Interpret and Apply Medical Terminology BSBMED301B

Objectives Respond appropriately to instructions containing medical terminology Carry out routine tasks Use appropriate terminology in oral and written communication with patients, fellow workers and other health professionals

Word analysis In a health setting, medical words are constantly used You will learn to divide the words into parts, know the meaning of the parts and then use that knowledge to understand The parts of a word are called the prefix, stem and suffix The stem gives the meaning of the word The suffix is the end of a word The prefix is the beginning of a word Combining vowel connects stems and suffixes and stems to other stems

Word analysis An example is haematology, which has 3 parts Haemat- (stem word) O- (combining vowel) Logy- (suffix) Begin at the end of a word, called the suffix All medical terms have suffixes Our example was logy which means “study of” Now look at the beginning of the word Haemat means blood The third part is “O” which has no meaning, but connects the start and end of the word The word therefore means “the study of blood”

Word analysis Look at the term “electrocardiogram” “electr” is the stem and means electricity “o” is the combing vowel “cardi” is also a stem word and means heart “o” is another combining vowel “gram” is a suffix and means record

Word analysis Start with the suffix, “gram”, meaning record Look at the beginning, “electr”, which means electricity. This is a stem word and a prefix This word has 2 stem words the second is “cardi”, meaning heart The word means a record of the electricity in the heart Notice 2 combining vowels, if you find the vowel, this helps to divide the word into parts

Word analysis Break down the word “gastroenterology” “gastr” is both a prefix and a stem word and means stomach “O” is a combining vowel “enter” is a stem word that means intestines “O” is another combining vowel “logy” is a suffix and means study of The word means the study of the stomach and intestines

Activities Break these words down, state the prefix, stem and suffix and meaning of the word Gastroscope Enteritis Cytology Dermatitis Erythrocyte haematoma

Word analysis The suffix “ic” means pertaining to and when used the combining vowel is dropped. Words ending in “ic” are adjectives . Examples are “gastric” which means relating to the stomach and “cephalic” which means relating to the head Sometimes “ac” is used and this also means pertaining to An example would be “cardiac”, relating to the heart

Word analysis The suffix “itis” means inflammation or infection again the combining vowel is dropped when this is used An example is the word “enteritis”, which means inflammation of the intestines Look at the word “gastroenteritis”. The combining vowel “o” stays, but because the suffix begins with a vowel, the second “o” is dropped

Word analysis The prefix is the part of the word that is attached to the beginning This can change the meaning of a word to indicate things such as position, size, colour Sub gastric means below the stomach Transgastric means across the stomach Retrogastric means behind the stomach

Word analysis Remember Read from the suffix to the beginning and then across the word Drop the combining vowel before a suffix that starts with a vowel Use dictionaries and always ask!

Activities In the following slides, work out the final meanings of the medical terms.....

Activities Combining form meaning term Aden/o gland Adenoma, oma means tumour or mass Arthr/o joint Arthritis, itis is inflammation Bi/o life Biology, ology is study of Biopsy, opsy means to view Carcin/o cancer carcinoma Cardi/o heart cardiology Cephal/o head Cephalic, ic means relating to Cerebr/o Part of brain Cerebral, al means relating to Cyst/o Urinary bladder Cystoscope, scope means instrument to view Cyt/o cell cytology Dermat/o skin dermatitis Electr/o electricity Electrocardiogram, gram means record Enter/o intestine enteritis

Activities Combining form meaning term Erythr/o red Erythrocyte, cyte means cell Gastr/o stomach Gastroscopy, scopy means instrument that views Gnos/o knowledge Diagnosis, sis means the state of, dia means complete Gynaec/o Woman, female gynaecology Haemat/o blood Haematoma, oma means mass or tumor Hepat/o liver hepatitis Lapar/o abdomen Laparotmy,tomy means incision

Activities Combining form meaning term Leuk/o white leucocyte Nephr/o kidney Nephrectomy, ectomy means to cut out Onc/o tumor Oncologist, ist means specialist Opthalm/o eye opthalmoscope Oste/o bone osteoarthritis Path/o disease pathologist Psych/o mind Psychosis, osis means abnormal condition Ren/o Renal, al is relating to Rhin/o nose Rhinitis

Activities Combining form meaning term Sarc/o flesh sarcoma Thromb/o clotting thrombocyte