1. Nursing Tech-Prep Mrs. Pike
MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY
Nursing Tech-Prep
Mrs. Pike

2. WHAT IS IT?
BEGAN IN 300 BC WITH THE WRITING OF HIPPOCRATES AND ARISTOTLE
BASED ON LATIN AND GREEK ROOTS
ALLOWS HEALTH CARE WORKERS TO COMMUNICATE ACCURATLY AND PRECISELY
Spelling and pronunciation are important

3. HIPPOCRATES
IDENTIFIED AND LABELED MANY DISEASES AND ILLNESSES FOR THE FIRST TIME
BEGAN TO ORGANIZE AND CATEGORIZE ILLNESS
Acute, chronic, endemic, epidemic, exacerbation, relapse, resolution, crisis, peak, and convalescence

4. ARISTOTLE GREEK PHILOSOPHER AND MATHEMATICIAN
STUDIED MANY ILLNESS AND DISEASES AND FORMED TERMINOLOGY
Substance, accident, quality, quantity, relaxation

5. CURRENT EXAMPLES ARTHRITIS ELECTROCARDIOGRAM HEPATITIS ANEMIA
GASTROENTERITIS

6. HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND ALL OF THESE TERMS?
BEGIN BY KNOWING THE COMPONENTS OF A WORD
IDENTIFY THE COMPONENTS AND DETERMINE THEIR MEANING
HEMATOLOGY

7. COMPONENTS OF A WORD PREFIX –appears at the beginning
ROOT- gives the essential meaning
COMBINING –connects the root and the suffix
SUFFIX- appears at the end of the word
LOOK AT THE WORD
HEMATOLOGY

8. HOW DO WE BEGIN? APPEARS DIFFICULT AND CONFUSING?
LOOK AT WORD AND DIVIDE INTO ITS PARTS
BEGIN AT THE END OF THE WORD
NOW LOOK AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WORD
DETERMINE THE COMBINING VOWEL
HEMAT / O / LOGY
Root Combining Vowel Suffix
(blood) (study of)

9. (root) (combining vowel) (suffix)
HEMATOLOGY IS:
THE STUDY OF BLOOD
HOW ABOUT HEMATOLOGIST
HEMAT/ O /LOGIST
(root) (combining vowel) (suffix)
(blood) (specialist in the)

10. TRY ANOTHER ONE! ELECTR/O/CARDI/O/GRAM (root) (root) (suffix)
There are two roots in this one!
(combining vowel)
ELECTR/O/CARDI/O/GRAM
(root) (root) (suffix)
(electricity) (heart) (record)

11. SOME THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR
Sometimes there are two roots (previous word)
When suffix begins with vowel, combing vowel is dropped
Gastr/ic
Cardi/ac

12. COMBINING FORMS GASTR/O/ENTER/O/LOGY
When the combining vowel is connected to the root, it is called a COMBINING FORM
(root- stomach) (root-intestines) (suffix-study of)
GASTR/O/ENTER/O/LOGY
(combining form) (combining form) (suffix)

13. COMMON PREFIXES
SUB
below
TRANS
across
RETRO
Behind

14. COMMON SUFFIXES -al -ectomy -ic -itis Pertaining to
Removal, excision, cutting out
-ic
-itis
inflammation

15. REVIEW Break word down into its components
Prefix, root, suffix, combining vowel/forms
Determine meaning of components
Don’t forget suffix that begins with vowel does not have combining vowel
Begin reading with the suffix
After suffix, go to beginning and read across