Medical Terminology Fundamentals

Medical Terminology The study of terms that are used in the art & science of medicine. It is the universal language of medicine. It is a functional language, which means that health care workers use this language to communicate among all health careers. – Medical Terminology is a new set of vocabulary words introduced into “your world”

Medical Terminology Fundamentals Medical Terminology is a specialized language with origins arising from the Greek influence on medicine. Hippocrates was a Greek physician whose role in medicine is still recognized today. Hippocrates is called “The Father of Medicine.”

Medical Terminology Fundamentals Today, health care careers still use many of the terms that date back to Hippocrates in 460 to 377 BC. Many of the terms used have their origins in ancient Greek and Latin. Learning the English translation of these terms is the fundamentals of word structure used in present day medical terminology.

Medical Terminology Fundamentals The fundamental elements in medical terminology are the component parts used to build medical words Word structure is a combination of a prefix, root, and suffix

Medical Terminology Fundamentals Pronunciation and spelling do count>>in doubt use a medical dictionary or internet. One letter can change the meaning of the word. Knowing the meaning of the word parts often makes it possible to figure out the definition of unfamiliar words

Medical Terminology Fundamentals Some word parts/blocks have more than one meaning so it will be necessary to determine the context in which the term is being used Best to begin with body system as reference

Medical Terminology The fundamental elements in med term are the component parts used to build medical words Word structure is a combination of a prefix, root, and suffix Abbreviations>>shortening a word or phrase into letters …bid (twice daily) Acronyms>> letters of words in a compound term…CDC, LASIK, ER