KEY CONCEPTS:
Upon completion of this topic, it is expected that the reader will understand these following concepts:
• Understanding the origins of medical terminology
• How prefixes and suffixes complement a root word’s meaning
• The importance of standard abbreviations
• Using topographic anatomy to accurately describe the body’s position and direction
Case study:
As a new member to the agency’s quality improvement committee, the young Paramedic was assigned to review patient run records. He complained that many providers abbreviated terms haphazardly or misspelled medical or anatomical terms. Relying on his previous educational degree, he devised a game to teach medical terms, acceptable abbreviations, and terms to describe a body’s position or location.
OVERVIEW
To communicate accurately and clearly to other healthcare providers, the Paramedic needs to use proper medical terminology. By examining common grammatical rules and the breakdown of words, terms can be used more efficiently and accurately. A clear and accurate report includes a body’s location via topographic anatomy and the standard anatomical position.
Medical Terminology
While reading the medical literature, the fledgling Paramedic may come across many unfamiliar terms and wonder about their meaning. These medical terms may appear difficult to learn and even more difficult to pronounce. One might even think one is learning a second language. That would actually be correct.
The language of medicine is called medicalese.1 By understanding a few rules of medical terminology, the Paramedic can quickly learn a term’s meaning. The Paramedic’s vocabulary will expand and the Paramedic will become fluent in medicalese.
This topic is an overview of terms and abbreviations commonly used by Paramedics.
Medicalese
Medicalese has its roots in Greek and Latin words. In the ancient past these two dialects were common to all men of science, regardless of their national origins, and it was through this common medium that scientists were able to share ideas. As medicine began to embrace science it also adopted the Latin and Greek vocabulary for the same purpose, as a medium for communication.
As time went on, medicine started to develop an extensive vocabulary (a lexicon) of medical expressions and terminology. The use of the medical lexicon continues to the present day as a means for communication between medical professionals of differing practice.
PROFESSIONAL PARAMEDIC
The professional Paramedic, when mentoring healthcare students, should use the correct medical term and then follow that up with the common term. This helps teach medicalese as well as reinforces medical terminology for the Paramedic.
Anatomy of Medical Terminology
By following several basic rules, the Paramedic can understand and learn medical terminology. First, most medical terms consist of four parts: the root word, a prefix and/or a suffix, and a combining form. These parts can be thought of as the building blocks of medical terminology.
A root word relates to the main idea and often describes the organ involved or the key symptom. For example, "cardi" is Latin, meaning the heart. Learning root words means memorizing these words.2 Fortunately, using prefixes and/or suffixes, many terms are built from a relative handful of root words (Table 12-1). Prefixes and/or suffixes build on a root word, giving it a new meaning.
When a prefix complements a root, it is placed at the beginning of the root (Tables 12-2 to 12-5). Take, for example, the word "pericardium." The root, on the right, is "cardi," meaning heart. The prefix, "peri," means around. Therefore, the term "pericardium" would mean "around the heart."
Table 12-1 Common Word Roots Used in EMS
|
Root |
Meaning |
|
Aden/o- |
Gland |
|
Arthr/o- |
Joint |
|
Card/o- |
Heart |
|
Cephal/o- |
Head |
|
Cerebr/o- |
Cerebrum |
|
Cyst/o- |
Bladder |
|
Encephal/o- |
Brain |
|
Enter/o- |
Intestines |
|
Erythr/o- |
Red |
|
Gastro/o- |
Stomach |
|
Gloss/o- |
Mouth |
|
Hem/o- |
Blood |
|
Hepat/o- |
Liver |
|
Ile/o- |
Small intestine |
|
Lingu/o- |
Tongue |
|
Nephr/o- |
Kidneys |
|
Neur/o- |
Nerves |
|
Onc/o- |
Cancer |
|
Oste/o |
Bone |
|
Ot/o- |
Ear |
|
Path/o- |
Disease |
|
Ped/o- |
Children |
|
Ren/o- |
Kidneys |
|
Splem/o- |
Spleen |
|
Thromb/o- |
Clot |
|
Trach/o- |
Trachea |
Table 12-2 Partial List of Medical Prefixes
|
Prefix |
Meaning |
Origin |
|
a/- |
"without" |
Greek |
|
ab/- |
"from"/"away from" |
Latin |
|
ad/- |
"toward" |
Latin |
|
ambi/- |
"both" |
Greek |
|
dextro/- |
"right side" |
Latin |
|
levo/- |
"left" |
Latin |
|
dia/- |
"throughout" |
Greek |
|
entero/- |
"within" |
Greek |
|
hetero/- |
"different" |
Greek |
|
homo/- |
"same" |
Greek |
|
hyper/- |
"beyond"/"high" |
Greek |
|
hydro/- |
"water" |
Greek |
|
hypo/- |
"beneath"/"low" |
Greek |
|
iatr/- |
"healer" |
Greek |
|
leuko/- |
"white’ |
Greek |
|
macro/- |
"large"/"long" |
Greek |
|
mega/- |
"great" |
Greek |
|
micro/- |
"small" |
Greek |
|
neo/- |
"new" |
Greek |
|
oligo/- |
"scant" |
Greek |
|
orth/- |
"straight" |
Greek |
|
osteo/- |
"bone" |
Greek |
|
oto/- |
"ear" |
Greek |
|
patho/- |
"suffering" |
Greek |
|
phlebo/- |
"vein" |
Greek |
|
pneumo/- |
"air" |
Greek |
|
poly/- |
"many" |
Greek |
|
pro/- |
"before" |
Latin |
|
tachy/- |
"rapid" |
Greek |
|
toc/- |
"childbirth" |
Greek |
|
trans/- |
"across" |
Latin |
Table 12-3 Prefixes of Color
|
Prefix |
Color |
|
<Alb/- |
"White" |
|
Chlor/- |
"Green" |
|
Cirr/- |
"Yellow" |
|
Cyan/- |
"Blue" |
|
Erthr/- |
"Red" |
|
Glauco/- |
"Grey" |
|
Leuk/- |
"White" |
|
Melan/- |
"Black" |
Table 12-4 Prefixes of Position
|
Prefix |
Position |
|
Ad/- |
"toward" |
|
Ante/- |
"in front" |
|
Anti/- |
"against" |
|
Apo/- |
"separate" |
|
Circum/- |
"around" |
|
Contra/- |
"against" |
|
Dia/- |
"through" |
|
Dis/- |
"apart" |
|
Dorso/- |
"back" |
|
Epi/- |
"upon" |
|
Later/ |
"side" |
|
Eco/- |
"out" |
|
Endo/- |
"in" |
|
Exo/- |
"out" |
|
In/- |
"in" |
|
Opistho/ |
"backwards" |
|
Peri/- |
"around" |
|
Posto/- |
"after" |
|
Pre/- |
"in front" |
|
Pro/- |
"in front" |
|
Re/- |
"again" |
|
Retro/- |
"backwards" |
|
Trans/- |
"through" |
|
Ventro/- |
"in front" |
Table 12-5 Prefixes of Numbers
|
Prefix |
Amounts |
|
Aniso/- |
"unequal" |
|
Diplo/- |
"double" |
|
Hyper/- |
"above" |
|
Hypo/- |
"below" |
|
In/- |
"none" |
|
Iso/- |
"equal" |
|
Macro/- |
"large" |
|
Mega/- |
"large" |
|
Micro/- |
"small" |
|
Multi/- |
"many" |
|
Oligo/- |
"few" |
|
Pan/- |
"all" |
|
Poly/- |
"many" |
|
Prim/- |
"first" |
|
Prot/- |
"first" |
When a suffix complements a root, it is placed after the root and changes the meaning of the term (Tables 12-6 to 12-9). Using the term "myocarditis," for example, and reading from right to left, the term "-itis" means infection, the term "cardi-" means heart, and the prefix "myo-" means muscle. The term "myocarditis" means an infection of the cardiac muscle.
Table 12-6 Partial List of Common Suffixes for Diagnosis
|
Suffix |
Meaning |
Used |
Meaning |
|
-algia |
Pain |
Neuralgia |
Nerve pain |
|
-cele |
Swelling |
Hydrocele |
Water cyst |
|
-emia |
Blood |
Anemia |
Without blood |
|
-ectasis |
Expansion |
Bronchiectasis |
Enlarged bronchi |
|
-dynia |
Pain |
Angiodynia |
Pain with IV |
|
-edema |
Swelling |
Laryngoedema |
Swollen throat |
|
-gen |
Begin |
Carcinogen |
Cancer causing |
|
-iasis |
Formation |
Cholelithiasis |
Gall stone |
|
-itis |
Inflammation |
Pharyngitis |
Sore throat |
|
-megaly |
Enlargement |
Cardiomegaly |
Enlarged heart |
|
-oma |
Tumor |
Carcinoma |
Cancer |
|
-pathy |
Disease |
Myopathy |
Disease of muscle |
|
-phasia |
Speech |
Aphasia |
Speechless |
|
-plegia |
Paralysis |
Hemiplegia |
Help paralysis |
|
-phobia |
Fear |
Agoraphobia |
Fear of places |
|
-rrhagia |
Flow |
Dysmenorrhagia |
Excessive menstrual f 1 ow |
|
-rrhage |
Burst |
Hemorrhage |
Bleeding |
|
-rrhea |
Discharge |
Otorrhea |
Discharge from ear |
|
-scopy |
Examine |
Bronchoscopy |
Examine the bronchi |
|
-spasm |
Contraction |
Bronchospasm |
Contraction of bronchi |
Table 12-7 Surgical Suffixes
|
Suffix |
Meaning |
Used |
|
-clasis |
Breakdown |
Osteoclasis |
|
-ectomy |
Removal |
Appendectomy |
|
-centesis |
Tap or drain |
Pericardial centesis |
|
-lysis |
Loosen/divide |
Fibrinolysis |
|
-plasty |
Formation |
Rhinoplasty |
|
-stomy |
Opening |
Tracheostomy |
|
-tripsy |
Crush |
Lithotripsy |
|
-tomy |
Cut |
Tracheotomy |
When two or more roots are placed together, they must be separated by a vowel. Physicians often use these combining forms to explain a complex process. For example, the term "cardiomyopathy" has as its roots "cardia-," meaning heart, "my," meaning muscle, and "patho," meaning disease. The letter "O" separates the roots "cardia," "my," and "path." "Cardiomyopathy," reading from right to left, means disease of the muscle of the heart.
Combining Forms
Sometimes two root terms are used and a combining vowel must be used to make the two root terms distinguishable but connected (Table 12-10). Typically the letter "o" is used. For example, "cardi-: "o" "-logy" is the study of the heart.
However, if the root word ends with a vowel, then it is unnecessary to use a combining vowel. For example, combining "cyst-" with "-itis" would be "cystitis," not "cystoitis."
