Medical Terminology

Edit: Transcript http://bit.ly/12TGnPa

Medical Terminology for Librarians
Thursday, December 11, 2014
9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific

Join Margaret (@mehlibrarian) and Mike (@mscully66) for an introduction to medical terminology, Thursday, December 11, 9PM ET.

It may seem as if medical terminology is used to obscure, but it is actually used to clarify and to specify. Once you know the basics, it helps when the MD requesting a literature search presumes you know his terminology.

Most medical terms are constructed from roots, prefixes and suffixes, usually Latin or Greek:

• neuro- , append- ,- plasm, ortho- , athero-, pedi-, geriat- , podia-, tibia-
• intra- , inter-, hypo- , hyper-, endo- , neo-
• -ectomy, -otomy, -osis, -itis

Unlike regular dictionaries, medical dictionaries, for example this one from mediLexicon, include such roots, prefixes and suffixes, such as “intra-“, so they can be used as resources to deconstruct and then reconstruct words.

MedlinePlus also has a medical dictionary plus a tutorial on understanding medical words

It can also help to have to have a couple of medical guides on hand. Some guides are available through subscriptions like AccessMedicine - Clinician’s Pocket Reference, for example. But you might also find print guides handy as well.  Internal Medicine Clerkship Guide (Mosby) and Wards 101 pocket: Clinician’s Survival Guide are both helpful to learn more about tests and terminology related to different specialties.

If you have questions about medical terminology, please join us.

If you have a favorite resource, please come and share it.  

Maybe you have a tried and true way to ask about an unknown topic without looking like an idiot.  We’d love to hear it.

See you Thursday.