1. MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY
PRESENTATION OF CHAPTER 1
BY
FRANCINE KING

2. This chapter covers the basic knowledge and
understanding of medical language and terminology
used by health care professionals everywhere.
• Surgeons
• Doctors
• Nurses
• Pharmacists
• Medical Assistants

3. In order to understand how to analyze and
construct medical terms you need the four
types of elements
• Prefixes
• Suffixes
• Root Word
• Combining Vowels

4. The correct characteristic for a successful
medical term include the following:
• Spelling
• Pronunciation
• Proper use of prefixes, suffixes, and root words
• Singular and Plural use for the ending of the medical
word.

5. Prefix
• There are two types of prefixes
• Common Prefixes: Terms used more commonly that
are followed by a hyphen
• Number Prefix: These prefix involves the number of
items or measurements
• The prefix is the front part of the term.

6. Suffix
• ( the back end of the term)
• Common are also followed by a hyphen.
• Example, cardiologist.
• Cardio-hearts,
• logist-one who studies
• This term means someone who studies the heart.
• Surgical is used for surgical procedures.

7. Root Word
• Gives us a definition or meaning of the medical term.
• Involves the parts of the body or body system in
which the medical professional is trying to
demonstrate.
• A medical term may have many different word roots.
• Example: Epigastric
• Epi-over

8. Combining Vowels
• This helps combine the meanings of medical terms.
By combining many different parts to a word.
• The vowels are kept between the root word or suffix.
• Unless the vowel is place in the beginning of the
word.
• The vowel O is used in most cases.
• Helps pronunciation easier.

9. Healthcare Documents
• Medical documents are details about the patient.
• It may show the history, physical state, the attending
physicians, the orders of the physician, progress of
the patient, diagnosis, operative report (when
operation is being performed), Ancillary,
Anesthesiologists report (when an anesthetic is
being used), pathology report (when and if the
patient has this test), and discharge summary.
• All information regarding the patient must be kept
confidential, unless signed by the patient to release
information.

10. Presentation by Francine King
This concludes the Introduction to Medical
Terminology!!!!