Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill PowerPoint to accompany Essentials of Medical Language, 2e Allan, Lockyer Chapter 1: The Anatomy of Word Construction: The Essential Elements of the Language of Medicine

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-2 The Anatomy of Word Construction: The Essential Elements of the Language of Medicine Lesson 1.1: The Construction of Medical Words

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-3 Roots and Combining Vowels All medical terms have one or more roots. The root provides the meaning of the word. Example: –The word pneumonia has the root pneumon-, meaning lung or air.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-4 Roots and Combining Vowels Roots are often joined to other elements of a medical term by placing a combining vowel on the end of the root. A root plus a combining vowel creates a combining form. Example: pneum + o pneum/o

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-5 Keynote Throughout this textbook, the combining vowel will be separated from the root by a slash (/) whenever the term is being analyzed. Example: respir/a

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-6 Combining Forms pneum- -o- pneum/o root combining combining vowel form pulmon- -o- pulmon/o root combining combining vowel form

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-7 Keynote Different roots can have the same meaning. Pulmon- and pneumon- both mean lung.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-8 Suffix A suffix is an element added to the end of a root or combining form to give it a new meaning. If the suffix begins with a consonant, it must follow a combining vowel. If the suffix begins with a vowel, no combining vowel is needed.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-9 Suffix pulmon –ary root + suffix = pulmonary, pertaining to the lung pulmon/o –logy root + combining vowel + suffix = pulmonology, study of the lung

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-10 Suffix –ia a condition of pneumonia, a condition (infection) of the lung –ation a process respiration, a process of breathing.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-11 Prefix A prefix is an element added to the beginning of a root or combining form to continue to expand the meaning of medical terms. Prefixes never require a combining vowel. Not every term has a prefix.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-12 Prefix pre– mature prefix + root = premature, before the normal pregnancy post– mature prefix + root = postmature, after the normal pregnancy

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-13 Prefix uni– unilateral, one side of the body bi– bilateral, two (both) sides of the body

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-14 Prefix peri– perinatal, around the time of birth epi– epigastric, above the stomach hypo– hypogastric, below the stomach

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-15 Prefix micro– microcyte, small red blood cell macro– macrocyte, large red blood cell

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-16 Element Review Identify the prefixes and suffixes of the following word: – perinatal peri- - nat - - al prefix root suffix

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-17 Element Review Identify the prefixes and suffixes of the following word: – hypogastric hypo- -gastr- -ic prefix root suffix

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-18 The Anatomy of Word Construction Lesson 1.2: Word Analysis and Deconstruction

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-19 Word Deconstruction When you see an unfamiliar medical term, first identify the suffix. For example: – cardiologist The suffix is -logist, one who studies and is a specialist in. Cardi/o is the combining form for heart.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-20 Word Deconstruction Use deconstruction to determine the meaning of the following word: – myocardial The suffix is -al, pertaining to; my/o is the combining form for muscle; and the root cardi means heart.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-21 Element Review Identify the elements of the following word: – cardiomyopathy cardi/o- -my/o- -pathy combining combining suffix form form

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-22 Pronunciations Correct pronunciation of medical terms is essential so that other health professionals can understand what you are saying. It is a most important component in ensuring patient safety and providing high-quality patient care.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-23 Pronunciations Some words that are pronounced the same are spelled differently and have different meanings. For example: Both ilium and ileum are pronounced ILL -ee-um. The ilium is a bone in the pelvis The ileum is a segment of the small intestine.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-24 Pronunciations Some words sound the same if incorrectly pronounced. For example: The term prostate, pronounced PROSS-tate, refers to the gland at the base of the male bladder. The term prostrate, pronounced pross-TRAYT means to be physically weak or exhausted or to lie flat on the ground.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-25 Plurals Plural endings for medical terms do not simply involve adding an “s.” Plural endings must be memorized.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-26 Plural Examples Refer to Table 1.1 of the text, page 12. Singular EndingPlural EndingExamples -a-aeaxilla axillae -is-esdiagnosis diagnoses

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-27 Keynote Many words, when they are written or pronounced, have an element that if misspelled or mispronounced gives the intended word an entirely different meaning.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-28 Keynote Consider the case of confusing hypotension (low blood pressure) with hypertension (high blood pressure) A treatment response to the different meaning could cause a medical error and perhaps the death of a patient.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-29 Keynote Precision in written and verbal communication is essential to prevent errors in patient care.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-30 Final Word Being a health professional requires the utmost attention to detail and precision in both written documentation and verbal communication. A patient’s life can be in your hands. Any incorrect spelling can reflect badly on the whole health team. Any incorrect pronunciation and spelling can reflect badly on you as a health professional.

Copyright © 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill 1-31 Final Word Roots provide the core meaning of medical terms. Roots are often joined to other elements in the medical term by placing a combining vowel on the end of the root. Adding a suffix or a prefix to a root can build new words with different meanings. Precision in communication is vitally important.