Chapter 5: Medical Terminology Lecture

Objectives

• Use foundational and anatomical medical terms and abbreviations in communication.
• Understand medical terminology and its components.
• Define unknown medical terms by dissecting and understanding components.
• Identify error-prone medical abbreviations and acronyms.
• Recognize common directional, movement, and positional terms.

Importance of Medical Terminology

• Essential for EMTs for effective communication and documentation.
• Understanding key terms, symbols, and abbreviations is crucial.
• Helps in communicating effectively with healthcare and public safety teams.

Anatomy of Medical Terminology

• Components: Word root, prefix, suffix, and combining vowels.
• Word Root: Foundation of the word, indicates essential meaning, often a body part.
• Prefix: Appears before the word root; describes location or intensity.
• Suffix: Appears at the end of the word; indicates procedure, condition, or part of speech.
• Combining Vowels: Connects word roots to suffixes or other roots, mainly 'o', 'i', or 'e'.

Word Building Rules

• Prefix is at the beginning; suffix at the end.
• Use a combining vowel if the suffix begins with a consonant or when joining roots.
• Accurate spelling is essential.

Plural Endings

• Singular to plural transformations have specific rules (e.g., 'a' to 'ae', 'is' to 'es').

Special Word Parts

• Prefixes Indicating Numbers: uni-, di-, tri-, etc.
• Colors: cyano- (blue), leuco- (white), etc.
• Positions/Directions: ab-, ad-, circum-, etc.

Directional Terms

• Right/Left refer to the patient's sides.
• Superior/Inferior: Towards head/towards feet.
• Lateral/Medial: Away from/towards midline.
• Proximal/Distal: Closer to/further from trunk.
• Superficial/Deep: Closer to/on the skin/further inside.
• Ventral/Dorsal: Belly side/spinal side.
• Palmar/Plantar: Palm of hand/sole of foot.

Movement Terms

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

Patient Position Terms

• Prone: Laying face down.
• Supine: Laying face up.
• Fowler's position: Semi-reclined, head elevated.
• Semi-Fowler: 45-degree angle.
• High Fowler: 90-degree angle.

Examples of Term Dissection

• Nephropathy: Disease of the kidney (nephra-kidney, pathy-disease).
• Dysuria: Painful urination (dys-difficulty, uria-urine).
• Hyperemesis: Excessive vomiting (hyper-excessive, emesis-vomiting).
• Analgesic: Pertaining to no pain (an-without, algesic-pain).

Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Symbols

• Use only commonly understood abbreviations to avoid errors.
• Be familiar with local jurisdiction or service area abbreviations.
• Use symbols that are widely understood and accepted.

Review Questions

• Word Roots: Convey essential meaning of the term.
• Prefixes: Indicate colors, numbers, positions, and directions.
• Plural of Bronchus: Bronchi.
• Lungs Superior to Bladder: Closer to the head.
• Adduction: Movement towards the midline.
• Medial: Closer to the midline.
• Ventral: Belly side of the body.
• Semi-Fowler Position: Patient sitting at a 45-degree angle.
• Plantar Surface: Sole of the foot.
• Use of Abbreviations: Follow standard, agency-specific requirements and use to shorten documentation.

Note: Accurate spelling and understanding of context are critical for correct usage of medical terms.