Medical Terminology For Dummies. Beverley Henderson

      Medical Terminology For Dummies®, 2^nd Edition

      Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

      Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

      Published simultaneously in Canada

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      Library of Congress Control Number: 2014945060

      ISBN 978-1-118-94404-2 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-94406-6 (ePDF); ISBN 978-1-118-94405-9 (eMobi)

      Manufactured in the United States of America

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      Introduction

      Welcome to Medical Terminology For Dummies! Consider this your personal, private course in the study of the medical terms used everyday in doctor’s offices, hospitals, clinics, billing and insurance companies, labs, and even pharmacies. This is a personal grand tour through not only the world of medical terminology, but also through your own body.

      You’ll find as you read this book that learning medical terms is a two-part proposition. First, you’ve got to master the landscape of language itself. Don’t worry, though – there will be no quiz. We just want you to better understand how to both create and break down words. Once you get to know more about prefixes, suffixes, and root words, you can do darn near anything with the terminology. For example, you can go inside the body to discover the terms that match up with different systems, diseases, procedures, and pharmaceutical products.

      Mastering medical terminology involves more than just memorizing. Exploring these terms and how they can be created will unlock not only medical mysteries for you, but great opportunities as well.

      Getting to know the world of medical terminology can get a bit repetitive at times. That’s why we decided to break the book down into several parts about all kinds of different things. You start by getting the backstory of terminology – the history and the players involved with bringing this “language” to the masses. Then you get into the nitty-gritty of how words are formed and all about word parts, usage, pronunciation, and recognition. Finally, you take a gander at all the different body systems and the words associated with them. We even throw in some bonus top ten lists at the end that we hope you find useful.

      There’s a lot to learn about medical terminology, we admit, but we’ll be right there with you for the whole wild, crazy ride. Keep in mind that you don’t have to read this book cover-to-cover, nor do you have to remember all the details from chapter to chapter. Read out of order, skip what you don’t need. It will all be there for you should you choose to revisit the sections, tips, or sidebars at another time.

      Keep in mind that this is not a giant textbook of terms, nor is it a dictionary. Those are both great resources, and we recommend you pick up both if you are a medical professional. This is a friendly take on the topic, and our main goal is to show you the basics of how these words are made so that you can go out in the big, bad world and master the creation and use of medical terms on your own terms. We’re not giving you a fish, we’re teaching you to fish.

      We do rely on some conventions within this book that you may not see elsewhere in an attempt to keep the tone fun and conversational. So, please be prepared to see a lot of the following:

      We have included chapters about language and medical terminology’s place in it. You will notice we also make extensive use of lists in this book. We do this for your sanity. Be honest: Wouldn’t you rather be able to study these terms in organized, easy-to-find lists and tables rather than picking through long, boring paragraphs trying to find the words you need to learn? We thought so.

      Major chapters are divided by systems of the body. Each system chapter tells you a bit about how that particular body system works, to give you some context for its words.

      We aren’t doctors, so we try our best to explain things using simple language. That means you might see words like pee and poo from time to time. We figure you’re knee-deep in official-sounding terms here, so it doesn’t hurt to lighten up once in a while.

      New terms are in italics to make them easier to spot.

      Many of the body system chapters include artistic renderings. Don’t be alarmed by those little pictures you see peppering the pages of this book. Feel free to be distracted, however – that’s the point. We want you to stop and look at these great kernels of knowledge as you go through the book.

      We are assuming you fall into one of these categories:

      No matter what possessed you to pick up this book, we hope it gives you the terminology boost you need for your particular circumstances.