Medical-English-1

MEDICALENGLISHThisBasicCourseinMedicalEnglishisIntendedtoHelpStudentsUnderstandMedicalTerminology:Wordstructure,PronunciationandMeanings.•Medicalterminology,likeanylivinglanguage,isnotstatic.Ithasbecomeadynamictoolofnotonlythoseinthemedicalprofessionsbutalsoinsurers,lawyers,equipmentsuppliers,pharmaceuticalrepresentatives,andotherswhointeractwithhealthcareprovidersandconsumers.•Tokeepapaceofmedicalsciencemedicallanguagemustexpandandchange.•Learningthebasicsisimportant,butconstantupdatingisneeded.•ItisimportanttorememberaswebeginourstudiesofMedicalEnglishthatliketheEnglishlanguageitselfwearestudyingalanguagethatisconstantlychanging…addingnewwordsandphrasesatanastonishingrate.Atthesametimeotherwordsbecauseofnewbreakthroughsinmedicinebecomediscardedorobsolete.•BasicallymedicalvocabularyincludestermsbuiltfromGreekandLatinwordparts,someofwhichwereusedbyHippocratesandAristotlemorethan2400yearsago.Therearealsoeponyms,acronyms,andtermsfrommodernlanguage.GreekandLatinTermsEponymssuchasParkinson’sdisease.•Awordbasedonorderivedfromaperson’sname.Parkinsonwasthedoctorwhodiscoveredthediseasesohisnameisused.•Acronymssuchaslaser(lightamplificationbystimulatedemissionofradiation)L-A-S-E-R..LASER.Awordformedfromtheinitiallettersorgroupsoflettersofwordsinasetphraseorseriesofwords.(OrganizationofPetroleumExportingCountries)O-P-E-C..OPEC•ModernLanguagesuchasNuclearMedicineScanner•ThemajorityofmedicaltermsincurrentusearecomposedofGreekandLatinwordparts.Thesetermscanbelearnedbytwoways:(1)memorizingtermsor(2)learningwordpartsandhowtheyfittogethertoformmedicalterms.•Memorizationcanbeboringsolearningwordpartsandhowtheyfittogetherprovidesthebestwaytolearningsomanymedicalterms.Thereforethewordpartmethodisusedtolearntermscomposedofwordparts.Thememorizationmethodisusedtolearnothertermsnotbuiltfromwordparts,suchasCoronaryarterybypassgraftorAlzheimerDisease.•Medicalwordsarelikeindividualjigsawpuzzles.Onceyoudividethetermsintotheircomponentpartsandlearnthemeaningoftheindividualpartsyoucanusethatknowledgetounderstandmanyothernewterms.•Forexample,thetermHEMATOLOGYisdividedintothreeparts:HEMAT/O/LOGYRootcombiningvowelsuffix(blood)(studyof)•Whenanalyzingamedicalterm,beginattheendoftheword.Theendingiscalledthesuffix.Allmedicaltermscontainsuffixes.ThesuffixinHEMATOLOGYisLOGY,whichmeansstudyof.Nowlookatthebeginningoftheterm.HEMATisthewordroot.Therootgivestheessentialmeaningoftheterm.TherootHEMATmeansblood.•Thethirdpartofthisterm,whichistheletterOhasnomeaningofitsownbutisanimportantconnectorbetweentherootHEMATandthesuffixLOGY.Itiscalledacombiningvowel.TheletterOisthecombiningvowelusuallyfoundinmedicalterms.AcombiningvowelisawordpartusuallyanOthatisusedtoeasepronunciation.•Puttingtogetherthemeaningofthesuffixandtheroot,thetermHEMATOLOGYmeansthestudyofblood.•Hereisanotherfamiliarmedicalterm:ELECTROCARDIOGRAM.Youprobablyknowthisterm,oftenabbreviatedasEKGorECG.Thisishowyoudivideitintoitsparts.ELECTROCARDIOGRAMRootcombiningvowelrootcombiningvowelsuffixElectricityHeartrecord•Startwiththesuffixattheendoftheterm.ThesuffixGRAMmeansarecord.NowlookatthebeginningofthetermELECTRisawordrootanditmeanselectricity.Thismedicaltermhastworoots.ThesecondrootisCARDImeaningheart.WheneveryouseeCARDIinothermedicaltermsyouwillknowthatitmeansheart.•READTHEMEANINGOFMEDICALTERMSFROMSUFFIX,BACKTOTHEBEGINNINGOFTHETERM,THENACROSS.•Thustheentiretermmeansrecordoftheelectricityintheheart.Itistheelectricitywithintheheartthatcausestheheartmuscletocontractpumpingbloodthroughoutyourbody.Thecontractionandrelaxationofheartmusclesarecalledtheheartbeat.•NoticethetwocombiningvowelsinELECTROCARDIOGRAM.LookingforthevowelOinmedicaltermswillhelpyoudividethetermintoitsparts.Onecombiningvowel(O)liesbetweenroots(ELECTRANDCARDI)andanotherliesbetweentheroot(CARDI)andthesuffix(GRAM).•Thecombiningvowelplustherootiscalledacombiningform.Forexample,therearetwocombiningformsinthewordELECTROCARDIOGRAM.ThesecombiningformsareELECTROmeaningelectricityandCARDIOmeaningheart.CombiningVowels•Inthewordmen/o/pause…oisthecombiningvowelusedbetweentwowordroots.•Inthemedicaltermarthr/o/pathy…oisthecombiningvowelusedbetweenthewordrootarthrandthesuffix-pathy(whichmeansdisease).•Inthemedicaltermsub/hepat/ic….thecombiningvowelisnotusedbetweentheprefixsub-andthewordroothepat.Thecombiningvowelis:•Usedtoconnecttwowordroots.•Usedtoconnectawordrootandasuffix•Notusedtoconnectaprefixandawordroot.GuidelinesforusingCombiningvowels:1.Whenconnectingawordroottoasuffix,acombiningvowelisusedifthesuffixdoesnotbeginwithavowel.Example:•Inthemedicaltermarthr/o/pathy….thesuffix–pathydoesnotbeginwithavowel.2.Whenconnectingawordrootandasuffix,acombiningvowelisusuallynotusedifthesuffixbeginswithavowel.Example:•Inthemedicaltermhepat/ic….thesuffix–icbeginswithavowel;thereforeacombiningvowelisnotused.3.Whenconnectingtwowordroots,acombiningvowelisusuallyusedevenifvowelsarepresentatthejunction.•Example:•Inthemedicaltermoste/o/arthr/itis…oisthecombiningvowelused,eventhoughthewordrootoste(whichmeansbone)endswiththevowele,andthewordrootarthrbeginswitht