the tables at the end of this chapter for combining vowels associated with common word roots. A combining vowel shown with the word root is called a combining form.
Here are a few of the most common combining forms you will see. Cardi-O, heart. Gastro-O, stomach.
Hip-hat-O, liver. Arthro-O, joint. Oste-O, bone.
Pulmon-O, lungs. Word building rules. When building or taking apart a medical term, it is helpful to understand some basic rules. The following summarizes the rules covered thus far.
The prefix is always at the beginning of a term. However, not all terms will have a prefix. 2. The suffix is always at the end of the term.
When a suffix begins with a consonant, A combining vowel is used between the word root and suffix to make pronunciation easier. 4. When a term has more than one word root, a combining vowel must be placed between the two word roots, even if the second root begins with a vowel. Plural Endings To change a term from a singular to plural form, certain rules apply.
In some cases, you simply add an s to the word. Lung becomes lungs. However, for some medical terms, Making the plural form is more complicated.
Rules you may encounter when converting terms from singular to plural are 1. Singular words that end in A change to AE when plural. Example, vertebra becomes vertebrae. 2. Singular words that end in IS change to ES when plural. Example, diagnosis becomes diagnoses.
Example, bronchus becomes bronchi, special word parts. As already described. Prefixes appear at the beginning of a word, before the word root. Prefixes used to indicate numbers, colors, and directions are described in the following sections. Look at the prefixes, meanings, and examples.
Can you think of other terms using the same prefix with another root? Do you see how it changes the meaning? Numbers.
Several prefixes are used to indicate if a term involves a number such as one-half. or one or two or more parts or sides. Common prefixes for numbers are listed in Table 5-4.
Colors. Several word roots are used to describe color. The most common include those listed in Table 5-5. Positions and directions. Prefixes can also be used to describe a position, direction, or location.
The most common include those listed in Table 5-6. Common direction. movement, and position terms. Directional terms.
When discussing where an injury is located or how pain radiates in the body, you need to know the correct directional terms. Table 5-7 provides the basic terms used in medicine. Notice how directional terms are paired as opposites, right and left.
The terms right and left refer to the patient's right and left sides, not your right and left sides. superior and inferior. The superior part of the body, or any body part, is the portion nearer to the head from a specific reference point.
The part nearer to the feet is the inferior portion. These terms are also used to describe the relationship of one structure to another when both structures are part of the trunk or head. For example, the xiphoid is superior to the umbilicus, and inferior to the mandible.
Lateral and medial. Parts of the body that lie farther from the midline are called lateral, outer, structures. The parts that lie closer to the midline are called medial, inner, structures.
For example, the thigh has medial, inner, and lateral, outer, surfaces. In general terms, lateral means side. For example, lying on the left side. side is called left lateral recumbent. Something that occurs on both sides is referred to as bilateral.
When describing the location of an injury, the terms medial and lateral help pinpoint an exact location. For example, the patient has a 2-inch, 5-centimeter, laceration on the medial aspect of the thigh, toward the inside. Proximal and distal.
The terms proximal and distal are used to describe the relationship of any two structures on an extremity. Proximal describes structures that are closer to the trunk. Distal describes structures that are farther from the trunk or nearer to the free end of the extremity.
For example, the elbow is distal to the shoulder, and proximal to the wrist and hand. Superficial and deep. Superficial means closer to or on the skin. Deep means farther inside the body or tissue, and away from the skin.
For example, a superficial burn involves only the top layer of skin. Similar to a sunburn. An abrasion is a superficial wound, similar to scraping your knee, whereas a deep laceration involves a cut deeper into the tissue such as with a knife.
Ventral and dorsal. Ventral refers to the belly side of the body, or the interior surface of the body. Dorsal refers to the spinal side of the body, or the posterior surface of the body, including the back of the hand. These terms are used less frequently than the terms anterior. the front surface of the body, and posterior, the back surface of the body.
An easy way to remember dorsal is to think of the dorsal fin on a dolphin, which is on its back, posterior, side, palmar and plantar. The front region of the hand is referred to as the palm or palmar surface. The bottom of the foot is referred to as the plantar surface.
Apex. The apex, plural apices, is the tip of a structure. For example, The apex of the heart is the bottom, inferior portion, of the ventricles in the left side of the chest. Movement terms. The following terms relate to movement.
Flexion is decreasing the angle of the joint. Extension is increasing the angle of the joint. Adduction is motion toward the midline.
Abduction is motion away from the midline. Other directional terms. Many structures of the body occur bilaterally. A body part that appears on both sides of the midline is bilateral. For example, the eyes, ears, hands, and feet are bilateral structures, meaning there is one on each side of the midline.
This is also true for structures inside the body, such as the lungs and kidneys. Something that appears on only one side of the body is said to occur unilaterally. For example, unilateral chest expansion means that only one lung is expanding with inhalation. such as with a pneumothorax.
Pain that occurs on only one side of the body could be called unilateral pain. As part of the assessment process, you will palpate the abdomen and report findings. Therefore, it is important that you are able to describe the exact location of areas of the abdomen.
The way to describe the sections of the abdominal cavity is by quadrants. Imagine two lines intersecting at the umbilicus, dividing the abdomen into four equal areas. These are referred to as the right upper quadrant, left upper quadrant, right lower quadrant, and left lower quadrant. Remember that here, to, right, and left refer to the patient's right, and left, not yours.
It is important to learn all of these terms and concepts so you can describe the location of any injury or assessment findings. When you use these terms properly, any other medical personnel who care for the patient will know immediately where to look, and what to expect. Anatomic positions.
There are many terms used to describe the position of the patient on your arrival or during transport to the emergency department. Prone and supine. These terms describe the position of a body. The body is in the prone position when lying face down. The body is in the supine position when lying face up.
Fowler position. The Fowler position was named after a United States surgeon, George R. Fowler, M.D., at At the end of the 19th century, Dr. Fowler placed his patients in a semi-reclining position with the head elevated to help them breathe easier and to control the airway. Patient who is sitting upright is therefore said to be in the Fowler position.
Some refer to semi-Fowler position as sitting with the back of the stretcher at a 45 degrees angle, and high Fowler position as sitting at a 90 degrees angle. Breaking terms apart. Just as you use parts of terms to build new words, you can use knowledge of the meaning of parts to decipher the meaning of a term.
When trying to define a term, begin with the suffix and work backward. If the term also contains a prefix, define the suffix, then the prefix, and then the word root. Here are some examples.
Nephropathy. Nepher slash o slash pathy. Pathy, suffix meaning disease.
O, combining vowel. Nepher, word root meaning kidney. Nephropathy equals disease of the kidney. Dysuria.
Dys slash r slash ea. Ea. Suffix meaning condition of. Dis, prefix meaning difficult, painful, or abnormal.
Ur, word root meaning urine closing parenthesis. Dysuria equals painful urination, pain when urinating, or difficulty urinating. Hyper-emesis. Hyper-slash-emesis.
Hyper, prefix meaning excessive. Emesis, word root meaning vomiting. Hyper-emesis equals excessive vomiting. Analgesic, and slash algis slash ic, ic, suffix meaning pertaining to, an, prefix meaning without, or, absence of, algis, word root meaning pain.
Analgesic equals pertaining to no pain. Abbreviations and symbols. Medical abbreviations and symbols are a type of shorthand used to communicate in the medical world. They came about for the same reason that people send text messages. and tweets using text shorthand.
You can communicate faster using this method. Similarly, medical abbreviations and symbols, though somewhat standardized, can have different meanings to different providers in different contexts. Use only commonly understood abbreviations to minimize misinterpretations and errors. The Joint Commission and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices are considered two authorities on abbreviations. Both organizations provide do-not-use lists identifying abbreviations that can lead to errors.
Abbreviations. Abbreviation is an umbrella term for any word or phrase that has been shortened so that it may be spoken or written more concisely. You'll encounter various types of abbreviations in the healthcare field. The simplest type is the omission of a portion of the word or phrase, such as when someone says prep instead of prepare, or cath lab instead of catheter laboratory. Other common types of abbreviations are initialisms and acronyms.
When you shorten a word or phrase using an initialism, you pick representative letters from the full term and pronounce each letter separately. For example, emergency medical technician becomes EMT, pronounced EMT when you use an acronym. You are shortening several words, usually using the first letter of each word to make a shorter term that is pronounced as its own word.
For example, The SAMPLE acronym represents several words that are pronounced as a single word, SAMPLE. Note that you'll also encounter a combination of different types of abbreviations. For example, DECAPBTLS is pronounced D-CAP-BT-L-S, and USAR, which stands for Urban Search and Rescue, is pronounced USAR.
When using abbreviations on patient care reports, remember to use only standard, accepted abbreviations to avoid confusion and errors. Misunderstandings will occur if everyone involved in the emergency care of a patient does not understand the meaning of abbreviations. For this reason, some agencies limit the use of abbreviations.
See the tables at the end of this chapter for a list of commonly used abbreviations. This list is intended to help you decipher documents written by other health care professionals before using any abbreviations in your own reports. Be familiar with accepted use of abbreviations in your local jurisdiction or service area.
Symbols. Like abbreviations, symbols are sometimes used as a shortcut in communication and documentation. As with abbreviations, it is important to use only the symbols that are widely understood and accepted.
Master Tables. Tables 5-9 through 5-12 provide a thorough reference list of common word roots, combining forms, prefixes, suffixes and abbreviations