Nursing Student & Career Reference Quickstudy

Julie Henry, Henry

• Publisher: QuickStudy Reference Guides
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781423237334
• Topic: Medicina
• Subtopic: Teoría, práctica y referencia médicas

Nursing: Student Career & Reference provides real-world knowledge that will prepare nursing students for school and the reality of a nursing career. With over 320 full-color pages and a format that makes it easy to read and find answers for the NCLEX-RN exam, it's like having your own personal nursing coach by your side.

9

Medical Terminology, Abbreviations & Acronyms

9 Medical Terminology, Abbreviations & Acronyms

• Introduction
• Medical Terms
• Medical Abbreviations
• Terms & Abbreviations for Body Systems

Introduction

To interpret physician orders and patient charts, you will need to be able to speak the language. This chapter will give you an overview of how medical words are structured. It also includes an A–Z list of medical terms, as well as an extensive list of medical abbreviations and acronyms.

Medical Terms

Structure of Medical Words

Most medical words are composethyroxine of two or more terms; to define a medical word:

• Divide the word into its terms: Term + Term = Medical Word
• Analyze the terms.
• Define the word.

Examples

Pericarditis

• peri = around; card = heart; itis = inflammation
• Definition: Inflammation around the heart

Oncology

• onco = tumor, mass; logy = study of
• Definition: Study of tumors

There are four categories of terms:

• Prefix: The beginning of a word (e.g., pre-, post-), designated by a hyphen before the root word
• Suffix: The ending of a word (e.g., -stomy, -itis), designated by a hyphen after the root word
• Root: The foundation, or base, of a word (e.g., hepat, gastr)
• Combining form: A vowel (usually o) added to a root (e.g., gastro); use a combining form when joining:
  • A root to another root (e.g., gastrohepatitis)
  • A root to a suffix beginning with a consonant (e.g., cardiomegaly)

Examples

Hyperleukocytosis

• hyper (prefix) = excessive
• leuko (combining form) = white
• cyt (root) = cell
• osis (suffix) = condition of
• Definition: Condition of excessive white [blood] cells (leukocytes)

Hematotoxic

• hemato (combining form) = blood
• tox (root) = poison
• ic (suffix) = pertaining to
• Definition: Pertaining to blood poisoning

Some terms have more than one definition; to determine the correct definition in a particular medical word, analyze the other terms in the word.

Examples

Poliomyelitis

• polio (prefix) = gray matter
• myel (root) = spinal cord or bone marrow
• itis (suffix) = inflammation
• Definition: Inflammation of the gray matter of the spinal cord; the bone marrow does not have gray matter.

Some terms may function as a root or combining form in one word and as a suffix in another word; classification depends on the specific medical word.

Examples

Cytology

• cyto (combining form) = cell
• logy (suffix) = study of
• Definition: Study of cells

Erythrocyte

• erythro (combining form) = red
• cyte (suffix) = cell
• Definition: Red blood cell

Terminology Sets

Directional Terms

ab-: away from ad-: toward, near ambi-: around, on both sides, about amphi-: around, on both sides ana-: up, backward, against ante-: before, forward anter/o: front anti-: against apo-: away, separated cata-: down, under circum-: around contra-: against, opposite dextr/o: right dia-: through, throughout dis-: apart, to separate dist/o: distant ec-, ecto-: outside, out en-, endo-: inside, within epi-: above, over, upon eso-: within ex-: out, away from exo-: outside, outward extra-: outside fore-: before, in front hyper-: above, excessive, beyond hypo-: under, deficient, below infra-: below, beneath inter-: between intra-: within juxta-: near later/o: side levo-: left medi/o: middle meso-: middle para-: alongside, near, beyond, abnormal per-: through, throughout peri-: around, s...