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Medical Terminology For Dummies
Confused by medical terms? Don’t know a carcinoma from a hematoma? Medical Terminology For Dummies gets you up to speed quickly on medical terminology fundamentals and helps you master medical definitions, pronunciations, and applications across all health care fields. Once you understand medical prefixes, suffixes, and root words, you’ll approach even unfamiliar medical terms with confidence. This plain-English guide to language that can be just plain confusing clears up the meanings of the Greek and Latin sources of medical terms. You’ll get a handle on how these mouthfuls are constructed, and discover how to decipher any medical term, no matter how complex or unusual. You’ll also get plenty of help in pronouncing and remembering medical words, and you’ll find out how and why the terminology changes from hospital to laboratory to pharmacy. You’ll discover how Complete with a list of essential references on medical terminology as well as helpful word-building activities Medical Terminology For Dummies puts you in the know in no time .
384 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2008
148 people are currently reading
671 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 25, 2013
This was not exactly as helpful as I thought for my new job, but I did learn a lot. There are some great etymology lessons that would be helpful for figuring out word definitions. Not a "fun read" but I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who wants to learn more about medicine and anatomy.
February 18, 2013
Aside from being a good clinical scientist, being able to empathise with patients, deal with great emotional demands, among other things, a doctor must be a good team-player.
Part of working with other people, especially in a team, is good communication. In a multidisciplinary team caring for a patient, a lack of effective communication may lead to mistakes as information is not correctly relayed. In many cases, better communication leads to more effective care.
I read Medical Terminology for Dummies mainly in order to gain the most out of my work experience by understanding more about what the healthcare team was talking about, but I've gained much more from the book.
Humorous and informative, Medical Terminology for Dummies was written by Beverley Henderson, a medical terminology instructor, and Jennifer Dorsey, a writer and editor of several books. The book aims to teach readers how to identify and pronounce medical terms, understand word foundations and origins, deconstruct words to grasp definitions and describe medical conditions accurately.
Medical terminology is so frequently seen in medical dramas. Doctors on TV may say something like, "Mrs. Terry had a syncopal episode following tachycardia, so I sent her off for a Holter monitor," which really means, "Mrs. Terry fainted after having an unusually rapid pulse so we're monitoring her heart rhythms for 24 hours." You may have heard a doctor talking about an EEG, CT, PET and MRI, among many other abbreviated names for scans. Medical terminology is important in Medicine for three obvious reasons:
1. One word can express many. Consider "appendicectomy" versus "a surgical procedure to remove an appendix," or "tonsillitis" versus "inflammation of the tonsils."
2. Information can be relayed from person to person with great accuracy. Consider "a Salter-Harris II fracture of the right digital radius with moderate lateral displacement and 28 degrees of upward angulation," versus "a badly broken wrist."
3. To accommodate for new technologies. Consider "laparascopic surgery," versus "surgery through a small hole in the body with a fibre-optic instrument."
The book initially begins with a lesson on linguistics, looking at etymology, prefixes, suffixes, eponyms, antonyms, eponyms (a thing named after a person), etc.
Etymology is the study of the origin of words. I personally find it interesting, others may think it's boring. Others may say "It's all Greek to me!" and although it is probably more correct to be saying "It's all Latin to me!" it is true that most medical terms come Latin and Ancient Greek. Take the word opthalmologist (an eye doctor) - this comes from Ancient Greek ophthalmos, meaning "eye." And what about your quadriceps muscle in your thigh, which comes from Latin quattuor and caput, meaning "four-headed." (Note: your quadriceps aren't literally four-headed, but its name stems from the fact that it has four sections!)
To help you learn medical jargon, it is good to learn etymology because the root of the word, or the main part of the word, usually talks about what you are dealing with, usually a body part. The root is usually the Greek or Latin part of the word.
Common roots that refer to a body part include blephar (eyelid), cephal (head), cervic (cervix), cardio (heart), derma (skin), gingiv (gums), gnath (jaws), labi (lips), lapar (abdomen), mammo (breast), mast (breast), occipit (back of the head), etc. Hence blepharitis is inflammation of the eyelid, hydrocephaly is the accumulation of water in the head, cervical cancer is cancer of the cervix, a cardiologist is a heart specialist and a dermatologist is a skin specialist.
The root is normally flanked by two bits - the prefix which occurs at the beginning of the word and tells you about the condition of the main topic (the root) and the suffix which generally indicates what is being done to the main topic.
Although this book is great (it is true gold amongst the cavern of information out there!), one issue I have with this book, albeit a trivial one, is that this book is written all in American English, which is fair enough, since most of its readers would be American. Having said that, it is important to be careful in terms of spelling! Dearest Americans, in England, we have gynaecologists and haematologists, not gynecologists and hematologists! ;)
Other than that, this book is a very useful too and it has definitely allowed me to be a more perceptive person during my work experience, understanding more of what was being discussed as well as being able to decipher what some unfamiliar words mean too!
Part of working with other people, especially in a team, is good communication. In a multidisciplinary team caring for a patient, a lack of effective communication may lead to mistakes as information is not correctly relayed. In many cases, better communication leads to more effective care.
I read Medical Terminology for Dummies mainly in order to gain the most out of my work experience by understanding more about what the healthcare team was talking about, but I've gained much more from the book.
Humorous and informative, Medical Terminology for Dummies was written by Beverley Henderson, a medical terminology instructor, and Jennifer Dorsey, a writer and editor of several books. The book aims to teach readers how to identify and pronounce medical terms, understand word foundations and origins, deconstruct words to grasp definitions and describe medical conditions accurately.
Medical terminology is so frequently seen in medical dramas. Doctors on TV may say something like, "Mrs. Terry had a syncopal episode following tachycardia, so I sent her off for a Holter monitor," which really means, "Mrs. Terry fainted after having an unusually rapid pulse so we're monitoring her heart rhythms for 24 hours." You may have heard a doctor talking about an EEG, CT, PET and MRI, among many other abbreviated names for scans. Medical terminology is important in Medicine for three obvious reasons:
1. One word can express many. Consider "appendicectomy" versus "a surgical procedure to remove an appendix," or "tonsillitis" versus "inflammation of the tonsils."
2. Information can be relayed from person to person with great accuracy. Consider "a Salter-Harris II fracture of the right digital radius with moderate lateral displacement and 28 degrees of upward angulation," versus "a badly broken wrist."
3. To accommodate for new technologies. Consider "laparascopic surgery," versus "surgery through a small hole in the body with a fibre-optic instrument."
The book initially begins with a lesson on linguistics, looking at etymology, prefixes, suffixes, eponyms, antonyms, eponyms (a thing named after a person), etc.
Etymology is the study of the origin of words. I personally find it interesting, others may think it's boring. Others may say "It's all Greek to me!" and although it is probably more correct to be saying "It's all Latin to me!" it is true that most medical terms come Latin and Ancient Greek. Take the word opthalmologist (an eye doctor) - this comes from Ancient Greek ophthalmos, meaning "eye." And what about your quadriceps muscle in your thigh, which comes from Latin quattuor and caput, meaning "four-headed." (Note: your quadriceps aren't literally four-headed, but its name stems from the fact that it has four sections!)
To help you learn medical jargon, it is good to learn etymology because the root of the word, or the main part of the word, usually talks about what you are dealing with, usually a body part. The root is usually the Greek or Latin part of the word.
Common roots that refer to a body part include blephar (eyelid), cephal (head), cervic (cervix), cardio (heart), derma (skin), gingiv (gums), gnath (jaws), labi (lips), lapar (abdomen), mammo (breast), mast (breast), occipit (back of the head), etc. Hence blepharitis is inflammation of the eyelid, hydrocephaly is the accumulation of water in the head, cervical cancer is cancer of the cervix, a cardiologist is a heart specialist and a dermatologist is a skin specialist.
The root is normally flanked by two bits - the prefix which occurs at the beginning of the word and tells you about the condition of the main topic (the root) and the suffix which generally indicates what is being done to the main topic.
Although this book is great (it is true gold amongst the cavern of information out there!), one issue I have with this book, albeit a trivial one, is that this book is written all in American English, which is fair enough, since most of its readers would be American. Having said that, it is important to be careful in terms of spelling! Dearest Americans, in England, we have gynaecologists and haematologists, not gynecologists and hematologists! ;)
Other than that, this book is a very useful too and it has definitely allowed me to be a more perceptive person during my work experience, understanding more of what was being discussed as well as being able to decipher what some unfamiliar words mean too!
October 17, 2012
Wow, great reference! I picked this up because I wanted to learn more about the Latin and Greek root words of fancy doctor-speak, beyond the basics like "-itis" = inflammation and "-plasty" = surgical reconstruction. This book had what I was looking for, and so much more.
It's like Vocabulary Builder meets Anatomy 101. The book is divided into chapters each tackling a different system of the human body (skeletal, muscular, gastrointestinal, nervous, reproductive, etc.) Aside from breaking the terms in each system down into their basic Latin/Greek roots, each chapter also provided a good overview on how things work, like a friendly biology lesson for the layperson. This is something you could give to an inquisitive teenager, as a supplement to his or her Biology class. It does include illustrations.
There are even fun mnemonics at the end on how to remember names of bones or nerves. This isn't something one can read in one sitting, definitely, but is great for a pre-med or biology student with some free time in the summer, if they want to get a headstart on familiarizing themselves with the terminology.
Or for bored people like me, so I feel like I can decipher the little pamphlets that come with my medicine, and so I don't get too intimidated at hospitals when bludgeoned on the head with medical jargon.
It's like Vocabulary Builder meets Anatomy 101. The book is divided into chapters each tackling a different system of the human body (skeletal, muscular, gastrointestinal, nervous, reproductive, etc.) Aside from breaking the terms in each system down into their basic Latin/Greek roots, each chapter also provided a good overview on how things work, like a friendly biology lesson for the layperson. This is something you could give to an inquisitive teenager, as a supplement to his or her Biology class. It does include illustrations.
There are even fun mnemonics at the end on how to remember names of bones or nerves. This isn't something one can read in one sitting, definitely, but is great for a pre-med or biology student with some free time in the summer, if they want to get a headstart on familiarizing themselves with the terminology.
Or for bored people like me, so I feel like I can decipher the little pamphlets that come with my medicine, and so I don't get too intimidated at hospitals when bludgeoned on the head with medical jargon.
April 8, 2013
Useful, but a little boring. Learned a lot though.
Read
December 7, 2023"it's difficult to pee with an erection."
Understatement of the year.
Better off to just squat in a bathtub/shower than to use a toilet if you have to pee with an erection.
The one hand against the wall, with wide spread legs, and hip angled back only works so well, and it's a dangerous game to play in the dark.
Free audible audiobook, only took in so much as I get distracted or space out. However, considering all the other stuff I study, I know more than a bit of the content already.
I'll be picking up a physical book & workbook of medical terminology from a different publisher to read these words.
As it's highly recommend to both hear and read all these terms. So if you have an audio or text copy of this book, use the other type too, or do what I am doing and find the same topic from a different publisher.
Understatement of the year.
Better off to just squat in a bathtub/shower than to use a toilet if you have to pee with an erection.
The one hand against the wall, with wide spread legs, and hip angled back only works so well, and it's a dangerous game to play in the dark.
Free audible audiobook, only took in so much as I get distracted or space out. However, considering all the other stuff I study, I know more than a bit of the content already.
I'll be picking up a physical book & workbook of medical terminology from a different publisher to read these words.
As it's highly recommend to both hear and read all these terms. So if you have an audio or text copy of this book, use the other type too, or do what I am doing and find the same topic from a different publisher.
January 11, 2024
Good for kids from Grade 8 to grade 10, aiming for a career in biology. Should read this before opening Campbell Biology.
NOT good for medical students who can go for Davis.
Chapter 24 is good for resources.
NOT good for medical students who can go for Davis.
Chapter 24 is good for resources.
April 4, 2021
Filled to the brim on information. Learned a lot and still need to convey most of it to memory. Included helpful websites and apps to help as well.
August 22, 2020
More of a reference book than a book that you would sit and read, but very useful tables of prefixes, suffixes and root words for every system of the body. Also covers diseases, diagnostic procedures and surgery.
June 3, 2011
This book is pretty much anything and everything you ever wanted to know about Medical Terminology. Including fairly in depth accounts of the human body itself, delving into each and every system and it's functions, it's not only a course in terminology (which is truly a foreign language in and of itself), but anatomy as well. Written by a woman who clearly knows her stuff (40 years Medical Terminology experience to be exact), she realized that to understand the terminology, you have to understand the systems to which it is associated. Wether you're in the medical field or just reading for fun, the format of the book creates an easy to read and easy to understand publication.
February 15, 2013
This is my first "for dummies" book and I am now confused about their popularity. I have read other intro to medical terminology books that provided more information and were more entertaining to read.
The bulk of this book is just lists of words with definitions, misguided anatomy lessons (with a severe lack of illustrations) and broken links. Instead of reading this book I would recommend just getting a set of medical terminology flashcards.
The bulk of this book is just lists of words with definitions, misguided anatomy lessons (with a severe lack of illustrations) and broken links. Instead of reading this book I would recommend just getting a set of medical terminology flashcards.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews