Chapter Overview

Medical language may appear to be very complex; however, most medical terms can be understood through a process of breaking them down into their component parts. Being able to identify the component parts, understand their meaning, and bring the terms together will demystify medical language and make it much easier to understand. Many healthcare professions use medical language on a daily basis, whether to diagnose a patient, interpret test results, or consult with other healthcare professionals. If you are working in health care, it is essential that you understand common medical terms so you know what is being communicated.

This chapter will introduce you to common medical terms used in various healthcare settings that you may encounter on a daily basis as a medical device reprocessing technician. We will begin with the basic component parts of medical terms, language rules, root words, combining vowels, and prefixes and suffixes. Then we will bring it all together with some review activities at the end of the chapter.