HOSA: Chapter 10
Health care practices and procedures require a special vocabulary that could be considered a second language. Using a list of common medical terms provided by the teacher, watch a health-care related television program and circle all of the words that are used by the actors. Define the words that you circled and share with the class in a discussion following the activity. Also discuss whether the medical terms in the program were used accurately.
section 10.1
Pronunciation, Word Elements, and Terms Background
Health care workers use medical terminology in their work every day. It is the professional language that helps them communicate effectively and quickly. All caregivers use medical terminology to record orders, write instructions, take notes, and to chart. Health care workers are unable to perform their job if they cannot use and understand medical terminology.
Objectives When you have completed this section, you will be able to do the following:
• Match key terms with their correct meanings. • Define roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
• Define the word elements listed. • Divide medical terms into elements.
• Combine word elements to form medical terms. Introduction to Medical Terminology terminology
(ter muh NOL uh jee) Specialized terms used in any occupation.
Medical terminology can be fun, interesting, and challenging. At first medical terminology may seem hard to learn—it’s like learning a new language. However, with practice it becomes easier and easier. You need to learn how to build a medical term, how to pronounce it, and what it means. This section gives you the tools that you need to learn and understand medical terms.
Pronunciation
If you have never heard medical terms pronounced, they may seem very difficult. To make it easier for you, the following are some hints to help you pronounce the terms correctly:
• ch sounds like k Examples: chyme (kīm), cholecystectomy (kō-l
(kro-nic), chondroid (kon’-droyd)
/
• ps sounds like s Examples: psychiatric (sī-kē-a’-trik), pseudomonas (sū-dō-mō’-nas), psychology (sī-kol’-ō-ji), psoriasis (sō-rī’-a-sis)
• pn sounds like n Examples: pneumonia (nū-mō’-ni-a), pneumatic (nū-mat’-ik)
• c sounds like a soft s when it comes before e, i, and y Examples: cycle (sī-kl), cytoplasm (sī’-tō-plazm), cisternal (sis-ter’-nal), centrifuge (sen’-tri-fūj)
• g sounds like j when it comes before e, i, and y Examples: giant (jī’-ent), gestation (jes-tā’-shun), generic (jen-er’-ik), gyration (jī-rā’-shun)
• i sounds like eye when added to the end of the word to form a plural Examples: glomeruli (glō-mer’-ū-lī), villi (vil’-lī), alveoli (al-vē’-ō-lī), bacilli (ba-sil’-lī)
Forming Medical Terms from Word Elements
Medical terms are words that consist of several parts. All medical terms have a word root. Most medical terms have the word root and a prefix, a combining vowel, and a suffix. In some cases, the word has only a prefix or suffix added to the root. When you add different prefixes and suffixes to the word root, you change the meaning of the medical term. The combining vowel makes the word easier to pronounce. You build a large medical term vocabulary when you learn the meanings of word parts and how to combine them. (Figure 10.1)
Figure 10.1 Prefix Root Root Suffix
• The word root is the main part of the word and tells what the word is about. For instance, cardio is the root word that means “heart.” This is the subject of the word you are going to build.
• The prefix is a word element added to the beginning of a word root. The prefix is added to the root to change the meaning or to make it more specific. The prefix electro means “pertaining to electricity.”
he suffix is an element added to the end of the word root that changes or adds to the meaning of the root. The suffix gram means “record.”
• The combining vowel makes it possible to combine several word roots. It also makes the word easier to pronounce. (Figure 10.2)
Figure 10.2
Prefix—Root–Combining vowel–Suffix. What is the role of the combining vowel in the word shown?
electro Prefix cardi o
Root Combining vowel
gram Suffix
When all the previous word elements are combined, the word is electrocardiogram (electro/cardi/o/gram). It means “an electrical record of the heart.”
The following are some examples of (common) English words (Figure 10.3):
Combining Word Elements Prefix
pre
Root heat
gentle
Figure 10.3 Prefix–Root–Suffix. What is the prefix and suffix in the word “Preheating”?
Suffix ing
ness Word
preheating gentleness
speed o/meter speedometer Pre Prefix heat Root ing Suffix Rules for Combining Word Elements
Rules help make medical terminology easier to learn. When everyone uses the rules, there are fewer mistakes. A mistake in combining a word can change its meaning and cause confusion.
Combining Vowels
• The combining vowel is usually an o, for example, oste/o. Oste means “bone,” and the o is the combining vowel. The o can be added to join a
word root with another word root or a suffix. Sometimes an i, y, or u is used. Combining vowels make it easier to pronounce the term. For example, osteomyelitis is easier to pronounce than ostemyelitis.
• When the suffix begins with one of the vowels (a, e, i, o, u), the o on the root word is not used. Since oste/o ends in o and the suffix -itis begins with a vowel, the o is dropped. The word is osteitis, which means “inflammation of the bone.”
• The combining vowel is placed between root words, for example, osteopo-rosis (oste/o/por/osis). Pronounce the word with the combining vowel, and you can tell that it is easier to say than osteporosis.
he following words are examples of word elements that have been combined to form a medical term:
aden/o/pathy hepat/o/rrhagia poly/arthr/it is hyster/ectomy
disease of the glands hemorrhage of the liver
inflammation of many joints surgical removal of the uterus
hyster/o/salping/ectomy surgical removal of the uterus and fallopian tubes oste/o/por/osis
condition of pores in the bone
After you learn the roots, prefixes, and suffixes, you can combine many word parts to form medical terminology. There is always at least one root word, and there may be more than one root word. When you add a prefix or a suffix you create a new word.
Changing Words from Singular to Plural
• Use the rule for changing words from singular to plural that applies to the language the word comes from; for example, the English word wavelength adds an -s to become wavelengths.
• Since many medical terms come from Greek or Latin, use the following rules for Greek or Latin words:
• Add an -e to a word ending in -a—for example, axilla to axillae.
• Drop the -ax at the end of a word and add -aces—for example, thorax to thoraces.
• Change the -x to -g in a word that ends in -nx and add -es—for example, phalanx to phalanges.
• Drop -ix or -ex at the end of the word and add -ices—for example, appendix to appendices.
• Drop the -y at the end of a word and add -ies—for example, myringoto-my to myringotomies.
• Drop the -us at the end of a word and add an -i—for example, alveolus to alveoli.
• Drop the -on at the end of a word and add an -a—for example, ganglion to ganglia.
• Drop the -is at the end of a word and add -es—for example, metastasis to metastases.
• Drop the -um at the end of a word and add -a—for example, ischium to ischia.
• Drop the -ma at the end of the word and add -mata—for example, stoma to stomata.
Understanding Medical Terminology
Knowing prefixes, roots, and suffixes makes it possible to write and decipher common medical and dental terms. For example, if you come across the term ten-donitis, you can identify the root as tendon and the suffix -itis. Because this suffix means inflammation, tendonitis must describe an inflammation of a tendon.
Now consider the term arthroscope. The root is arthro, meaning “joint” and the suffix is -scope, meaning “picture.” An arthroscope is a diagnostic tool that gives physicians a way to take a picture, or form an image, of a structure inside the body, such as a knee.
A related term, osteoarthritis, can be interpreted in a similar way. To break this
term into parts, find the prefix, root, and suffix. The root is arthro, meaning “joint.” The prefix is osteo-, meaning “bone,” and the suffix is -itis, meaning “in-flammation.” By putting the parts of the term together, you can figure out that osteoarthritis is an inflammation of the bone’s joint.
How to Use Medical Terminology
Medical terminology provides a system for health workers to communicate with each other. When a patient complains to the doctor about a “pain in the stomach,” it can mean many different things. Often the patient is referring to pain in the lower abdominal cavity and not the stomach. For instance, the patient may be assuming that “the stomach” is the entire area between the ribs and the pelvis.
The doctor must ask exactly where the pain is, how it feels, how long it has been a problem, and other questions. After making a diagnosis the primary case provider must be able to tell the health care workers exactly what the problem is. When the entire health care team understands the problem they can treat the patient in the most effective way.
The patient in the above situation could have any of the following or any number of other problems:
• Gastritis • Hepatitis
• Appendicitis • Pancreatitis
• Gastralgia • Ileitis
• Colitis • Diverticulitis
Health Terms Dictionary
Sometimes a step towards learning a new vocabu-lary term is to actually write it out yourself, rather than just reading it in a textbook or looking it up in the dictionary or on the Internet. To help determine the meaning of unknown or multiple-meaning words or phrases, it may be beneficial to create your own medical dictionary. As you cre-ate your medical dictionary, be sure to verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of the word or phrase. It might also be helpful to include the phonetic pronunciation for words that may not sound as they appear.
If you have access to a computer to create your dictionary, you can easily sort the words alphabeti-Summary
Medical terminology is formed by using three components: prefixes, roots, and suffixes. To make the words easier to pronounce, a combining vowel such as i, o, y, or u may be used. In this section, you learned many word elements to help you be a better prepared health care worker.