Chapter 5: Medical Terminology Lecture

Lecture Overview

• Focus on understanding and using foundational and anatomical medical terms and abbreviations.
• Goals:
  • Effective communication with healthcare professionals.
  • Identify & dissect medical terms.
  • Recognize error-prone abbreviations.
  • Learn common directional, movement, and positional terms.

Importance for EMTs

• Essential for effective communication and documentation.
• Key components:
  • Understanding how terms are formed.
  • Learning definitions of medical term parts.
  • Communicating with EMS, healthcare, and public safety teams.

Anatomy of Medical Terminology

• Components of Medical Terms:

  • Word Root: Foundation of the word, often indicates body part.
  • Prefix: Appears before the word root, describes location or intensity.
  • Suffix: Appears after the word root, indicates procedure or condition.
  • Combining Vowels: Joins word roots to suffixes or other roots, usually 'o'.

• Importance of Accurate Spelling:

  • Example: "phasea" vs "phagia" and "dys-" prefix.

Word Roots

• Main part or stem of a word.
• Often indicates body part.
• Adding prefixes/suffixes changes meaning.

Prefixes

• Describes location or intensity.
• Common prefixes: "uni-", "di-", "tri-", etc.

Suffixes

• Indicates procedure, condition, disease, or part of speech.

Combining Vowels

• Usually 'o', sometimes 'i' or 'e'.
• Used for ease of pronunciation.

Word Building Rules

• Prefix at the beginning, suffix at the end.
• Combining vowel used when suffix starts with a consonant.
• Plural endings:
  • Ends in 'a': add 'e' (e.g., vertebra → vertebrae).
  • Ends in 'is': change to 'es' (e.g., diagnosis → diagnoses).

Special Word Parts

• Prefixes for Numbers and Colors:

  • Numbers: "uni-", "bi-", "multi-".
  • Colors: "cyano-", "leuco-", "melano-".

• Positions or Directions:

  • Examples: "ab-", "ad-", "circum-", "trans-".

Directional Terms

• Right/Left: Refers to the patient's perspective.
• Superior (towards head) / Inferior (towards feet).
• Lateral (away from midline) / Medial (towards midline).
• Proximal (closer to trunk) / Distal (away from trunk).
• Superficial (closer to skin) / Deep (further inside).
• Ventral (front) / Dorsal (back).
• Palmar (palm of hand) / Plantar (sole of foot).
• Apex: Tip of a structure.

Movement Terms

• Flexion/Extension: Bending/straightening a joint.
• Adduction/Abduction: Moving towards/away from midline.
• Bilateral/Unilateral: Both sides of midline/one side.

Patient Positions

• Prone: Lying face down.
• Supine: Lying face up.
• Fowler's Position: Sitting upright (45-90 degrees).
• Semi-Fowler's: Reclined at 45 degrees.
• High Fowler's: Sitting at 90 degrees.

Examples of Medical Terms

• Nephropathy: Disease of the kidney.
• Dysuria: Painful urination.
• Hyperemesis: Excessive vomiting.
• Analgesic: Pertaining to no pain.

Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Symbols

• Purpose: Shorthand for communication.
• Use: Only use standard, widely accepted abbreviations.
• Authorities: Joint Commission and Institute of Safe Medicine Practices provide lists.

Review Questions

• Word root conveys essential meaning.
• Prefixes indicate numbers, colors, positions, directions.
• Movement towards midline is "adduction".
• "Medial" indicates closer to the midline.
• "Ventral" is the belly or anterior surface.
• Semi-fowler position is sitting at 45 degrees.
• "Plantar" surface is the sole of the foot.
• Use abbreviations/acronyms approved by medical authorities.

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This concludes the Chapter 5 Medical Terminology lecture. Thank you for your attention!