the functions of the body’s vital organs, such as heartbeat and rate of breathing – functions we don’t even think about.
Down-Under Details
Speaking of things you don’t usually think about, the urinary system is made up of the kidneys (two), ureters (also two), bladder, and urethra. This system’s main function is to remove urea (the nitrogenous waste products of metabolism) from the bloodstream, and excrete it in urine from the body.
Urea is formed in the liver from ammonia. The bloodstream carries it (in the same manner as hormones and lymph) to the kidneys, where it passes with water, salts, and acids out of the bloodstream into the kidneys. The kidneys produce the urine that travels through each ureter into the bladder to be excreted via the urethra. Now that’s a whole lot of information to impress your friends with at a dinner party. On second thought, maybe not.
When food and oxygen combine in cells to produce energy, the process is known as catabolism. In the process, food and oxygen are not destroyed, but small particles making up the food and oxygen are rearranged in a new combination, and the results are waste products. Waste in the form of gas (carbon dioxide) is removed from the body by exhaling through the lungs.
Think about how you were made. No, you weren’t discovered under a cabbage leaf. Your mom and dad made you (see Sex For Dummies if you don’t get our drift here) using their reproductive systems. In the male, it has two main functions: to produce spermatozoa, the male reproductive cell, and to secrete testosterone, the male hormone. The reproductive organs, or gonads, are the testes. They are supported by accessory organs, ducts, glands, and supportive structures. The ducts include the epididymides (epididymis-singular) vas deferens, ejaculatory ducts, and the urethra. Glands include seminal vesicles, prostate, and bulbourethral glands (or Cowper’s glands). The supporting structures include the penis, scrotum, and spermatic cords.
The female reproductive system produces the female reproductive cell, or sex cell, secretes the hormones estrogen and progesterone, and provides the conditions to establish a pregnancy, together with providing a safe place for the pregnancy to develop and grow. The gonads (ovaries in the female), together with the internal accessory organs consisting of the fallopian (uterine) tubes, uterus, vagina, external genitalia, and breasts (mammary glands) make up the reproductive system in the female. Reproduction is achieved by the union of the female reproductive cell, an ovum, and the male reproductive cell, a spermatozoon (sperm for short), resulting in fertilization.
This is just a quick glance at the kinds of stuff you’re going to learn about your body. Of course, the appropriate terms are discussed in detail along with the simple biology background.
The Ultimate Resource: You
A listing of well-known term references, recall devices, and word-building activities will help you apply terminology to your own personal real-world situation.
The references mentioned in this book are some of the most well respected. Of course, there are thousands of online and print resources, most of which are decent, if not downright reputable. Use your own good judgment when it comes to choosing one as your go-to source.
As you go on this journey, remember that ultimately you are your own best source of tips and tricks. Maybe you’re a flash card aficionado. Perhaps you do best when you can visualize the term with the appropriate body system. Or maybe you like a good old pneumonic device like “i before e except after c.” No matter how you choose to learn and recall these terms, do what is most comfortable and useful for you. You’re the captain of this boat. Now, hoist the sail!
Chapter 2
Medical Terminology: The How and Why
In This Chapter
▶ Getting an understanding of what medical terminology is
▶ Finding out how medical terms are used in the real world
▶ Tracking the evolution of terminology
▶ Exploring Greek and Latin roots
Repeat after us: Context is a good thing. You love context. Mmmmm, context. It is a good idea to get to know something about your subject matter before you dive head-first into studying it. This is particularly true with medical terminology because so much of the theory and history behind this topic shows up in the actual words and terms you will use every day.
Defining Medical Terminology
First, let’s ponder what medical terminology is. It’s a whole lot more than just medical words and phrases. Each word and each term is organic, meaning you can trace each part of the word back to a specific meaning. Cobbled together, these parts make up the meaning of the word. Medical terminology is made up of terms that describe human anatomy and physiology (body organs, systems, and their functions), body locations, diseases, diagnostic imaging and laboratory testing, together with clinical procedures, surgeries, and diagnoses.
Sprechen Sie terminology?
Medical terminology is like a foreign language to most people. In fact, it operates exactly like a foreign language if you have never encountered it before. Just as with practicing German (or any language, for that matter), you get the meaning of medical terms by breaking down each word into different parts:
✔ Prefix: Appears at the beginning of a word and tells the how, why, where, when, how much, how many, position, direction, time, or status.
✔ Root word: Specifies the body part to which the term refers.
✔ Suffix: Appears at the end of a word and indicates a procedure, condition, or disease.
Those are the bare bones, basic parts of every medical term. Each prefix, root, and suffix has its own meaning, so it’s your job to remember them and put the three meanings together into one greater word meaning. It can be tricky, though, so proceed carefully until you are confident of individual part meanings.
As with languages, things aren’t always what they seem. For example, if we use tonsillitis and appendectomy, we see that the suffix -itis always means ”inflammation,” no matter what root word precedes it. Similarly, the suffix -ectomy always means “surgical removal of.” So when switching suffixes, appendicitis means “inflammation of the appendix,” and tonsillectomy means “surgical removal of the tonsils.”
For example, consider two terms commonly known to most people. Tonsillitis is a one-word medical term to describe “inflammation of the tonsils,” and appendectomy is a one-word medical term to describe “surgical removal of the appendix.” It’s much easier to use one word than a long, drawn-out phrase to describe these conditions, don’t you think?
Medical Terminology in the Real World
The need or desire to learn medical terminology is not limited to the healthcare professionals. For example, a firefighter has to relay information to paramedics, such as the condition of a burn victim being placed in an ambulance. A police officer must complete a written report after delivering a baby in the back seat of a car. Or closer to home, think about trying to understand when a doctor tells you that your child needs surgery, or why an
